There were a number of first responders after the tsunami disaster of 1960. They included policemen, the Red Cross, mortuary workers, the Boy Scouts and National Guardsmen. This story focuses on the work of Hawaii Tribune Herald newspaper photographer, Larry Kadooka.
After the 1960 tsunami, Larry took pictures most of the night, and then dashed to the Tribune Herald offices where he had a darkroom inside a closet. But the building had no electricity to run his enlarger, so he got more film and headed back out onto the street. He returned to the darkroom sometime after sun-up, found that the building had power, and developed his film and made prints.
One of his most memorable pictures is of a doll in the rubble. He recalls the moment: There "used to be a theater called Hilo Theater and right across the street was what they called the Boys Club. And right in the back of the Boys Club there was this doll in the rubble and I was like, hmmm... that kind of look like my daughter's doll. I know somebody's going to miss that doll."
Another of his famous pictures shows rescue workers recovering a body. He took the picture and left as fast as he could. He worked day and night getting pictures and printing them.
He told of another story when he ventured downtown with a friend. |
They shined their flashlight and they saw "a hand sticking out of the sand, we look real close - it was a mannequin. That really scared me, seeing a hand sticking out of the sand. Also there was a puhi, a eel splashing in the gutter." Larry also took the famous photo of the town clock forever stopped at 1:04 am. It once stood outside the Waiakea Settlement.
Larry says that throughout that night, he was frightened he would come upon someone he knew. He was spared that experience, but yet shared in the losses of others. He said that the hardest part was to take pictures of people who were suffering from the losses. He saw their sadness in their faces. "I can see the people's tears. You can see the losses in their face, I mean it, I felt guilty taking pictures of people who are so sad, so depressed. I think that affected me more than anything else, like I was intruding on their grief."
But he toughed it out and took the pictures. That was his job as a photojournalist. Because he did his job so well, we now have history documented.
Larry has a philosopy about the 5 kinds of photos people are drawn to: anything having to do with survival, ambition, leisure motivation, attracting others, and eternity.
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