John Diestler artist extraordinaire

John Diestler works on his "armless Madonna" alabaster sculpture that has been in the works for three years in an art studio at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif. Friday, Oct. 9, 2009. Aside from sculpting Diestler does works in oil paints, photography and drawing and sketching.

John Diestler, aside from working at Contra Costa College as the Art Department chairman, is a practicing artist across multiple media. Originally Diestler began as a sculptor, but as he progressed through school he entertained himself and developed an aptitude for other works including: oil painting, sketching, charcoal and photography.

Drafted into the Vietnam War in 1970 Diestler returned three years later and began working at CCC as a student employee. Eventually he worked his way into a full time teaching position and recently became the Art Department Chairman.

During his time at CCC he primarily taught a digital production class in photography and working with digital media on programs such as Photoshop.

Diestler has made a full circle at Contra Costa College. He first attended the college as a student in 1967 and now works there to serve a new wave of art students.

A look at the populace of San Francisco and what to do when an earthquake strikes

The population statistics for the city of San Francisco were gather from the U.S. Census Bureau website. San Francisco ranks as the 15th most populated city in America with the majority of the cities residents being between the ages of 35 and 44 years old.

As the 20 year anniversary of the Loma Prieta approaches it is important to remember that living in the Bay Area poses a constant threat of an earthquake and residents need to be prepaired. The 6.9 Loma Prieta quake only lasted 15 seconds, but left 63 dead and over $7 billion in damages across the Bay Area.

The allure of photography

Photography, like most forms of art, has a particular attraction to each photographer. Some photographers take the journalistic approach, where others focus on people in a more posed setting, others still specialize in landscapes or still life. Photography like any type of art is vast and each photographer brings their own unique style to it.

Survivors march for a cure

Brest cancer survivors take part in a 3 mile walk at the Susan G. Komen walk for a cure event Saturday, Sept. 27, 2009 in San Francisco. The event was broken into three varying distances, with the longest being three miles that went from the Ferry Building to AT&T

The Susan G. Koman walk for a cure event is just one of many taking place all across the country to celebrate October as national breast cancer awareness month.

The volunteers in the race/walk started at the Ferry Building in San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2009, and walked south along the Embarcadero to AT&T park. If the walked the full length of the circuit it would total at three miles, but that distance was optional.

The event was broken into separate races of varying lengths. The first was an actual race at a distance of three miles. The second part was a walk that was led by a group of breast cancer survivors, photographed to the left, and that walk varied between one, two and three miles.

Hundreds of people turned out for the event and over 40 companies were there in support of the cause. Each company raised money through the event to donate in an effort to find a cure for breast cancer.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon D70 with a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Nikkor lens exposed at 1/2000sec and f/8, at ISO 200.

Thoughts on NPR

National Public Radio’s strategies for attracting the public are clearly working. With statistical support showing a continuing growth of their listener base it is hard to argue that they are doing something wrong.

NPR appears to be the only news agency to have actually figured out a viable way to maintain user base on the internet and continue to grow. Even social networks such as Twitter have a sharp user drop off after a short period of use, but NPR does not appear to have that. This is a testament to their ability to serve people with information they not only can use, but want.

As the article points out the appeal to many people is the local news aspect. With newspapers dwindling many papers try to get a larger viewership by expanding their coverage, but this in turn pushes out the local angle. Local news has historically been the fundamental block of newspapers; people care about what directly effects them and their local community. As a newspaper’s scope gets broader the local angle gets smaller.

NPR is apparently able to tap back into the local communities. Providing people with news that directly effects them is probably the biggest appeal for much of their user base.

For my blog this semester concentrating on small area versus trying to cover everything will focus it and give it a more definitive purpose. By focusing on a smaller area I am able to go more indebt with something that might receive little to know coverage. This would give me a an untapped market. It would give people a reason to come to the blog.

For example: there are plenty of political blogs. There are blogs from major news outlets as well as many individuals that talk about politics overall. But if a blog localized to a city or county they create a viewer base. They offer expanded coverage of an area that might receive no attention on larger blogs. This gives the people in the area something to read that directly effects them.

I was unable to find any NPR broadcasts that directly related to my blog topic, so I picked two news pieces.

The NPR stories use clear voiceovers and sound bites. They also add interviews into the bProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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adcasts to add validation to the report. NPR is good about supporting their ideas with the use of experts in a given field. They also use nat sound that fits the piece well. The only critique I noticed is NPR sometProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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es neglects getting comments from both sides of a issue. It is not always clear if the other side was left out intentionally or there was no one that would speak with them. There also is not always many sources in a given report, they ranged from 3 sources to 5 sources. Obviously 5 sources will give more voices to an issue and hopefully they are different enough to supply a variety of voices.

Golden Gate Park

Alexandra Mullin, left, Erik Mullin, right, and their two-year-old son Donovan, middle, of San Francisco take a paddle boat out for a ride on Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009.

Golden Gate Park offers one of the most beautiful areas in San Francisco, second only to the Presidio.

Golden Gate Park, which runs from the Beach Chalet to Stanyan Street is over 1,000 acres in size and is one of the most visited parks in America.

The park was first commissioned in 1870 and by 1875 the area had almost 60,000 trees. In 1903 the Dutch Windmills were added to the park to pump water across it to all the newly established trees.

Over time many things in the park have changed. The de Young museum and the California Academy of Science recently saw a complete overhaul of their structures, as they were upgraded for seismic stability. Both of the facilities, now compete, are among the best on the West Coast of the United States.

Aside from the two major attractions Golden Gate Park is also home to numerous smaller venues. One of which is the Conservatory of Flowers.

The Conservatory of Flowers is one of the oldest wooden structures in the United States. Rehabilitation and restoration to the conservatory was done from 1999 to 2003 under the Save America’s Treasures program which led to $25 million dollars being raised for the project.

For a smaller more quiet outing there is Stow Lake, pictured above. Stow Lake offers boat rentals for people to take out allowing them to peddle, row or motor their way around Strawberry Hill. Strawberry hill situated in the middle of Stow Lake is over 400 feet tall and from the top offers a great vista of San Francisco.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon D70 with a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Nikkor lens exposed at 1/4000sec and f/4.2, at ISO 200.

Rev. Larry Young

Rev. Larry Young gives a sermon during afternoon mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. Young has been a reverend at St. Patrick Catholic Church for nine years and been involved in the Catholic Church for almost 60 years.

As an active member of the Catholic Church for over 60 years Rev. Larry Young has found satisfaction in helping those in his community.

Initially introduced to the church through his family as a child Young, now 61 years old, was sucked into what the church offered.

Though he is now a reverend Young was a late vocation when he became a priest at 40 years old. Prior to that he worked as both a teacher and principal at Catholic High schools. Working with children at the schools Young found a purpose in trying to help youth, and that prompted him to become a reverend.

Young has worked nine of his 28 years as a  reverend at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Rodeo, Calif. There, aside from leading mass, he runs a number of bible study groups, works with children at the on site school and runs the administration aspects of the church.

Outside of St. Patrick Catholic Church Young also serves on a number of committees for the Diocese of Oakland.

“When you can help someone or a family with marital problems, childhood difficulties or depression its gratifying,” he said.

Young also found that being a reverend not only allowed him to help people, but to see them grow as well. As a reverend he gets to see children’s baptisms, their school graduations, marriages and eventually baptizing their children.

“I see the whole gambit of emotions and get to share it in peoples lives,” Young said.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon D70 with a 70-200mm f/2.8G Nikkor lens exposed at 1/200sec and f/4, at ISO 600.

Cute Puppy

A 6-week-old male Boxer puppy lays down for a nap after playing with his nine other litter mates at their home in Concord, Calif. Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009. The puppy, who is currently nameless, is one of nine other puppies born on July 27, 2009.

Now the banner for this blog, the puppy boy to the left is a reminder of my childhood.

Before I can remember my parents have shown Boxers. My childhood was spent at many dog shows all across California and even several other states.

For those unfamiliar with dog shows they are a competition. Though some say they are beauty pageants, that is not exactly true, but one could see how they are interpreted that way. A judge looks at a dog based on a given standard; it varies from breed to breed, but the standard looks at distinctive traits associated with each breed. The way they stand and hold themselves is looked at, their size, their facial characteristics, their teeth alignment as well as various other items. All of these characteristics equate to a point value and the dog that accumulates the most points in a judge’s mind wins.

Though a very brief description this gives an idea to what dog shows are. Ultimately though, the goal behind a dog show is the relation ship between the owner and the dog. It is a chance for an individual to compete with their dog, to bond with their dog and win with their dog.

Although my memories are not terribly fond of dog shows. No young child likes having to get up at 6 a.m. in the morning and spend their weekends at a dog show. I still respect the bond that people form with their dogs at the events. It is an experience like no other.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon D70 with a 50mm f/1.4D Nikkor lens exposed at 1/60sec and f/2.8, at ISO 600.

Street Ball

Alec Surmani, of Hercules, goes up for a lay-up during a pick-up game of basketball at Hercules High School in Hercules, Calif. Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. The game was temporarily halted when it started raining during the match.

Being a photojournalism major I figured it would make the most sense to base my Blog around that important aspect of my life.

My first experience with the camera was in High School. I ended up working on my High School’s yearbook my junior year, how I ended up there is still elusive to me. Upon arriving they lacked both photographers and designers, which worked well for me as writing has never been my strongest area.

Those two years on the yearbook staff were my crash course in photography, and it was one major crash. Spending two years trying to teach photography to yourself is probably not the best approach, but it ended up OK.

That is where my love, and a hole in my pocket, began.

Following my High School graduation I joined the student newspaper, The Advocate, at Contra Costa College in San Pablo. My three year tenure there was a perfect environment for me to hone my craft. It gave me the opportunity to explore a new field and really take my abilities to new levels.

Now at San Francisco State University I am taking real photography classes for the first time in my life, which is probably long overdue.

The photo above was shot with my Nikon D70 with a 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G Nikkor lens exposed at 1/800 sec and f/8, at ISO 200.

Essay Answers

The internet has changed journalism forever and redefined what it takes to be a journalist. In order to be a viable candidate now journalists must have an arsenal of tools in their bag. The days of just being a writer or photographer are over. To gain a new foothold in this business one must be a writer, photographer, videographer, sound engineer and some know-how on website design wouldn’t hurt. The need for the traditional journalist is dwindling and the necessity for the technology savvy multifaceted journalist is on the rise. Learning this variety of skills is the first step to securing a job in the competitive and changing world of journalism.

Acquiring the skills necessary to be a modern journalist takes willingness to step out of an individual comfort area. Every aspiring student needs to not just focus on their best areas, but pay special attention to their weaker ones. If taking pictures comes naturally, but writing is a struggle then a conscious effort to strengthen one’s writing is a logical step. Yet it remains just as important to nurture the stronger areas as well. Everyone must find a new balance in acquiring skills in areas that had not be initially considered. The generation of these skills will come form a willingness to learn and take classes that may not come easily. To go out and work on the weaker areas and an increased focus on learning many areas of the journalist trade versus just one.

Initially I began studying journalism on advice from a couple friends. After a short period of time I became completely obsessed with it. Working on the student newspaper at Contra Costa College, The Advocate, changed my world. It gave me a sense of accomplishment and made me feel that we were helping our community. The idea that we were helping our community by offering a voice to the students and the Richmond area was something that has always stuck with me. I want to work in an area where I feel that I am having an impact on people’s lives.

Journalism to me is an agency of the people. It exists to help people understand the world around them and give a voice to those that don’t have one. It is an critical part of our culture that strives to accurately reflect the lives of people in this country. Bringing to light injustices and fighting for what is fair. Though in many cases it has not been an accurate reflection of our culture and society, I believe that a fair representation is the goal that good journalism strives for. Being completely impartial is impossible, but it is something that every agency should be striving for.