A serendipitous end at the Santa Cruz Sentinel

My time at the Santa Cruz Sentinel has come to an end, last Wednesday was my last. I worked Mondays, and it was kinda weird waking up and not having to drive for an hour over over the hill today. Everything has to come to an end sometime.

For my last day there wasn't much on the roster, but it was a hot day (the first of a mini heat wave actually) and so I went out looking for weather art. When I returned I filed my stories and didn't have much left to do, and seeing as how it was my last day and I had time, I pitched an idea to produce a slideshow.

I find it kind of fitting that my last day at the paper ended on the beach... and with a slideshow.
I wanted to try something different and sorta went nuts with the editing. Take a look, it's sorta my parting valentine for the paper. I had some good times there and I'm gonna miss it... hmm.. that sounds like a list full of reminiscing...

• I'll miss debating the latest news or ethical developments in photojournalism with Shmuel Thaler.
• I'll miss running into Ryan Sholin everyday and having one of us say "did you see this online..." But seriously brah, you can't let you're daughter's first movie be Transformers, that's child abuse :P
• I'll remember that first day of looking though the archive and seeing all the cool stuff in there... and then wasting all that time looking at old movie stuff and press packets for TGIF (if I have to explain it, you're to young... and a loser).
• I'll chuckle when I think of all the office politics and romances that I'm not supposed to know about.
• I'm miss getting to joke around with Anthony L. Solis in the office and then checking out his photos on Flickr.
• I'll remember getting lost twice on the way out to an assignment with Soraya Gutierrez and talking about Rage Against The Machine... not to mention rage in general (I still say it was her fault!)
• I'll wonder how it was that I always (well 99% of the time) ended up driving the reporter to all of our assignments... I'm the out of townee after all.
• I'll remember the day I got the frantic phone call that the front page story fell through and I'd better do a really really good job (no pressure of course the message said) to help fill the gap "or else."
• I'll always wonder why it took me three weeks to finally go to a beach.
• I'll remember the hum of the printing press in the basement as it rumbled to life each night and vibrated the floor in the photo room.
• I'm not gonna miss waiting for a free computer... or saving all my Photoshoped work to a portable hard drive to move over to the only Mac with soundslides (but no Photoshop) only to discover it's behind a door that was supposed to be unlocked.
• I'm not gonna miss waiting 15 minutes for Photo Mechanic to start up for that matter either.
• I never did figure out how to check my work e-mail... I hope there wasn't anything important in there.
• I'll laugh at all the times I ran out on false alarms for spot news... like going out to a fire and instead finding Frisbee golf (which it turns out is normal) and the time a guy brought dynamite to Costco in his car and went inside to ask "Should I have this?"
• I won't miss (or understand) having to move my car every hour in Watsonville.
• I'll remember the day I spent on a story covering bookstores and discover that book stores are pretty cool places.
• It's a sad fact, but no one actually ever drives the speed limit... unless a cop is around, and even then the cop doesn't drive the speed limit either.
• I'll sorta regret not going to New York City for spring break.
• But I'll miss being the point man while two of the three staff shooters were on vacation during spring break.
• The day I was told that I'm getting too many front pages and doing too good of a job (apparently it's possible).
• I'll remember when everyone felt I was being taken advantage of with an unpaid internship and they threw a few bucks my way.
• I'm gonna miss the photo advice from Matt King, less art, more limbs. Got it dude!
• I'm not gonna miss becoming known as the go to guy for pictures of pets and kids during my first month there. Thankfully that changed.
• I'll always remember the day I finally got to go to the beach.
• I won't miss the racist old woman at the bank who asked me where I'm from and wanted to teach me the ways of America. I told her "I can't help it if they let brown people and white people walk on the street together in Canada." (I'm not from Canada.)
• I won't miss the hippies who believe that listening to George Harrison's post India sitar and doing Yoga somehow makes them spiritually enlightened and somehow as I'm an Indian, that makes me their mystic conduit into the mysteries of the East. Seriously guys, we're just different, stop thinking you're somehow better than others in the West just because you want to be different like us.
• The day I returned the light kit at school only to need it on the very next assignment. Lesson learned, take out a loan and buy a light kit.
• I won't miss the time I was blocked in at the fairground with a deadline and couldn't get my car out until way past midnight. (I meet my deadline, don't ask.)
• I won't forget the garlic fries on the Boardwalk or standing in the framework of the Big Dipper and trying to hold the camera as steady as possible while the roller coaster shook the rails and wooden structure almost violently.
• I'll remember the letter from a reader who cried after seeing my pictures.
• I'll miss going down to Watsonville and sharing in all sorts of censored shenanigans... and telling them they were better than the main office and then doing the same when I was back in Santa Cruz.
• And this will be my last time being a part of the week in pictures.
• There's so much I'll remember and look back on... but mostly I'll always remember all the cool people I met while on assignment and all the things I learned about them, from them and about myself.

It's been fun, but every chapter has to come to a close.

What a crazy day I'm having

Sometimes you just have to sit back and say... wow... just wow.

I came in today to the internship and shot six assignments and produced a multimedia piece, so all in all, not bad.

But just looking it over, in the end it was one crazy day. A crazy racist lady wanted to know where I'm from. Which country actually. I offered up Canada but she didn't laugh.

I also got to walk around all over town today, up and down and up again many many times, which was a nice alternative to driving all over the place. But that doesn't mean I got to avoid driving all together and went to a softball game and spent 20 minutes trying to find a hole in the fence so that I could actually get near the game, and everyone I asked was no help.

One guy on the other side of the fence had no idea how he got there (what?!) and despite his 500mm, had no idea who was playing (what?!?!)

Eventually I made my way around, but not before one lady insisted that I take a certain path... to which I foolishly obliged and quelled my doubts - seriously I got to stop being so polite - of course it was a dead end and I had to back track. But once I got there... the game was delayed (of course) and it would only start 30 minutes before my next deadline (se la vie).

Then I ran into the usual "good karma" hippie beatnik speed heads downtown. Normally they find me very interesting and cool because they think just because I'm Indian I must have some deep spirtual answer to thier quest for the meaning of life. (Finally a place where my skin color is the cool thing.) To bad I wasn't in the mood as I'm growing tired of all the misconceptions folks have of my culture and how they buy into the manufactured image of incense and sitars... whoa whoa whoa!!!!

I'm starting to rant now... so I better go to bed now.

I think I might like baseball... gulp!

The last couple of days I've been shooting a lot of high school baseball and softball games and I'm afraid I may like baseball now.

I always said I didn't like baseball because it was boring and slow and I hated sitting still and watching grown men spit and scratch and stretch and stand for hours on end. Whenever I tried to watch a game it often devolved into shouting at the TV, "stop stepping out of the box and swing!" "Why are the commentators talking about the weather!!?" "He's not going to steal second, just pitch already!" "Oh no no, not another commercial, no!!!"

Yes, I always said I couldn't watch a baseball game or bother to get into the game.

Well not always, did I say always? I lied.

There was a time when I was a loyal Giants fan, taking in the sport when it preempted afternoon cartoons after school and lamenting the results to my friends and opposing A's fans the next day.

During the Will Clark and Matt Williams and then later during the early Barry Bonds years I was into baseball, and I remember sitting on my sofa anticipating the start of the Giant's/A's 1989 World Series when we were hit by a 6.9 earthquake, but then something happened.

I lost interest, maybe I was growing up or getting bored or couldn't sit still or become more interested in soccer, street hockey and basketball to slowdown for baseball, whatever it was, I lost interest.

These last couple days I've become interested in baseball again, and for the first time since forever I caught myself thinking that maybe it was time I went to a game. Could it be the bug is back?


Shooting the high schools games juiced me up and I was having a blast just shooting. What a job, I (theoretically speaking) get paid to do something I love, sweet! I started to walk around the field and explore every angle, getting high and low and then shooting with both eyes open and finally anticipating the plays and running from one side of the field to the other just in case that player that stole third last time around tries it again. And the whole time I was having a blast, and I'm thinking, "I can't wait to do this in a professional game." Where the fields (the newer ones anyway) are built with photographers in mind and we're afforded the nicest spots.

Me? Having fun with baseball? I guess so.


I also learned that even at the high school level, it's all about the field in terms of how fun a game is to shoot. I've been on very camera friendly fields of dreams where every angle is begging for a Sports Illustrated Leading Off picture and I've been on fields that say this is a game that is played in a caged zoo and no one must get to good of a look or they'll turn to stone.

I wonder what thrills await me on the professional field. If it's anything like Nhat Meyers, Jeff Chiu and Marcio Sanchez say it is in the conversations we've had, I can't wait.

A cold case never goes cold for a family

Proof that newspapers still do what they were created to do, if this helps the Valtierra family ease the pain and find answers it'll all be worth it.

Three years after her youngest son was found dead in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Rachel Valtierra still has nightmares. She wonders how her son, Angel Anthony Valtierra, a 20-year-old with an impish smile, died. She wishes she could read his autopsy report. At least then, she says, she would stop imagining what may have happened. Investigators have never released how Angel was killed, all they have told her is that he was a homicide victim.

Read the story, hear the voices.

ducks and ethics

I ran into an ethical dilemma while on assignment at the Santa Cruz Sentinel today (and by today I mean when I wrote this, I have a bad habit on making everything a draft because I want to rewrite stuff), and it was a most fowl dilemma indeed.

(Thunder clap!)

Sorry I couldn't resist.

Anyhow, I was given an assignment for a story on the ducks-- and to a lesser extent the geese (which makes me wonder if Santa Cruz is a anti-goose town... but that's a topic for another blog)-- at Schwan Lake in Santa Cruz and the violation of laws that prohibit the feeding of said ducks.

So I arrived and right off the bat I decided that showing someone feeding the ducks would not be fair since it singles out this one person as committing a crime, so I decided to do compose my shots in a manner that would include a human element without actually identifying anyone.













But it turns out I over thought the situation because there was not a single person in sight. Back to the drawing board.

I changed my focus to making a visually appealing image from a nature angle, and I asked myself, "how would National Geographic do it?"

I decided to slowly approach the duck with a wide angle in hopes of having them approach me. I reasoned that these animals had become accustomed to being feed and therefore would come towards any human that treaded lightly in their direction.

I was wrong, they slowly waddled away, I'm convinced one of them gave me the duck equivalent of the middle finger when he turned his back to me, shock his tail feathers and kicked up the dirt behind me in my direction as he eyed me over his avian shoulder. Back to the drawing board.

I switched up lenses and walked around the lake for a while, hoping to compose a compelling picture that conveyed the story in a single shot, but the ducks were startled by my presence and kept swimming... er, floating?... away.

I was stumped, how was I going to get a picture of the ducks for the front page story that I'd be proud to have my name under in print?

I had already taken a few shots by this time as safeties and decided to try something.

I began to toss tiny pebbles and twings in the lake and near me to trick the ducks into thinking I was laying out a buffet. They approached and caught on quick and swam, floated or waddled away, but I snapped a few frames as they came toward me.

I was satisfied and decided to book it to my next assignment.

At the moment all I was thinking of was my deadlines and the stories I still needed to cover, but a few hours later as I sat down to edit my takes a thought that had been nagging me since I foraged the ground for the first pebble at the lake surfaced.

Was scattering the fake food, the bait, the lure if you prefer, ethical? Was it ethical for me to manipulate the behavior of the ducks to get the image I needed?

With people it's obvious. We would never ask a bride to shove cake in the face of her new husband a second time for the camera, or move a folding chair from the middle to the right third because it helps the composition, or ask a crying toddler to look up after he dropped his ice cream beacuse the green grass makes a better background, but what about with animals?

Do we extend the same ethical limits to animals that we place on humans? Or is their a loophole that excuses animals since they are no more aware of the camera than they are of us?

On the one hand, their behavior is already affected by my presence, on the other hand, tossing fake food is pre-mediated outright consciouses manipulation of reality.

Where do we draw the line?

I'm not sure what the answer is, but in the end I decided to go with the pictures I took before the "fishing" expedition. When it comes to matters like these, I feel I have to be able to answer to myself, and even though the ducks behaved differently since I was around, I see that as something that I can't help, but actively tossing pebbles (side note: I keep wanting to say rocks, but I get the feeling some people will think by rocks I mean giant boulders aimed at poor innocent ducks... pebbles just has a nicer connotation.) is something I can help.

That said, I still really not sure what the right answer is.

What do you think?

The story every journalist covers

So it took nearly two months but it finally happened, I finally got that story that everyone has to cover... gas prices.

It's basically the same story that everyone's shot a million times, in fact I shared a laugh last night with a friend who covered the same story a week prior at her paper.

The challange is to put your own spin on it and make it fresh.

Here's my take.

If those prices seem high, that's nothing. In just one day, the price at my usual spot went to $3.01 this morning at 8am... and was at $3.15 at 8pm as I drove home. And it's not even summer yet. Looks like we can't say, "It'll never go over $3" anymore, anyone want to venture a gamble on $4?

Now here is where I was going to post a pic of a gas prices picture I really think hits the mark, but I can't find it, mostly beacuse it was taken almost three years ago and google has way too many gas prices pictures to find this particular one. But I guess I can describe it and why I liked it.

It's a pretty simple picture and what the photographer did was snap the price board through a window covered in water droplets from the rain and they've selectivly focused on the reflections in the droplets. It's a pretty simple picture, but it's stayed with me over the years becuase it took the ordinary and made it extordinary. Took the hum drum assignment and make it something visually striking. That's what I think we should all strive for on every assignment, if you can't please yourself, it's not good enough. Gee, I only wish I could show this image now. I've probably made it sound like the greatest gas prices picture ever, and for me, it ranks up there pretty high.

Lastly, gas prices keep going up and we have to keep paying... but here's something to help put it all in a lighter light.

Four generations of the Revolution multimedia

Wednesday was a big day for the local Daughters of the American Revolution, a patriotic women’s society limited to lineal descendants of soldiers of the Revolutionary War. The organization added six women to its ranks.

But Wednesday was even more important for 92-year-old Rosemary Arthur of Santa Cruz, who watched as five family members and three generations were among those taking the DAR pledge.

“It’s one of the biggest days of my life,” Arthur said.

Click on the picture for a multimedia presentation and keep an eye out for yours truly (truly) for a cameo apperance that results in a niffty edit that hints at the NYC film school education of my chum and editor.

my first (second... well third) front page...

... but the first that I've seen in the newsstand.

I passed by this kiosk on Pacific Avenue just after sunset as the rain was pouring and I was on my way back to the office dreched by the sudden downpour in nothing but a thin turtle neck sweater (don't tell my mom, she worries).

Two features I shot during the sudden downpour that day.

When I saw it, I was stopped in my tracks. I had seen the paper sitting here and there on benches and desks and it was just another assignment, another job done, but there's something about seeing your first front page from a major daily newspaper staring back at you from it's steal cage of informational canon.

V-Day slideshow

Just like it sounds, it's a Valentine's Day slideshow produced for the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Enjoy!

The elephant seals of Ano Nuevo

A few weeks ago I was afforded the opportunity to travel up the coast and do a story on elephant seals.

I finally got around to working with Ryan and creating some more multimedia content for the web. Just like old times.

I finally went to the beach

After nearly six weeks at the internship in lovely Santa Cruz, I finally made it to the beach, which if you know me is flabbergasting.

I'm the guy my friends know as the one who takes off for the beach when he's bored or wants to clear his head or needs a destination to drive to at 3 a.m. Heck I've surprised myself at how long it's taken me to finally take a trip to the sandy shores. It's almost like I'm a local, just without the six-figure salary or pants with an inordinate amount of zippers running up and down the side.

On Monday I was given an assignment that called for a little trek to a residential coastline in Aptos. There had been a report of tar like balls washing ashore and Wildlife, Fish and Game had been investigating over the previous weekend.

I was sent out to find some art to go with the story. I walked up and down the secluded beach in search of the black gooey orbs, but to no avail. After asking every jogger, dog walker, pebble skipper and one life guard, nearly 20 people in all, I concluded that I better think of another angle.

Of course there were no tar balls on the beach that anyone had seen, but regardless I still had a story to file.

So I went back to the basics and tried to compose a visually appealing image, and got to stalk a few birds and watch the sunset in the process.

Often times the equation in daily work becomes a balancing act of technique and subject. If the subject is lacking then you better spice it up with technique. If your subject is excellent, don't overdo it in style.

I couldn't resist brah

Whoooo! Go Ryan!!!

Ryan Sholin has been testing the multimedia waters with the Santa Cruz Sentinel... and by testing I mean showing people what can be done... and by people I mean editors and writers... and by writers I mean my co-workers... and by co-workers I mean I work there with Ryan.

For a while now, he's been putting up these broadcast style news digests and from the hits I've seen, it's really resonating with the people. It's interesting to see newspapers trying new things.

I may be mistaken, but I believe this is the first time the man behind the lens has stepped out in front... it's true, all directors really want to act. Now how could I resist.

My week in pictures, Jan 21-27

A bit lite this week, with classes at SJSU starting on Wednesday I decided to error on the side of too much free time and only worked one day. So enjoy the two assignments I shot.

As always, please see my Flickr feed for caption info.

The first was about a potential change in the California primary. I was sent to the Register of Voters office to discover a moment. My contact was the county clerk, a very knowledgeable woman who was trying her best to find me a picture. After letting her know that won't be necessary, as I prefer to find my own moments, I politely excused myself from her side and explored. While there I ran into a pair of students from UCSC and explored their space. I found my pictures with them, but I was thinking like a college paper photographer, the students aren't the most intriguing. This paper's reader was 25-80, not 18-25... the students weren't exactly the story. The story was the primaries and the workload on the country clerk and thus I backtracked and focused on her. I'm just glad I realized it while still out on the assignment.

The second assignment of the day was a piece on a wood pellet shortage. I had never heard of these and found the topic intriguing, which helped in making conversation and putting my contact at ease. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, a good attitude and a few prime jokes are reflected in the end result.

So... again, apologies for the skim pickin' this week, but that should change in the coming week. It seems I've earned the favor of the powers that be enough to cover for 2 of the 3 staffers this week as they leave for a golf tournament... I know what you're thinking, they're just giving you the work because you're free intern labor... well I say, "meh, I'll take it!" With gusto even.

My week in pictures Jan. 14-20, 2007

A few weeks ago I embarked on my second internship, and seeing as how I haven't updated the blog as often as I'd like, I thought it might be a good idea to share the work I'm producing.

Things have settled a bit... more like the calm before the storm as SJSU starts up next week... and I figure why not.

For captions please see these images on Flickr.

I haven't been sure just when to reveal that I've been working at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, call it my Asian upbringing but modestly prevails, but I guess this is as good a time as any.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel is daily in the heart of the coastal city whose coverage area reaches from the peaks of the the Santa Cruz Mountains to the north to the Monteray Bay to the south and spreads from Watsonville to the Pacific Ocean laterally. In addition to subscriptions, issues are available in location up and down California and as far north as Washington.

My work thus far has been varied, from coming across rollover accidents on the way to work in the morning to waiting for sun to come out from behind the clouds for a portrait that later ran as a mugshot.

The work you see is from my second week at the SC Sentinel. I questioned myself about continuity, but deemed timeliness the stronger force. Another slideshow with work from the prior week will be coming shortly.