My encounter with Dave Jenett:

My initial reaction when meeting Dave Jenett was, simply, “wow.” The minute I locked eyes with this man I could feel the enthusiasm that he holds for just plain life. I could quickly tell that he would be one of the kind of people which I very rarely meet in life that allow me, stressed by inclination and habit, to calm down for a minute and smile. To allow myself to be convinced that, hey, maybe the world isn't really all that bad, after all. And if and when that proves not to be the case all the time, at least it is in the few moments of recollection of good, bad, exciting and interesting times in Dave's life.

I don't normally pay much attention to war and politics, since I generally don't believe in them, so I was expecting this interview to be confusing and taxing for me, but I must say it was strange hearing Dave's experiences through his optimistic eyes. He very often used the words “exciting” and mentioned “laughing” quite a bit. This was jarring to me, I would never expect that fighting in a war would allow a second for laughter, excitement in the form of fright, sure, but not laughing! His appreciation for the little things, and eagerness and willingness to laugh in the face of danger was quite inspiring. 

I related very well to his belief that he says, “Here I am, 85 year's old, and I'm still a kid!... I never grew up!” I often feel this way, finding myself laughing at childish jokes, or thinking things silly and off topic while I daydream more often than live in the real world. This, I think, may be the key to happiness. One of them, at least. If I can hold on to my child-like outlook on life, and somehow force myself to adopt the appreciation of life that Dave holds, and allow myself to laugh in the face of danger, maybe then I will truly be happy and live a very long and rewarding life.

I learned from speaking briefly with Dave, that I have been living my life in some ways that will let me grow to be similar to him in his old age, completely appreciative of having been able to experience all the things he has. I am a strong believer of living for the moment, and living in spontaneity. Life gets too damn boring, otherwise. I also learned which things to tweak in my life in order to push my appreciation for plain and simple living just a little bit farther. Even if Dave had a childhood void of self-confidence, he grew into himself and learned how to make the most of life.

photoanimation

working out is crappy.

Interviewing Tips

When scheduling an interview it's important to research your subject in order to be prepared.

It's important to:

- Listen  
By listening it helps the interviewer to form additional
follow-up questions. In addition it encourages the interviewee to feel
comfortable, allowing them to give more info, since they feel as
though the interviewer cares.

- Be Prepared 
 Questions, have them ready.

- Environment 
 keep in mind of the location where the interview will be
held. Its important to hold an interview in an Non-controlled
environment, while being mindful of possible different styles. For
example if the interviewee is an intimidating persona, then hold the
interview in a neutral environment.

-Practice Non-Judgement 
make sure not to card-stock to avoid
propaganda... Best to avoid biases.

-Have Questions  
ready, actively listen to pose follow-up question.

-Avoid yes/no question, pose Open Ended Questions 
to get a more elaborate response. This helps to get more of the story.

-Allow room for Silence 
this motivates the interviewee to filled the void by speaking more.

The more comfortable the interviewee, the more likely they are to open up.

interview release form

photo tips

Facebook Finds Lost Art

Facebook Finds Lost Art

Facebook has become a household name as it is the most popular social networking website to date. With over 600 million active users, Facebook has proven to be an excellent tool for finding people outside of your own network of friends.

Drawings and paintings by the late Jerry Jasinski who passed away 13 years ago, were recently recovered using the social networking site Facebook. Until now, much of Jasinski’s commercial print art had been sold previous to his passing, or ended up proving itself to be too obscure to recover from commercial magazines or advertising agencies. This left Jasinski’s only son, Christian Jasinski in possession of very few pieces of his father’s art in which to remember him by.  A large amount of Jasinski’s art was reunited with Christian through Faceboook by an ex-lover of his father.

Jerry Jasinski, a successful graphic artist, worked in the commercial print and advertising field for more than two decades.  Over the course of his career, in addition to his professional work, he produced hundreds of personal pieces, both finished and unfinished.  At the age of 18 Christian Jasinski lost his father. “I was never that close with my dad, but I respected him,” says Christian, “He was an amazing artist and I was lucky enough to learn a lot from him, I wish that I had taken his work more seriously while he was alive.”  Because of this, Christian found himself possessing little of his father’s art after his passing.

In February of 2011, Christian was contacted by Betty*, ex-lover of his father, after she had found him on Facebook.  Betty had been trying to get in contact with Christian for some time using other means but to no avail.  It was then that she decided to turn to Facebook for her search.  Though the two had never met, they were both aware of each other’s existence  due to the fact that Jasinski and Betty had dated when Christian was a young teen.  Christian was not alarmed but was pleasantly surprised to find a message from her in his inbox.  Previously, Christian had not been in touch with anyone from his father’s past.

After speaking back and forth for a couple of days Christian learned that she had quite a collection of his father’s paintings, drawing, and prints, totalling almost thirty pieces. This collection amounted to far more than Christian had inherited when his father passed away.  He was astonished to learn that this much of his father’s art still existed. When Betty learned of how Christian possessed only a few pieces of his father’s work, she came to realize how important her collection would be to Jasinski’s only son. She then came to grips with parting with Jasinski’s art, which she had grown to cherish. Betty decided the best thing to do would be to mail all the works to Christian. Upon receiving the art, Christian was overwhelmed with appreciation, and did not know how to thank Betty.

As an artist of many mediums, Christian decided to take advantage of this rediscovered collection. In order to pay homage to his late father, Christian plans to share the completed works, as well as commission other artists to restore or complete the unfinished or uncolored pieces.  Upon restoration, the collection will be displayed in a small public gallery in downtown Los Angeles in the coming months.

*name changed at request for privacy

week 3 notes

 

When taking photos and embedding for an article/story, think about:

• the limitations of photography
• capturing the shot you want
• how to frame your subject
• how will you convey the emotion you are trying to capture
• a good idea is to shoot big, since you can shrink but not enlarge due to pixelization
• don't forget to compress for web optimization!

Lighting Types:

• natural: ambient or available
• flash
• both

be creative and don't let limitations set you back. think outside the box!