It featured speakers such as Carrie Ching, Kim Komenich and Seth Rosenfeld and included workshops on everything from advanced FOIA to iphone photography.

The downside of the day (for me at least) was that several of the workshops I wanted to attend ran during the same time slot meaning I had to pick one or the other. But this is the nature of larger events and understandably clashes are to be expected. I was also disappointed with the internship seminar as most of the participants were SFSU students and it felt very geared towards that audience. Similarly, it focused on how to find an internship rather than offering advice on how to make the most of internships and then translate that experience to help find an entry level job.

However, I still found the day interesting as much of it focused on multimedia and allowed me to better understand where US publications stand in terms of multimedia and online news development in comparison to Australian ones. Currently, I’m focusing on improving my multimedia skills so viewing something like Carrie Ching’s production, In Jennifer’s Room, opened my eyes to what I suppose is the direction journalism is headed. And personally, I am really excited.

Here are a few gems of advice that I took away from the day:

- Be technologically fearless. Don’t let technology get in the way because you know more than you think you do.

Kim Komenich’s lecture entitled ‘Multimedia on the cheap’ was exactly that: how to be a poorly paid journalist and still delve into the world of multimedia without fancy gear. Aside from this he encouraged the audience to use the journalistic skills they already possess and pursue multimedia stories no matter how basic they are.

- Seek intimacy in interviews. Have people introduce themselves three times: beginning, middle, end. 

Mike Kepka is a photographer and multimedia producer for the San Francisco Chronicle. His series ‘the City Exposed’ focuses on interesting characters in San Francisco and it is essentially these characters that makes SF so unique. Kepka deconstructed one of his multimedia pieces, The Trumpet Kid, and discussed everything from interviewing techniques to those all important shots that will save your butt while filming and editing. Aside  from the tips above, he also mentioned that what you think is the best quote, often has to be cut out first. For someone who finds it difficult to aggressively self edit, this is a piece of advice that should be taken and applied to every feature article/multimedia piece/news story/radio segment.

- Bad audio sucks. 

Every multimedia presentation reiterated this point: even in multimedia pieces audio drives the piece. Without quality audio, you have nothing. I always thought good video drove a piece but as I learnt, especially in Carrie Ching’s talk, that if you have great audio, you can work with the rest. Some key tips were: always check your levels, if worst comes to worst do the interview in a car and never let the interviewee hold the microphone.

- Be adaptable. Be flexible. Be resilient. 

Carol Pogash was the keynote speaker and much of her talk centered on being flexible and adaptable – advice which is more important than ever. She has no background in journalism yet has worked as a TV anchor, news reporter, author, feature writer, editor and more. So while she is a jack of all trades, she is also a master of many and therein lies the difference. Pogash explained just how obsessed she is with her work and how this has meant she makes very few mistakes (only one in her career) and is now known for her quality reporting. While Pogash comes from an era when getting a journo job meant annoying an editor long enough to get an internship gig and eventually landing yourself a job borne from it, she is no stranger to the tough job market of today and therein lies the ‘nut graph’ of her advice: be adaptable.

- Passion is critical.

Just weeks ago the website, Career Cast deemed newspaper reporter the worst job in 2013. So if journalism is poorly paid, has little job stability, very few job openings and greater demands on journalists – why stick with it? I ask myself this question a lot and often the best answer I come up with is: because this is where my passion lies. This was also reiterated by journalists throughout the day and it was somewhat comforting to know that despite all the changes, cuts and instability – they are still passionate about what they do.

Nancy DeStefanis counting the Blue Heron chicks at Stow Lake. Photo: Alessandra Bergamin.

I was there to write about the Great Blue Heron colony at Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park of which Nancy was the first to discover some 20 years ago. She now runs Heron Watch- a program designed to educate visitors and school kids about the colony and more so, this majestic bird.

I am relatively new to the environmental journalism world and slowly, I am getting used to writing feature stories where the main character is a place, rather than a person. But this was an instance where the person was as much a character as the place and so I chose to interweave the life of the Blue Heron colony with that of Nancy DeStefanis. As now, when I think about it, it is hard to imagine one without the other.

You can read the story published on Bay Nature here.

I’ve also been feeling inspired and blogging quite a lot at The Backpacker Collective so check it out!

I’m planning on writing something more substantial about the life of an intern but I am quite excited and proud to announce that slowly my photography skills are getting better and a few photos have made it to Bay Nature online.

Check them out here.

Squinting into the horizon, I duck my head out the window and into the hot, fast wind that makes tears form in the crinkles around my eyes. We are driving northbound along the Indian Ocean Highway, Western Australia. Since leaving Perth’s cityscape behind, it has been a sea of blackened grass trees, weedy shrubs and bulbous succulents and so far, we are doubtful the road has been aptly named.

It is still early, but outside the air conditioned car the heat is already a searing 36 degrees. Under the weight of the sun, the plants pulse in hyper-colour and amid the flurry of green disappearing behind us, the reds and purples of wild flowers dot the landscape.

We are headed to ‘Nambung National Park,’ famous for its diversity of flora and fauna, idyllic waters and limestone formations that define Western Australia’s Turquoise Coast.

The ocean finally comes into sight, the horizon line barely distinguishable from the blanket blue sky sprawled above us. It is that archetypal Western Australian setting where land suddenly meets sea and the unforgiving sun is met by its counter. Here, the bay is protected from Indian Ocean swells by the outer reefs and islands, and the water appears clear and still.

Lake Thetis Stromatolites

Our first stop is ‘Lake Thetis,’ one of the few places in the world that boasts ‘Stromatolites’ or ‘living fossils.’ Formed in shallow water by the cementation of sediment and cyanobacteria, these Stromatolites are said to date back some 3,370 years and serve as a reminder of the ancient and fragile continent we inhabit.

Nambung is also home to some of Australia’s much loved native animals and perched in the centre of the lake sit three black water birds, their downturned beaks and glistening feathers silhouetted against the canvas sky. Circling the Lake, we spot two Western Grey Kangaroos grazing among the shrubs and grassland. Known for their acute hearing, we have time to edge forward only a few steps before the Kangaroos rise to their hind legs and hop into the bush.

As the late afternoon approaches, we enter Nambung National Park’s ‘Pinnacles Desert.’ The Australian desert is often characterized as a tirelessly flat landscape such as that of the Nullabor Plain or Simpson Desert, yet Pinnacles is somewhat of an otherworldly scene; infamous for its limestone formations scattered across the yellow sand.

Pinnacles- Nambung National Park

While some of these formations are tall and thin as if they have been stretched towards the sky, others have formed miniature mountain ranges of rising peaks and concaved valleys. On the tallest of them, the limestone is visibly stratified showing each layer of seashell sediment that has settled upon the prior.

With sunset nearing, a cool breeze begins to pick up, rippling white cloud across the sky.This is one of the best times to visit the Pinnacles not only because of the more temperate climate, but for the spectacular light show that comes with sunrise and sunset. A viewing platform provides a panoramic shot of the endless peaks and troughs, the still yellow sand void of plant life and the dozen other people exploring the park.

And as the sky shifts from its dulcet blue to that cocktail of sunset reds, we sit on the bonnet of the car and watch, as the changing light casts its shadows across the landscape and the sun makes its slow descent into darkness.

More information about travelling in Western Australia can be found here. 

Towards the end of November, I drove down the Great Ocean Road for a few nights of hiking and camping. While Torquay, Lorne and the Twelve Apostles are perhaps the most well known and popular stops, it was the coast front campsites, koalas dozing in their gum trees and ferny undergrowth of the Otway Ranges that won my heart.

Camera in tow, I tried to capture not only my own roadtrip, but the diversity of flora, fauna and habitats that makes the Great Ocean Road, truly great.

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Victoria's Great Ocean Road is one of the State's most famous and beautiful, scenic drives. Spanning some 235km, the road passes through coastal, rural and rainforest environments between Torquay and Warrnambool.

Coincidentally, there was a Marriage Equality rally outside the Victorian State Library on the same day. While it proved a great scene to practice taking photographs, it is a sad reality that there is still a need to rally for something like marriage equality, when it should be a given.

Here are a few photos from the day, they’re not the best, but they’re a start!

Ignoring the knots in my stomach, borne from the unknown of home, I decided to kill some time in Hudson Booksellers. After an hour of flipping through ‘National Geographic’ and browsing the non- fiction section,  I walked out with Lonely Planet’s, ‘A House Somewhere: Tales Of Life Abroad.’ As the name suggests, the book is a collection of stories about living abroad and in hindsight, was probably not the best thing to read as my own adventure was coming to a close.

We often do things to appease our appetite for travel when we’re not actually traveling. For some, it is learning to salsa in a seedy Latin bar while others may eat at every Italian restaurant in search of their favorite Florentine soup. For me, it is all about books.

I was first recommended, ‘To Timbuktu,’ by an eccentric American couple, Louise and Joe,* who I met while interning in Nicaragua. They are the kind of people I couldn’t make up if I tried; Louise would tell me how Joe wooed her by translating Latin love poetry and in the next instance, Joe would be playing an acoustic, ukulele cover of Ke$ha and segue into a rendition of ‘Land Down Under.’

From my time spent with them, I knew I had to read this book.

‘To Timbuktu,’ written by Casey Scieszka and illustrated by Steven Weinberg is, at its core, about the couple’s first two years out of University; living, working and adventuring abroad. Spanning nine countries and dozens of cities and towns, they venture from Morocco to China and eventually, all the way to Timbuktu. It is a funny and endearing look at the reality of living and working in a non- Western environment and a fresh take on a genre that can be contrived and overdone.

Scieszka’s writing is simple but thoughtful, making incisive observations about cultural differences, the tourist industry and the challenges of living abroad, without losing the overall light- hearted tone of the book.The narrative progresses from the initial honeymoon days of long- term travel, to the harder, final months when the dust and the differences begin to take their toll. Most people who have lived, worked or studied abroad are familiar with this feeling of frustration and doubt that, on a bad day, can linger, forcing you to question what you’re actually doing. It is this balance achieved between the joy of travel and its more sobering days, that sets the book in its reality and is insightful without being overtly reflective.

While I am a travel photography fiend, Weinberg’s drawings are a welcomed change from the rolling hills and orange- hued sunsets that inundate this field and are perhaps, the most fitting way of illustrating their often kooky lives. There’s a consistency between his drawings that is reminiscent of a comic strip but not at all repetitive. Instead, Weinberg’s artistry creates the feeling that each image was sketched on a whim and in doing so, helps keep the images alive.

But what makes this book so unique is the way in which the pictures and text are seamlessly intertwined and in doing so, allows both to dictate the pace of the narrative. For example, landscapes and maps act as chapter breaks while single character sketches serve as interesting eye candy in the middle of a double page of text. It is perhaps the perfect way of telling a story that is centered around two people and their encounters with interesting people in far away places and Scieszka and Weinberg do it with humor, creativity and honesty.

There was something strangely comforting about this book; perhaps because I’m a recent graduate, a writer, a traveler or currently in a cross- continent relationship but there is an underlying idea that if you are motivated and passionate enough about something (or even someone) you will make things work. And it serves as a reminder that sometimes, a little frivolity, can go a long way.

The website is also really great; check out the interactive map.

* Not their real names

So here’s a recent post, I wrote about the sometimes negative impact of ‘voluntourism.’

Enjoy!

The darker side of ‘voluntourism’

Four of the young women taking the traineeship

I was 19 when I first travelled abroad to volunteer in Kenya. Decked out in cargo pants and carrying a backpack full of hand sanitizer provided by my mum, I arrived in Ngong, a town about an hour outside of Nairobi at the foot of the Ngong Hills. After a quick Swahili lesson and my first foray into a goat BBQ restaurant, I moved into my new home; a local Orphanage and community centre. While there were a myriad of cheap, local hotels I was told my rent would help contribute to the running costs of the centre and was the best option. And I loved it; from waking up to roosters just as dawn broke, to helping the house-mum make sure lights were out in the evening, it felt as though I were part of a family.

But my actual volunteering involved teaching young women from the nearby slum, basic computer skills as part of a traineeship the centre was running. These girls, roughly the same age as myself, had sass, personality and and a love for chatting about boys, boyfriends and Beyonce. They laughed at my haphazard Swahili and taught me to pronounce ‘Ngong’ and in turn, I tried as best I could to explain the world of computers, all while using one that didn’t actually turn on.

After a few weeks, a string of donors and volunteers began arriving; in some cases, bringing their grandchildren to see ‘Africa’ while staying at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Nairobi. It was then that I began to hear people demand to see what their money had paid for, disrupt the women’s regular training lessons and expect the children to sing Western, Christian songs over their own. This is the dark side of ‘voluntourism.’

As writer and photographer, Tom Perry writes, ‘voluntourism’ is, in some cases, making ‘responsible’ travel, irresponsible and leading to a push against volunteering abroad. As someone who has volunteered in a few different capacities, I understand why travellers want to volunteer, particularly in impoverished countries. But it becomes dangerous when we slip into the mindset that it’s okay to teach English for a week in Peru or pop into a Cambodian orphanage for a day, simply because they have so little, that something must be of help. Right? Wrong.

Short- term volunteer placements or day visits not only pose dangers to children in schools and orphanages but undermine the capacity of local staff to deliver adequate schooling or care. While many organisations continue to accept volunteers others, especially those in direct contact with children, are beginning to close their doors.

Last year I undertook a media internship in Nicaragua with an organisation working with sugar cane communities and advocating on behalf of workers and residents. Based in the sweltering city of Leon, my time was divided between working in the office and documenting the community in the rural town of Chichigalpa. I loved everything about going to the community;  crossing the dry season river, waving to community leader, Don Juan on his motorbike and hearing the shrieks of laughter from the English class as they wrestled with words such as ‘stomach’. But in all its un-sexiness, it was my work in the office, with the stifling humidity and monotony of the computer screen, that was most beneficial to the organisation and community.

Everyone travels for a different reason; for some it is good food while others chase the snow season around the world. And volunteering abroad, when done responsibly, is a very valid reason to travel. But the nature of volunteering is that your expectations may not meet the needs of the organisation and rather than helping, you may hinder their development. So before you go, think about what you want to achieve not for yourself, but the community you are hoping to help.

Photograph courtesy of 'E-waste Research Group', Griffith University

I own a Nokia mobile phone.

The kind that has a shoddy 2 mega pixel camera, where the buttons make clicking noises and the only thing that happens when I touch the screen is that it looks slightly cleaner.

As you can imagine, this little Nokia not only receives much laughter and incredulity, but also transports people down memory lane to their first beloved Nokia or even, first phone.

As someone hoping to become a journalist this is, as you can imagine; problematic. I can’t tweet, blog or facebook on the train, I don’t have an ABC, BBC or NYT app to read on the tram and I can’t entertain myself trawling through the internet and reading all sorts of useless things.

My laptop is not in any better shape. Back in 2009, it was one of the newly released ASUS net books but now, against smaller and sleeker versions, let alone tablets, it looks old and outdated. Not to mention, I am one of the only people who can press on the SD card reader at the right angle to make it work or maneuver the crazy mouse pad and buttons.

Amid this outdated technology, I have considered and researched my options. Should I; get a Mac laptop, get a smart phone, get a kindle, get an i- phone, get a tablet, get some other kind of e- reader or get an i-pad?

After much debate, I am still stuck in the early 2000′s, not because of indecisiveness, but more so, environmental awareness.

According to ‘The European Environment Agency’ and ‘UNEP,’ 40-50 million tonnes of electrical equipment waste are produced each year globally. Most of this waste ends up in landfill, can can be shipped to places such as dump sites in Kenya and India. For people who depend upon scavenging in waste for resalable items, electronic waste is seemingly heaven sent as the list of elements and metals inside range from the toxic to the non- toxic and includes; arsenic,  mercury, copper and gold. To access these metals, however, the plastic coating on electronic goods needs to be removed, often through mass burning, and can lead to health issues including respiratory problems and increased cancer risk as well as ecological problems such as soil and water contamination.

While new technology is improving our lives and bringing the world ‘closer’ together, recycling, reusing or disposing of electronic waste, has not kept up with technological advances and we are seeing a rapid obsolescence of electrical goods worldwide. There are however, ways to minimise waste through organisations such as MobileMuster, who recycle mobile phones or through reselling goods on Ebay or Gumtree.

For now, I have decided to keep my archaic Nokia phone and decrepit laptop until they become unusable and perhaps play old school snake on my phone or better yet, just read book on the train.