Spotlight Series: Diana Baldrica

Walk past the Bookstore/Student Store to the Applied Technology Division. Room T-401 is where you’ll find Photography teacher Diana Baldrica who has been teaching at Fresno City College since 2010. She’s not just a teacher at FCC but comes with hands on experience once being a photographer for the Fresno Bee for 24 years.

Photography wasn’t always a dream career of hers, nor was it a thought in her mind until she witnessed the magic of frozen images from her older brother while they both attended Fresno State. “I have an older brother that was going to school for archaeology and he would use photography to document the sights and the stuff they were doing,” Baldrica said. “When I saw the magic of how it happened, I was taken by that and I said to myself, ‘I want to do that’.”

During this time, Baldrica was majoring in Art and wanting to use her creativity through painting and drawing. After taking one photo class at Fresno State, she was hooked and found a new love called photography.

Photos aren’t just a piece of paper with images on it and Mrs. Baldrica explained why photography is an art. “It’s magic it stops time in it’s tracks,” Baldrica said. “It’s the only thing that can stop and freeze the moment and has the ability to sear in into our minds and that to me is the magic and to be able to do that I thought was really something special.”

After graduating from Fresno State with her degree, she would take her talents and passion of photography in 1985 to the Fresno Bee where she became a photo journalist. She enjoyed being a photo journalist and knew the things that she had the opportunity to accomplish and be privileged to do things with it.

“You get to be like a fly on the wall. You get to observe people in situations that in most cases you wouldn’t be privileged to do,” Baldrica said. “You’re privileged to be able to observe, record, and be true to the nature of what’s happening.”

She also explains how being a journalist can show the true side of people. “When you do that, it opens up your point of view. It opens you up so much because you realize we’re all the same” Baldrica said. “We all experience tragedy and happiness and they exhibit those emotions in ways we can all relate to.”