Johnstown: Third Fastest Shrinking City In The US

According to a list recently released by 24/7 Wall Street, Johnstown and its surrounding area is officially the third fastest shrinking city in the United States, with the only ones listed above it being Pine Bluff, Arizona and Farmington, New Mexico.

When describing Johnstown, 24/7 Wall Street said “Most metro areas with declining populations also have declining economies. Few had as rapidly shrinking GDPs as Johnstown, however. The metro area’s economic output contracted by an average of 2.4% annually between 2011 and 2015. As is common in areas with significant population declines, property values are low in Johnstown. The typical area home is worth only $89,100, one of the lowest median home values of all U.S. metro areas.”

From 2011 to 2016, the population of Johnstown decreased by 5.50 percent, the average household income was a mere $38,512 (compared to the nationwide average of over $50,000), and the unemployment rate was 6.1 percent, versus the nationwide average unemployment rate of 4.7 percent.

Johnstown is shrinking fast, and many are now wondering whether the city will be able to recover, or if it is destined to go the way of so many other small cities-slowly fading into the background over time.

D5100 First Day Review

So, yesterday, after what felt like decades of waiting (even though it was actually less than a week), I finally got my new(-ish) Nikon D5100 in the mail that I ordered from B & H Photo Video. My first impression of the camera was that it was fairly similar to the Nikon D3300 that I was accustomed to shooting with, despite the obvious differences. Many of the functions seemed to be the same, and I had no trouble at all understanding how to operate the D5100 right after I pulled it out of the box.

In the video here, you can see my first thoughts on the D5100 after pulling it out of the box. Then, later last night, after I charged the battery and messed with the camera a little bit, I recorded the video below.

And then, below the video here, you can see some of the photos I've taken with the camera over the last twenty-four hours or so (not quite twenty four.). 

I have enjoyed the camera so far, and haven't really found any big problems with it, but I'll update with a new article possibly in the next few days to tell you about my further experiences with the camera.

Photos

Nikon D3300 Review

Now, I know this review is probably more than a little late, considering that the D3300 has been out for a long while now, and has technically been replace by the D3400, but I still want to write this, because I want to give my opinion on the camera as a teenage amateur photographer.

Now, my school’s journalism department owns the Nikon D3300 with the 18-55mm kit lens, and we also have a collection of older Nikkor lenses that belong to film SLR cameras, but due to Nikon’s choice to keep their lens mount the same, the lenses still work with the D3300-albeit only on manual exposure mode and with no auto focus.

The camera performs fairly well with the kit lens, and it offers a nice little range, from a wide angle to a short telephoto, and works for everything from landscapes to portraits, although it’s not the sharpest lens available.

Nikon D3300 with 18-55mm kit lens.

The camera focuses fairly quickly, but not in like a split-second time, like some other cameras are supposedly able to do.

The camera is fairly easy to use, and I was able to learn the basic, and even some of the more advance controls, in about a week or two, and then I quickly learned how to operate the rest of the camera, to the point where I am now able to use the camera in whatever shooting mode the situation requires, including full manual mode.

Shot In Manual Mode with The Nikon D3300 and 18-55MM Kit lens

With five frames per second continuous shooting, the camera works fairly well in situations where I want to catch a lot of photos in a short amount of time, which isn't very often.

With an Iso range of one hundred to twenty five thousand and six hundred, the D3300 performs fairly well in low light, although the higher ISO's definitely introduce their fair share of noise to your photos, so I recommend shooting at the lowest ISO possible and changing your other settings accordingly.

The D3300 does include a live view mode, although I rarely use it due to several reasons: It lacks and adjustable screen, so even when shooting in live view, the camera needs to be directly in front of you in order for you to see exactly what you are shooting. Also, the focus in live view is not very great, and is much slower than the focus when using the viewfinder to frame your subject.

Overall, the D3300 is a good camera for beginners such as myself, although I wouldn't recommend it to more experienced/professional photographers.

The Champ Is Here!

Carlton Haselrig, former wrestler and pro football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, took some time on Thursday, February 23, 2017, to go into the auditorium of the high school he graduated-Greater Johnstown Senior High School-and speak to a crowd of hundreds of students from Greater Johnstown, Richland, Forest Hills, and Bishop Mccort.

He spoke at length about the importance of the willpower of a man, and how the one thing that can help you succeed in life above all else is to simply never give up.

He also spoke about his own origins in Johnstown, and attending the same school he was in at that moment.

Greater Johnstown Jazz Band

Say "hello" to the fantastic Greater Johnstown Senior High School's Jazz Band. The group has an upcoming concert. They will be performing at the First Lutheran Church on Vine Street, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on April 4th, 2017, at 12:00 P.M. 

I had the honor of holding their photo shoot to provide them with pictures for their promotional campaign, and look forward to seeing them in action.

A great group of talented individuals, consisting of Kate and Emily Knapp, Brady Hess, Marissa Moore, Chase Seelig, Joshua Spencer, Logan Gagan, Amber Kreasko, Luis Lache, Divine Rivera, Tyreis Berry, and Griffin Gagan,the Johnstown Jazz band has existed in several forms over recent years, including as a pep band for a period of time.

The group is headed by Mr. Eric Pfeil, a music teacher at both the high school and the middle school who is also the head of the marching band.

They will also be holding a concert on February 28, the theme of which will be "A Night At Apollo", and will focus on songs from movies, and will also feature poetry readings from other students.