Diane Askew(1965-2021)
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Diane Elizabeth Askew was born in Newcastle, England, on August 6, 1965. She moved to the United States with her family in 1979, settling in Chicago, and then in Mountain View, California. Diane attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she received a B.A. degree in Anthropology (1992). In 1991, Diane moved to Sonoma County, just north of San Francisco, after marrying Breck Parkman, an archaeologist and storyteller. Breck enjoyed photography and quickly realized that Diane had a remarkable gift, a true "photographer's eye." Breck convinced Diane to explore her abilities as a photographer. The two of them went on numerous photography outings to places as far away as New Mexico, Alaska, and British Columbia. Diane enrolled in photography classes at Santa Rosa Junior College and took every course they had to offer. She later interned with a local wedding photographer, Dwight Caswell. After working as Dwight's assistant, Diane went on to become a wedding photographer herself and spent the next several decades photographing hundreds of Wine Country weddings in the northern San Francisco Bay area. Diane was a great wedding photographer, but her real passion was for nature photography. She especially enjoyed photographing birds, both at a rookery near her home in Sonoma County and on Sanibel Island in Southwest Florida. In the final years of her life, Diane became a photojournalist, something she had always dreamed of doing. She shot photos for local interest stories, including protest marches and wildfires. Diane's photos appeared in local newspapers and journals, and were occasionally featured in art exhibits. Her photos were also used in two documentaries about the disastrous Tubbs Fire of 2017. Diane gave birth to a son, Jon Parkman, in 2006. Six years later, she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Determined to beat the illness, Diane waged a heroic battle for nine years. Regrettably, she lost that battle on December 23, 2021. Diane's son and family spread her ashes in the Valley of the Moon, at a spot she called her "happy place."