Golden Gate Bridge, originally uploaded by Sienar.

Just returned from a trip to San Fransisco, California and what an experience! San Fransisco definitely ranks up there as one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. It was a photographers paradise with a combination of man-made structures, nature and city life. This is a shot of the world famous Golden Gate Bridge just as the fog started to roll in. The fog moves very quickly here because of the strong winds. I heard a few others around me complaining about the fog ruining their shots of the bridge, but I was actually hoping of this! I think it adds a bit of mystery to it.

I also have a shot of the bridge against a clear sky, but that will come with a mass upload of all the photos I shot during my visit so keep an eye out for that.

Now it is mine again. It was not easy to secure the name. The person that had purchased it refused to make any contact with me, but after some time to think this through I was able to strike back! Worth the effort and the feeling of success is great.

After going through the long and tedious process of moving everything from the original server to reference the new domain name I’ve decided to just keep everything here. I like it here. The only thing that will change is that if you visit mangoandpeaches.com it will automatically redirect you here. So everything works again. My original email address is restored after 2 years and now I just have more email accounts than ever.

Hello.

I’m back home after an excellent and relaxing vacation spent on a beach off the west coast of Florida, which is still oil free! And don’t let the photo fool you because the time I spent there with my family and friends was beautiful. I just wanted to post this photo quickly because it is the first time I have successfully captured lighting with a camera! Very exciting for me

I will be uploading some of the photos as I finish sorting them all out, but I’m not sure how soon that will be. Currently I am organizing myself to get caught-up with the work that piled up while I was away while still trying to enjoy my time off.

I will be leaving for San Francisco in a few days so it will be a very busy week for sure. And the photos will most certainly pile up and keep me busy for a while.

More to come soon!

If you were ever confused about the changes that have been made, or if you just clicked “OK” without reading any of the new terms of service like 95% of the population does, here are a few things you should definitely know about:

1. Facebook will not let you share any of this information without using Connections. You cannot opt-out of Connections. If you refuse to play ball, Facebook will remove all unlinked information from your profile.

2. Facebook will not respect your old privacy settings in this transition. For example, if you had previously sought to share your Interests with “Only Friends,” Facebook will now ignore this and share your Connections with “Everyone.”

3. Facebook has removed your ability to restrict its use of this information. The new privacy controls only affect your information’s “Visibility,” not whether it is “publicly available.”

Explaining what “publicly available” means, Facebook writes: “Such information may, for example, be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), be indexed by third party search engines, and be imported, exported, distributed, and redistributed by us and others without privacy limitations.”

4. Facebook will continue to store and use your Connections even after you delete them. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. Even after you “delete” profile information, Facebook will remember it. We’ve also received reports that Facebook continues to use deleted profile information to help people find you through Facebook’s search engine.

5. Facebook sometimes creates a Connection when you “Like” something. That “Like” button you see all over Facebook, and now all over the web? It too can sometimes add a Connection to your profile, without you even knowing it.

6. Facebook sometimes creates a Connection when you post to your wall. If you use the name of a Connection in a post on your wall, it may show up on the Connection Page, without you even knowing it. (For example, if you use the word “FBI” in a post).

Be careful my friends. These things, however insignificant they may seem to you, SHOULD NOT be taken lightly.

Vancouver2010, originally uploaded by Sienar.

Howdy! Just stopping by the old blog to keep it somewhat updated. I received an email recently which I have received before asking If I still painted and did artsy stuff outside Photography. Well the answer is yes indeed I do! I love all that artsy stuff!

Granted most of my free time has been dedicated to photography and that’s mainly due to the large amount of photos I have taken the past few months, but the rise in the amount of workload I have taken on has also had a significant effect on my drawing & painting time
Most of my digital paintings have been commissioned work that I don’t share online. Sorry! Only my clients get to see the artwork they request and it’s up to them to share the work with whomever they want.

Still, I do keep a sketchbook that I update on a regular basis. I can never go more than a couple of days without sketching or doodling something on a piece of paper. That is how I get ideas out of my head, even with photography I’ve been getting into the habit of sketching out a few ideas I’d like to execute with the camera.

Anyways the top image if you don’t follow my Flickr photostream is a quick Photoshop painting I created while watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

And on a random note:
I have come to realize why I tend to neglect actually posting new content here. This used to be where I shared links and other interesting stuff I find on the web and twitter/facebook took the place of that by offering a streamlined method of sharing content with the masses. Why would someone visit a webpage if all they need to do is log into facebook and get a condensed stream of everyones content? No real need if you think about it. For me I never have to log into my blog, all I have to do is post a link on twitter and everyone has access to it while Tumblr & Flickr offer easier methods of sharing my images.

However, I feel that this new method of experiencing the internet, which is being consumed by the masses, is resulting in literally, information overload.

- Too much (more updates than are really necessary)
- Too fast (real time updates make everyone who is away from a computer for a day or two feel outdated)
- Lack of quality (I don’t play Farmville, don’t care about getting updates on that)

So far we’ve been offered relatively limited tools to control what updates we see and information filtering considering the amount of information that is generated on a daily basis. I’m eager to see what is developed to solve this situation.

I’m keeping this site going because It’s mine. Plain & Simple. On this site I try to collect content that is worth archiving (at least for myself). It’s a great place to write long posts like this one. I still try to collect my content across the other sites I use and keep them linked here somehow. And even though the website & content has changed I’ve been keeping this site updated for a few years now. No reason to stop.

Sorry for the rant. I think and type fast without really thinking if that makes any sense.

A video that is both informative & entertaining.

I’ve been hosting some of my portfolio pieces on this website I found a little while ago called raveal. It’s a simple way to keep myself searchable and a great resource for anyone looking for an artist for freelance & commissioned work. They recently asked for my permission to showcase my work on the main site. I agreed and they threw me into the rotation. I’ve actually had 2 different individuals contact me by way of this site. I should probably update it with some new work too

WELL IT IS!
Hooray for typesetting & the individuals that make it look good!