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    • Archive for November, 2015

    A Balmy Evening Brings Thoughts of …


    2015 - 11.25

    Posted in Depression, Photography, Work | No Comments »

    The warmer weather appears to be taking hold, and that means more chances for some outdoor trips before it gets too damn hot to be walking kilometres. Although that said, find the right forest, and a good day without a high chance of fire, and it can be very pleasant under a green canopy with the lens seeking all chances out. A change of work roster means that there’s a good chance of heading off on a Thursday and getting a good couple of days shooting away. As I indicated on my Photography Blog there are several trips in the planning stage, some of which could really benefit from the possibility of a day earlier start. Hopefully I can squeeze at least one in before Christmas Holidays.

    Without the wind being so gusty such evenings as this offer opportunities for some wonderful low light portraits and other shots. There’s something about warm nights & coloured lights that go so well, and the clear nights are wonderful for Night Sky shots.

    Retrospective and Looking Forward…


    2015 - 11.14

    Posted in Depression, Dreams, General, Goals, Photography, Work | No Comments »

    Well as it gets further & further away in time from being at my old workplace, I realise how lucky I was to make the choice to leave when I did. I’m also very lucky in that I have friends willing to help me get through the few months between leaving and getting well enough to go back to work. In speaking to someone from my old workplace today, they remarked “how chipper” I sounded, to which of course I had to answer the truth, “…well I wasn’t working at that place anymore”! Simple but true. Leaving was the final significant action I had to make to break the cycle and step out and regain my life. Now I’ve a new job, new vision, new life, and new found zest for life. I have dreams, and the capacity to work towards achieving them.

    This morning I managed one step closer, after selling my first print from my new Online Store. Certainly I’m not retiring on the proceeds, but it’s a step towards opening that door. So while I was getting the print done for sale, I was also getting a couple of others done that I’d wanted for myself. I’m very happy with the results for all of them.

    Outside of that, nothing much further to report.

    Man the Store Front…


    2015 - 11.07

    Posted in Depression, General, Humour, Photography, Relationships | No Comments »

    Well finally got the new Photography Online Shop “Live” this morning after a few day of testing, mostly by others on my behalf. That’s the beauty of having a network of friends who will provide feedback when you ask for it. Most often it’s helpful and constructive. Anyway most of the suggestions were very helpful and quite a few of them were put into effect.

    I’m happy with how the site’s come up in the end, and it gave me a project this week. I was experiencing a mild bout of Depression over this week. This allowed me to have a focal point with something important and enjoyable to me. Over the next few weeks I’m going to have to get some serious shooting in to add even more content. I also have to update the stock sites with some more stock art too.

    I’ve been very surprised and pleased with the support from friends in helping with the testing. I think that’s enabled a much better opening site and I’m very grateful. It’s good to be able to access such things, now that I’m not experience severe and extended periods of Depression.

    I’ve been officially employed again for almost a month and although I’ve had only one pay so far, I’m pleased to be back at work (part-time) four days a week. Much better than five, and I can really get to like this working week.

    Life is pretty good currently.

    Bondage, Bondage…Oh Sorry I Mean Security…


    2015 - 11.02

    Posted in General, Photography | No Comments »

    Well more Server and Website tightening and other configuration has been going on over the weekend, been long days since friday last. I’ve moved off the self signed certificates, to avoid confusion for all and also made sure the redirects are all working effortlessly for visitors. It won’t matter whether you use an old bookmark or not I should imagine now, you’ll get to any of the blogs using http://whatever or https://whatever and it will resolve correctly. Additionally the certificates should no longer give an error in your browser as they’ve been certified. The andulain.net domain and blogs have been certified by StartTLS while Shard Of Arcadia my new Online Photography Store has been certified by GeoTrust.

    To be frank I’m happy with both, I didn’t require any support for my Shard Of Arcadia domain, but there were some pithy issues with some of the older sites in the andulain.net domain which required some consultation with support from StartTLS and they were AWESOME! They were absolutely fabulous with the amount of knowledge and expertise their first level support demonstrated. If you don’t require a paid level 2 certificate, I thoroughly recommend them. While I’m still on the subject of StartTLS I also decided while I was at it to start certifying my email using a certificate from them too, so you may notice that the next email you receive from me. When I have the spare time I’ll throw the code into the andulan.net domain blogs to give them some credit. They deserve it.

    Now that the work on the less artistic side of the Store is settled, the rest of my free time is now being devoted to having the content up on the Photography Store by the end of this week. All going well from this point and Shards Of Arcadia will be live and open for business. Ok I won’t get rich fast, but I do hope that over time it allows that freedom of choice I’m looking for with regard to my income & time. So the life-size D20 has been rolled!