Gunnsteinn Jonsson's blog ^pro

It is amazing how quickly time passes. It feels like yesterday to me when I was sitting here and saying good by to my Ipernity friends because I was going home for Christmas.

Well I am back on the ship again. I promised my self I would take many photos while I was at home so I had something to post when I came back, but I am sorry to say that I did not do that. I took few hundred photos of my family like always, but not much else than that. I tried a few times to go out for a drive with my camera but I did not see anything worth shooting at. I blamed it on the weather, but when I see all the beautiful photos people have been taken at this time of the year, I see that I have no excuse :)

When I go home for holidays I don't spend much time in front of the computer, and because of that I have not been very active on Ipernity lately. Now when I am back on the ship I will have more time to go through your photos. I will be doing that in the next few days :)

 

Hello and good by to all my Ipernitly friends :)

This trip is finished so I have to say goodbye for now. I have been at sea for over two months, so it is time for me to go home to my family :) I will be home until the beginning of February, and because I try not to spend too much time in front of the computer while I am at home, I won't be very active here on Ipernity. I will defiantly look once in a while to see how all of you are doing, but I am sure I won't be able to post many photos.

When are you comming home pabb…

 

My little lady’s are waiting for their father to come home and I can’t wait to give my wonderful little girls a hug and a kiss when I see them :) I took this photo in November last year when Anja was only five months old. She is seventeen months old now so she might come running towards me with her big sister when they see me at the airport :) I will have to try to remember to give my wonderful wife a hug and a kiss to let her know I missed her also :)

 

 

 

 

I hope all of you will have wonderful holidays :) Remember to keep the cameras shooting :)

Best regards,

Gunnsteinn :)

I have been a member on Ipernity since August 9^th 2007 and I have been a member on Flickr for a year now. I am still using both sites and I am sure I will continue to do that. One of the reasons why I signed up here in stet of only staying at Flickr, was because I liked to have blog, though I was not sure what to do with it, and also because I was able to store video and music; which I actually have not done so far :)

I had only been here for three weeks when I wrote in my blog that I was getting bored. I thought this site was too slow and that there was so little activity here. I did not like the fact that we did not have any groups and I also complained allot about “What’s hot” because that site was as boring and static as it possibly could be. Now less than three months later, (it actually feels likes two years because I have been in front of the screen for so long) I am enjoying this site as much- or even more than my Flickr site. We have groups here now but I am not using them as much as I thought I would, and I have to admit that most of the time I even forget they exist :) I was one of the people that shouted the loudest for groups, and though I am still sure that having groups adds to the fun, it is not as vital to keep Ipernity alive as I thought :)

This community has always been a little bit different than the community on flickr, and I am sure it has nothing to do with having groups or not. One of the reasons why I think Ipernity is a little bit different and more personal is the fact that we are able to see who has been visiting our site and because of how we are able to reply directly to comments we get. That part makes most of us communicate more with our friends than we would do on flickr.

The site “What’s hot” has changed a little bit for the better, but the biggest change so far is the fact that I have one photo there now :) Jibby ja jay :) This is my first photo there so I am very happy about that :) I can even admit that I have been looking at “What’s hot” every ten minutes to see how my baby is doing :) Everyone who has read this far knows that I am only trying to promote my photo with this blog, so please play along and vote for “Banff National Park” and keep me happy :)

I think “what’s hot” needs a facelift. I know how happy and exited I got when I saw my photo being posted there so I know it would be a good idea for our hard working Iperntiy staff to try to find a way to change that site again. It would be nice if more of our fellow members could see their own work there, and it would also be nice if we could see photos from more Iperntiy members. Allot of members are posting great photos every

Banff National Park in Canada

day so I think we need to get photos through “What’s hot” more quickly. It might even be a good idea to have few more sites that works similar to “What’s hot”. What’s hot might be like it is today but photos would not stay there for more than a week. We could have three more sites, Gold Silver and Bronze, and in those sites we would be able to …….. bla bla bla … I have not thought this over so I will have to put my trust in our great Ipernity staff to find a solution :) I like how this works at Flickr, but I am afraid that if I mention that site, no one will read this blog :)

I know our staff is probably working hard every day to make this site better so I just want to say, keep up the good work guys :)

My holidays are over so I am back on the ship again. This means also that I am back here at Ipernity :)

I had a terrible experience just before I left Vancouver. I usually take allot of photos of my family and some other photos while I have holidays, and the only thing I do with these photos while I am at home is to download them into my computer. I do that so I am not spending too much time in front of the computer editing photos while I am with my family.

The same day as my holidays were over I wanted to copy everything to my external hard drive so I could take it with me to the ship, but my computer did not start. I did not have much time, so I took my computer in a hurry in for repair, only to find out that my hard disk was dead. I was told that there was nothing they could do to try to retrieve my photos from that disk. I knew that these photos were nothing special, but as soon as I found out I could not get them back I felt sick in my stomach. I felt like someone had died. The technician I was talking to probably saw how upset I got so he told me that I did not have to worry because the computer was under warranty. I didn’t care less about the computer; I only wanted my photos back.

After talking to this technician for a while I told him that I did not believe that some computer specialist could not get my photos back. I asked him to fix my computer but I told him I wanted my old disk back, because I was going to take it to someone who knew something about computers. He told me that I could not get the hard drive because the computer was under manufactures warranty so they had to send the drive back to HP.

After carefully choosing some nice word to say about how capable I thought they were, I stormed out with my computer in my hand. One year earlier I had a bad experience at this same store so I told them I would never buy anything from them again because they did not know what they were doing. When I came out of the store I realized I had forgotten I was on my motorcycle. My wife had followed me on our car to the store with the computer, but she had already left. I tried to drive the motorcycle with the computer in my arms but it was impossible.

I went back to the store to ask if they could hold on to my computer while I got my car. I felt a little bit embarrassed to ask because I did not behave very nicely when I left. I was pleased when someone that I had not shouted at asked if he could help me. I told him what had happened earlier and the reason why I was so upset. I also told him that I had changed my mind about taking the computer to someone else, so I asked him to fix it for me. I would pay for it thought it was under warranty because I wanted my hard drive back. He told me that while the computer was under warranty it was their job to try to retrieve what was on the disk before they replaced it. He asked if he could try to retrieve my photos before he did anything else. It was not difficult for me to say “yes please try that” :)

I got a phone call half an hour later from that same man. He told me I could come and pick up my computer because he had already fixed it. There were two 250GB hard drives in this computer and the drive that was dead had nothing on it. I can’t describe how happy I was. I know very well that there were only photos on that drive, taken in a period of one month, but I don’t want to loose any of my photos :) When I drove home after picking up my computer I decided that from now on I would defiantly back up everything more often :-) I wonder for how long I will remember to do that :-) I think I just got lucky this time :)

 

 

My home away from home :)

For those of you that do not know, I am a seaman working on a ship in Africa. I stay on the ship for two and a half month at a time and then I get one month off. This trip is ending now so I will be going home to my family soon. I won’t be back until mid October, and because I don’t like to spend much time in front of the computer while I am at home, I won’t be here on Ipernity until I come back to the ship. I might have a peek once in a while when I am at home to see what you guys are doing, but I am sure I won’t have much time to comment on your photos while I am at home :) I hope you will have a nice time here on Ipernity until I come back :-)

Best regards,

Gussi Jóns :-)

Are people happy with how things are here on Ipernity, or is there something you would like to see done differently to try to make this site a little bit more interesting? I came from flickr so my first question would be where is all the fun here? Is this site only for storing documents, or do we want it to be a little bit more lively than it is now? What direction will Ipernity take in the nearest future? I asked about groups few weeks ago and I was told that because so many people were asking the same question I could expect to see some groups here soon. I don’t see any groups yet. I wonder if anyone listens to our suggestions or is our role in keeping this site running only to upload photos and to pay!

I am sorry to say but I am not having much fun here at the moment. I just post my photos, look at what my new friends are doing, and then I check out the fun and the action on flickr. People might be happy with everything exactly how it is, so the problem might just be me :) To be honest there is nothing much going on here. I have only been here for few weeks but it did not take long for me to find out that this site is not as much alive as Flickr.

I have noticed that there are many people here that were unhappy at Flickr. Some of it had to do with censorship but some people got tiered of groups and people handing out trophies and invitations. I am not here because I got tiered of Flickr. I am here because Ipernity offered some interesting options. I think it is great to have Blog, and it is a good option to be able store music and videos. We are able to see who comes for a visit, which can be nice, but other than that this site is getting very boring.

Some things were set up to make this site more interesting, but in my opinion it doesn't work that well. “What’s Hot” was probably set up so we could have some fun, but that site is as cold as it can get. The name itself is so wrong because the same photos are there day after day. “Most Visited” might be a better name for that site. Don’t get me wrong; most of the photos there are nice and interesting, but I get so tiered of looking at the same photos day after day. I just might be a little irritated because my photos are never there :)

“Latest Docs and Posts” are there so we can see what people are posting, but that site doesn’t work that well either. If someone uploads 100 documents at a time then all the persons that uploaded documents before him will not been seen. It should be enough for us to see few photos from each person that is uploading dozen’s of photos every day.

“What’s Hot” and “Latest Docs and Posts” are not the reason why I am so bored. My opinion is that we need to get some groups going if we want to try to get some life into this site. Like I mention earlier some people are here because they didn’t like groups on flickr. If that is the case, we will have to try to find a way so people won’t get bothered with trophies and invitations to groups if they don’t want anything to do with it.

Without wanting to sound too pushy I just want to say this, WE NEED GROUPS NO LATER THAN NOW :-):-) Was that loud enough for you? :) I hope I haven’t startled some of my new Ipernity friends :)

Have fun and remember to comment on my photos to keep me happy :)

 

My brother introduced me to Flickr about two years ago but Flickr did not interest me much at that time. When I browsed through all the photos that were there, and when I read all the comments that people were giving each other, I knew for sure that this was not for me. In my opinion people were over praising mediocre photos- and photographers with words like; fantastic, beautiful, great shot, you have a good aye for photography and so on. It was obvious to me that people were not honest, and that was something I did not like very much. I had no intention participating in doing things like that.

Today I am uploading photos to two sites at the same time, Flickr and Ipernity, and I love every minute of it :) I probably spend more time today looking at others people’s photos, than I spend working on my own photos. l call some of my contacts my Flickr- and Ipernity friends, and I truly feel that they are my friends. I talk to people every day that I have only known through the computer; nice people that are willing to spend their time to write to me and assist me in every way when I ask for it.

Now it is me who gives lots of comments on photos using the same big words as I mentioned earlier. I usually say something nice every time, but I never lie when I comment on photos. I try to inspire people when I see something nice but I don’t feel I need to tell people when I see something that I don’t like. What one person likes, another person might hate. It is just a matter of taste so I feel that I am not gaining anything by telling people if I see something that does not fit my aye.

We are told that there are some rules that people should follow if they want to take good photos. These rules are called composition rules. I have seen amazing photos without knowing why they appeal so much to me, but the answer is usually the same; the photo follows most of the rules and for that reason it fits my aye. These rules are more of a guideline than rules, but they can help us to take good photos. It is good to know these rules, but rules are often ment to be broken. These rules are broken every day on sites like Flickr and Ipernity, and sometimes it is done with great results. I am sure we can take nice photos thought we break most of the rules, but I am also sure it is hard to take bad photos if we follow the rules. How would photography be if no one broke the rules? Would we ever see something new and interesting? I have not thought that much about it but I don’t think so.

I take photos mostly for two reasons. One is to try to capture something beautiful and the other reason is to record a nice moment in my life. A photo of my daughter where she is blowing out the candle on her birthday cake can be priceless to me, even if that photo is out of focus, but if I get an out of focus landscape photo I throw it away without thinking about it. What is priceless to me might be worthless to others and for that reason we like and dislike so many different photos.

Some of my flickr friends might not been considered to have good aye for photography, me included, but that is not what this is all about. To me this site is all about people who love to do the same things as I do, and that is to use a camera and to talk about photography.

I am here as much for the photos I post, as I am here for the people I have met. Photography is only one of my hobbies, but this is where I like to spend my time when I am not playing golf, riding my motorcycle or spending time with my wife and my wonderful children :)

Keep on posting all kind of photos and be nice to fellow Flickr and Ipernity members when you comment on their photos :) Remember that one mans mediocre photo might be another’s mans masterpiece :)

 

 

There are few things that I have not been able to find out by my self since I came to Ipernity, so if someone knows the answers to some of these questions I would appreciate his/her help.

1.Is it possible to replace a photo without loosing the comments that are already there?

If someone comes up with a cropping suggestion or some good advice, I would like to be able to replace that photo without loosing the comments that are already there after I fix it.

2 What size do you upload your photos, and why that particular resolution?

I have been wondering if I should upload my photos in 3500 X 2300 pixels or 800 x 600 pixels. Are people using this site as a backup for their photos or only so they can show them to other members?

3. If I upload full resolution photos to my site, can I protect my photos somehow or can anyone download them from my site without me knowing about it?

When I talk about protecting my photos, then I am just talking about if I upload them in high resolutions. I am not that worried that someone might steal my photos. I would at least want to know if someone is copying my photos.

4. Do I have any control over what photos are shown in the small window (slideshow) on my home page?

I would like to be able to select photos from different albums to be shown in my slide show on the front page so people could see some variety of my photos. I only have one album today but that will change soon.

Thanks :-)

This is my second day on Ipernity. I have been looking at the new options I have, and to try to learn how to use this site. There are many nice features here that are different from Flickr. I like the little window where I can see slide show from other member. One of the main reasons why I am here is because I can be in contact with other members, so it is nice to be able to see who has visited my site and who is online. One of my hobbies is to take video of my family so it is a nice option to be able to upload video also. Time will only tell how much I will use that option :) To be able to write dawn text like this is also a good option for me. I will probably use this blog to tell my friend and family, who live on both sites of the Atlantic Ocean, how me and my family are doing in Vancouver.

I have liked what I’ve seen here so far, but now I have a small problem. I am actually running three photo sites at the moment. Flickr, Barnaland, where I have all my family photos, and this site. I have to decide what to do. Will I stop using my Flickr site? Should I stop using my Barnaland site and use this site in stet for my family photos? There are so many nice people on flickr that I like to be in touch with, so it is hard for me to decide what to do. This isn’t a big problem that bothers me much; I am just talking to my self to see what options I have. I will probably run all three sites for now and just wait and see how things will turn out. Have a nice day :-)

 

Gunnsteinn Jonsson - Gussi Jon…

Hello everyone :)

I have been a member on Flickr for few months and I really like it :) I have met many nice people on Flickr that take the same interest in photography as I do and I have learned so much from them in this short time I have been there. I don’t know how much I have learned technically, but I know I have learned a lot from seeing how they frame their photos and how they choose their motive’s. I decide to try this site because I some of my Flickr friends that are already here recommended it. As I have just started here I am not familiar with everything I can do in this site, but I already like some of the options. I like to be able to upload video and to have blog where I can write my diary. I am hoping to meet many new friends on Ipernity, so please don’t be shy to write in my guest book or to give some nice comments on my photos lol :) I really love it :)

Best regards,

your new neighbor and Ipernity friend,

Gunnsteinn :-)