Who are you?
Sara Genn is a Canadian artist.  Sara's paintings are mainly in acrylic and oil, and show an enthusiasm for design and colour relationships.  She was born in White Rock, British Columbia and graduated with a BFA from Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Sara is represented by several Canadian galleries including in Banff, Whistler, Vancouver, Regina, White Rock, Kelowna and Calgary. Sara's latest work, completed while in Seville, Spain, is also exhibited on Saraphina Originals.
Richard Thompson is a mechanical engineer by education but has always worked in computer hardware manufacturing. He was born in Toronto, Canada and graduated from Queen's University.   Rich is the founder and president of Aire'd Ideas, the Internet solutions company responsible for saraphina.com. The Aire'd Ideas mission is to provide new markets to the Internet with modern marketing and e-commerce solutions.  Rich and Sara have been sharing their life since 1992. FAQ Top

Why are you on this trip?
In 1993 Sara and Rich drove from Vancouver, British Columbia to Eureka, California.  At  20 years of age they decided that traveling was something they would share for a lifetime. After graduating from university in 1994 and 1995 they took four months to drive Alfi from Derbyshire, England, through Western Europe via France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and back through France to London again, camping for the entire trip.  It was then that the idea of returning for an extended journey materialized.  They would return to Europe and concentrate on specific areas of interest to study, write and paint. 

They agreed on 3 years of working and saving.

In September 1998 Rich quit his job at a small computer manufacturer and Sara closed up her Vancouver studio and they flew to London with two laptops, a digital camera and a sketchbook.  Rich had the idea that he would publish Sara's travel diary along with some digital photographs. Mosey is about taking the time to look around, learn and explore the possibilities of a free creative life.  FAQ Top

Where did you get the car?
All About Alfi FAQ Top

What kind of computer equipment are you using?
Rich is using a Toshiba Satellite Pro 490CDT with a 64MB RAM upgrade (total 96MB). The digital camera is a Kodak DC210 with an 8MB flash memory card.
Sara is using a second-hand Compaq Contura 410C for word-processing, and a Canon EOS 700 camera with a Vivitar 28-300mm lens,  and a Canon BJC-80 portable printer/scanner. FAQ Top

Why are some of the pictures so dark?
The digital Camera (Kodak DC210) has a very strong flash. This flash tends to flatten shapes and wash out colours. As a result, we don't take many photographs using the flash. Perhaps the explanation for such a strong flash is that the camera does not take pictures well in low light or darkness. When we take pictures in low light, darker parts of the photo are difficult to discern.
I judge the quality of every photograph on my laptop TFT (thin film transistor) LCD screen. It is on a medium brightness setting. My video card is an S3 Virge Pro 3D. I don't have any contrast, brightness or RGB colour settings. They are all preset by Toshiba. When you view the pictures on your computer, your video card and monitor may modify how the pictures are displayed.
If you are very interested in a specific photo, you can adjust your brightness setting to view the details of the darker areas. You may also need to adjust your contrast and colour settings to truly appreciate the photograph. But before you invest a lot of time and effort remember that each image is a medium-low quality JPEG to reduce its download time.
Please email me at webmaster@saraphina.com with the URL of any pictures you think are too dark or poor quality. The feedback allows me to build a better understanding of which photos to touch up or discard.
In the end, the varying display of images is a necessary evil of the Internet and its millions of different computer combinations. FAQ Top