Mark's Travels

10 years of travel blogging from 35+ countries around the world

Interesting Istanbul 20th April 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey


Istanbul was the last stop off on the Asian leg of my trip. Really nothing of any significance happened. It's a pretty easy city to travel to and walk around. In many places I visited during my Asian trip there would be a bizarre fashion in which everyday life existed but here it was pretty conservative and European. I do feel given more time I could have improved on the photos I took. I barely had a chance to explore for unique and out-of-the-way locations to snap pics from.

     

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    My travel photos

    See more pics! Click an image to see all the photo's in it's gallery.

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    In my camera bag you'll find the following:  Canon 550D Sigma 10-20mm f/4 Canon 50mm f1/.8 Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 3x Grad filters Monopod Manfroto tripod Grey card Canon Speedlite 430EXII 

     

       

      Cities I've visited


       

      Circling the world


      When I was 22 I circled the earth. I landed in Brisbane Airport where I had been a few years prior.


       

      My CV

      I'm available for contracting in London. Please contact me for my day rate and availability.

       

      If you need this in word format then please contact me.

      My portfolio

      The past ten years

      Since 2002, I've worked as a PHP Developer, Python + Django / LAMP Developer, Technical Manager and Technology Director and Chief Technology Officer. I've worked in the UK, Canada, Germany, Estonia and India.

      The work I did in Germany and India cannot be displayed to the public but a good portion of the work I've done for blue barracuda and Bloomberg New Energy Finance here in London can be. Below is an assortment of projects I've worked on over the past few years.

      I've worked in a team in almost every project I've done so I've listed the tasks I performed in the captions of each screenshot. There are numerous occasions where I would share a task with another colleague or use an existing code base we've been managing and developing over the years. Left to it, I could have done most of it on my own.

      To give you an idea of what I do and usually don't do:

      I do: Django SEO CSS3 HTML5 photoshop ffmpeg PowerMTA JQuery 
      Bash Ningx ubuntu linux sphinx Redis Python mysql memcached 
      git CouchDB Gunicorn 
      I usually don't do: Flash .NET Java Drupal Joomla php Apache 

      My stack of choice at the moment

      This is a constantly changing list of technologies and services that I'm using or keen to use in projects I'm working on.

      Django Gunicorn ffmpeg CSS3 HTML5 
      Redis memcached CouchDB mysql git 
      Python ubuntu linux 
      codeIgniter code base with sphinx and memcached integration. Heavy usage of CSS sprites and several other ySlow recommendations used. I did all of the design in Photoshop and 80% of the PHP code.Bloomberg New Energy Finance / UN Copenhagen 2010 climate change meeting website. I did the bottom half of the page design and all of the PHP coding.Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit website. I did the bottom half of the page design and all of the PHP coding.PowerMTA installation that I setup for Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This system also included a bespoke CMS+CRM solution for emailing the client base and dealing with bounces in 12 languages automatically (good for knowing when a bank is going out of business)
      TGIFridays.co.uk: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. SEO Optimizations. CRM integration.Nectar: I help setup a new email sending server. Millions of emails are being sent every day. Linux-based. Bespoke reporting system. My role is mainly working as an SMTP server admin and monitoring and consulting on best practices and confidential techniques for high deliverability.Nectar: I help setup a new email sending server. Millions of emails are being sent every day. Linux-based. Bespoke reporting system. My role is mainly working as an SMTP server admin and monitoring and consulting on best practices and confidential techniques for high deliverability.Pizzahut.co.uk: Major UK .NET-based eCommerce site. I mostly do maintenance jobs. I work in a team to keep the site going. The team is spread across 2 companies. I do tracking, html/CSS maintenance and help with marketing campaigns to promote the service
      Krispykreme.co.uk: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. SEO Optimizations. CRM integration.Bluebarracuda.com: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. Flash video compression. Audio mastering. SEO Optimizations. Technical project management.Mobilechoiceuk.com: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. Worked with 4 other developers via SVN to meet tight deadline.bigmatchdeal.com: Site logic maintenance in PHP. CRM integration and profiling. Sent email campaigns.
      rbspodcast.co.uk: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.Williams F1 Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.BAA Stansted Future: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms, survey and automatic email system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. SEO Optimizations. CRM integration. (site has since been handed over to BAA and is running on another platform)Designicons.harrods.com: Flash video encoding, iPod video encoding. Hosting video on clustered Linux server. Flash video player consulting. XML for RSS feeds. PHP/MySQL/Linux Admin section for CMS system that uploaded videos.
      UKTV Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Tgigreattimes.co.uk: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors. SEO Optimizations. CRM integration.NMA Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.The Lawyer Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.
      RICS Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.Design Week Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.ISBA Podcast: Flash MP3 player integration. XHTML/CSS Implementation into CMS. Built bespoke CMS with Linux, Apache, PHP and MySQL. Heavy JavaScript usage. iTunes subscription tracking.Pizzahut.co.uk email marketing campaign: Integrated tracking, custom voucher code system, sent via in-house CRM system through specialized SMTP server. Monitored marketing to final sales system through various in-house and commercial tracking systems.
      Barchester.com: Various backend updates in PHP, MySQL and LinuxFatFace Google Gadget Ad: Built with XML, Flash, JavaScript, PHP Form processor, YouTube video integrationmyHamleys.com: Integrated XHTML/CSS templates into a CMS system. Setup site on Linux server. Setup all tracking. Built forms and automatic emailing system. Heavy flash interaction with JavaScript and PHP form processors.T-Mobile Mobile Downloads: Integrated tracking, setup on Linux Server.
      T-Mobile (various sites): I've done a large amount of bespoke-CMS work for internal or invite-only sites for T-Mobile over the past 4 years.UKTV Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.UKTV Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.UKTV Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      UKTV Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.TGIFriday's Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.TGIFriday's Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.TGIFriday's Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      TGIFriday's Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.TGIFriday's Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Pizza Hut Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Pizza Hut Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      Pizza Hut Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Pizza Hut Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Krispy Kreme Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Mobile Choice UK Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      Hamleys Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Hamleys Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Hamleys Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Green thing Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      Green thing Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Green thing Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Green thing Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Green thing Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.
      Goldsmiths Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Blue barracuda Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.Blue barracuda Email Campaign: Tracking Integration, custom CRM / CMS system to speed up sending a large amount of emails to their database. Tracking and reporting systems combine data from in-house and outside sources.

       

      Contact me get in touch

       

      Reach me with one of the following:  500px facebook github LinkedIn twitter