Posts from 2021

  • Wall of sound

    Wall of sound

    I remember seeing Oasis early in their career when they played a Sunday afternoon slot on the subsidiary NME stage at Glastonbury Festival in 1994. The indelible memory is the sheer wall of sound coming from the stage, even then, before they released Definitely Maybe. Two years later, they played two legendary sets at Knebworth.…

  • Cannibals in autumn

    In which I tell a short tale about cannibals.

  • Bern band Choo Choo in 2010

    Long-time visitors to the site may vaguely remember that I used to collaborate photographically with Bern pop band Choo Choo.

  • Axalp in the snow

    Axalp in the snow

    Walking in the snowy landscape of Axalp, high above Lake Brienz in the Swiss Bernese Oberland.

  • Drone photograph of Loch Glascarnoch in summer

    Aerial views of a flooded glen in the wilds of northern Scotland, with low water levels exposing the old road.

  • WordPress expert Mark Howells-Mead

    Improving the addition of specific WordPress core heading blocks using just the keyboard.

  • WordPress expert Mark Howells-Mead

    How I update my local development environment from a live site with a single command.

  • Microspikes on the way to Suggiture

    I should’ve tried out my hiking microspikes before. They’re great for hiking when it’s icy.

  • All good things come to an end, and it’s time to say farewell to my trusty Avant.

  • WordPress expert Mark Howells-Mead

    The next stage of WordPress’ development is the ability to edit any part of a site – from post to navigation and footer – using nothing but the Block Editor.

  • Catching the first train from Zermatt onto the mountain and photographing the most well-known peak in Switzerland.

  • Spoilt for choice

    With so much to do and so many beautiful places to visit, the choice can sometimes be overwhelming.

  • Cable cars emerging from a cloud inversion at Grindelwald

    How to help a viewer to better understand the scale of a scene.

  • There is a light that never goes out

    Marr’s rendition shows what a joyful song this is, despite the superficial conclusion which many (or most) people draw from the chorus. It’s not about death, but the incredibly deep love felt by the protagonist. I think this didn’t come across in Morrissey’s renditions, because his style emphasised misery instead of joy.

  • Close-up of seaweed on Lunan Bay beach

    Beachin’

    Living in a land-locked, mountainous country can be hard when you love the seaside, beaches, caves and coastal nature. Luckily, Scotland abounds in such things, and we took the opportunity to spend a couple of hours at Lunan Bay when we visited Angus in July.

  • Grand Canal, Venice, photographed from the Ponte dell'Accademia

    Surprised by Venice

    We took advantage of a much-reduced number of tourists in July to visit Venice. I came away with an unexpected number of good and unique photographs.

  • A lunchtime walk by the vineyards in the sunshine, ten years after moving away from nearby.

  • Swallows on a telephone wire

    Last of the swallows

    Last of the swallows for this year, I suspect. I haven’t seen them around much this year at home, but there were dozens out yesterday, feeding their young before their long journey. (We have a perfectly-positioned telephone wire near our balcony, so it’s a great spot to watch and to photograph them.)

  • Until I moved to Switzerland, my interest in photography was mainly confined to recording what I was up to; from time with friends and family, to documentary photography on the streets of London and capturing scenes when I was on holiday. I had begun getting interested in landscape photography after a few visits to the…

  • Leaving the familiar fells and valleys of the Lake District to visit a less familiar part of northern England.

  • Even after the many miles of road travel to the populated north of Scotland, the next stage out into the northern Highlands, delineated by the huge Great Glen between Oban and Inverness, is something else entirely. Leaving dual carriageways behind on the Black Isle and heading west, especially during inclement weather, both the roads and the landscape become increasingly…