Today we drove a short distance along the coast, deciding to walk a tree-lined stretch of gravel track beside a golf course. Every weather app and news outlet had forecasted an incoming storm; the breeze was powerful, the air so fresh we gulped it into our stagnant office bodies, and the waves turned white in the Forth. It was a beautiful winter’s day. I had … Continue reading Short and sweet: The temptation to take photos
The first few days it rained almost solidly. Between cups of tea and chocolate-sunk biscuits, we turned pages of books as the raindrops tapped the caravan windows. Reading Kathleen Jamie’s Findings, I imagined myself in an alternative weather reality hoping that, in a few days, I’d be able to get outside and note all the intricacies of the summer season like she had in her novel. This … Continue reading A postcard from… Lochaber, and some thoughts on slow travel
Two weeks ago, for the first time, I used the question sticker on Instagram Stories. I’d put off jumping on that social media bandwagon in the past because honestly, as a bit of an introvert, I appreciate having a curtain between my online and offline lives. Opening up in a Q&A seemed a bit too scary! But since starting my #HashtagScotland project, I thought it … Continue reading An Instagram Q&A: Geotagging, exploring Scotland and the pursuit of likes
‘It’s remarkable how, in just a few hundred years, the way we see the Highlands can change entirely…’ ‘Today we walk through them, cycle over them, climb them, explore them — and photograph them, over and over again. This landscape no longer repels people with its harsh, unknowable obscurity. Instead it attracts them in their millions from all over the world’ — from Scotland From The … Continue reading A new project: Exploring the relationship between Scotland and social media
Is social media serving a purpose in your life, or is it just a distraction? After five years of using digital channels for my weekday career and blogging side hustle, this is a question that bounces around in my brain on a near-daily basis. Why? Because over the past few years I’ve begun to notice a huge shift in our relationships with, and behaviour on, … Continue reading Using social media more mindfully
One bright weekend this October, we spent the day in Perthshire. This is somewhat of an autumnal rite-of-passage for white-collared Scots, eager to forget their commute and embrace nature as the nights darken. A wild, well-off region of ancient trees, hills and back-in-time villages, Perthshire is a photographer’s paradise at this time of year — as we were soon reminded. Our first stop was the Hermitage. … Continue reading Autumn in Dunkeld: Is this the Instagram effect?
Hello — it’s been a while hasn’t it? (Haven’t you noticed the virtual tumbleweed around here?) Things have been changing, in both the online world and my life, and I’m sharing this to make sense of it all… Trying to find the words in a world of haste Over the past few months I’ve exhaled numerous drafts of this article, and although in some I … Continue reading Back to blogging… but not as I knew it
