iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wise words. I'm hitting print on this and starting a new coffee and cetacean based religion. #cetaceanist

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An Tir Briste (The Broken Land). Images shot on a beaten up medium format camera on the island of Hirta (part of the St Kilda Archipelago) and on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. Score by the composer Giles Lamb.

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Very nice. The colours reminds me of Paul Kenny's work (which I mean as a compliment)

I mean, I'm not opposed to it. This is the same author of "I'm from Brum, and now I'm no longer ashamed of it (now I'm established in the media)."

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"...there exists a whole cohort who feel just as strongly as I". Monetising terrible middle-class opinions for clicks. Peak Guardian.

Thanks Gav. It's an interesting time 🙃

UK writers - have any of you signed up for the ACLS - AI Training License? My publisher has, and I'm unsure what to do. I loathe AI in general and what it's doing to the arts, but wondered what others think about such licenses.

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Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

A bad day to be a Boyd and a Kilmarnock fan 😆

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Thanks, I needed that. I hope you are well!

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This is niche. But as the one person who enjoyed this joke: Chapéu.

I tried to think of a good response, but sadly could only think of a film: Little Photoshop of Horrors.

@outdoorscots.bsky.social I've just read your review of Upland - and agree about the final third of the book. I felt it ended pretty abruptly, and would have happily read a few more chapters. He did a great job of distilling quite complex topics from geology to land management though.

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I'm sure they are embracing the Australian Wildfire life in the Cairngorms right now. Sigh.

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Upland by Ed Douglas review – a glorious survey of Britain’s high places

I enjoyed Upland by Ed Douglas. While it doesn't really offer anything new to mountain histories, it's a pleasant way to spend a few hours. He does however get bonus points for attacking colonialism and hubris in our high places where he finds it. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...

theguardian.com

The writer and climber brings colour and carnival to his account of a country and people shaped by its mountains

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Alternative solution: An animatronic Greyfriars bobby that bites tourists. Worth the cost.

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Oh god, some of the conversations I've had. They walk among us. Well, not most of us. It's not like they would mix with the hoi polloi.

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I had no idea there was a film! Also Crowdie and Cream took me by surprise - especially its elements of brutality, right from the start no less.

After a year of negotiation I've finally managed to find a couple of days a week to get back to a project close to my heart. Here are a few books on my shelf to give you a clue as to what I'm writing about 😆 #amwriting #naturewriting

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Louise Kenward @louisekenward.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

That was one of my favourite books of last year. Pretty outrageous it wasn't more lauded.

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Reposted by Alex Boyd

Writing query - can you help? With an overarching theme of chronic illness/disability in nature/place writing I'm looking at national prizes e.g. Wainwright as examples of bias/representation in the pub industry for my PhD. What has been said/written on diversity? #NatureWriting

A selfie of a white woman with short blonde hair and fields behind her.

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Isolation Shepherd by Iain R Thomson. Perhaps not as well known, but a book I often think about.

Another recommendation is Windswept: Life, Nature and Deep Time in the Scottish Highlands by Annie Worsley. Once I got into her prose style I really enjoyed it.

Catherine Eaton @sparrowpost.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Reposted by Alex Boyd

Leonora Carrington in her Greenwich Village apartment, New York.

Tall dark-haired woman standing against a threshold, wearing a dark blouse and long striped skirt. Next to her is a dark table and chair full of clutter from a meal.

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Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Yes, that must have been a close one. In February we had a fire making its way towards our house. Luckily the wind changed once it got within 600 metres. I'm always blown away by the resposne of the fire teams. Actual heroes.

Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Much respect. I've documented a few wildfires in Australia, and everything you've said rings true. It can be borderline terrifying at times.

Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Today was spent taking some final shots of old negatives for a new photography book due out later this year...

A camera points to some negatives lit up on a lightbox.

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Reposted by Alex Boyd

Mick Houghton @mickh5.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

from the mills to the stars .....a walk up Ingleborough yesterday

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Reposted by Alex Boyd

Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 22/07/2026

And we left our beds in the dark And we drove a cart to the hill And we buried the jar of ale in the bog And our small blades glittered in the dayspring And we tore dark squares, thick pages From the Book of Fire… —George Mackay Brown, “Peat Cutting” from Selected Poems: 1954–1992 #poem #poetry

George Mackay Brown
Peat Cutting

And we left our beds in the dark
And we drove a cart to the hill
And we buried the jar of ale in the bog
And our small blades glittered in the dayspring
And we tore dark squares, thick pages
From the Book of Fire
And we spread them wet on the heather
And horseflies, poisonous hooks,
Stuck in our arms
And we laid off our coats
And our blades sank deep into water
And the lord of the bog, the kestrel
Paced round the sun
And at noon we leaned on our tuskars
– The cold unburied jar
Touched, like a girl, a circle of burning mouths
And the boy found a wild bees’ comb
And his mouth was a sudden brightness
And the kestrel fell
And a lark flashed a needle across the west
And we spread a thousand peats
Between one summer star
And the black chaos of fire at the earth’s centre.

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Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

I agree with you both - I shouldn't be so reductive. I've worked with wealthy individuals who quite freely share sectarian views, as well as my own experience with it in the West Coast of Scotland.

Gerry Hassan @gerryhassan.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Reposted by Alex Boyd

"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one." Ed Luce in fine form in the FT quoting Bill Gates on the evil & threat of Elon Musk to democracy. www.ft.com/content/77af...

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Reposted by Alex Boyd

John Altringham @johnaltringham.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Wood engraving, Cir Mhòr, Arran. Printed in three graded ink layers to enhance the aerial perspective I failed to capture in the engraving! Time-consuming but I learned a few things. 150x100 mm. #art #prints #printmaking #mountains #Scotland #landscape

Print in grey and black inks of a wood engraving. A view across a vertical rock buttress to rocky mountains and ridges, with lowlands and sea beyond.

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Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Made of far stronger stuff than me! (Hello btw!)

Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Hello *waves from the distant past* I'm here for it.

Alex Boyd @alexanderboyd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Run for office, and I'll vote for you on this one issue.