iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thinking less, doing more, telling people I like their work And not letting the things I want to share rot away in drafts

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I think the solution is to say things anyway. At worst, the internet is a place to keep my things. At best, someone comes along, every once and a while, and I get to say hello

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Another reason I don’t post much is of course that it feels like I’m screaming into the void. I’m not really screaming, though. There’s a romance to screaming into the void. Whatever I’m doing is quieter, less glamorous. Piping up into the void. Thinking aloud into the void. Mostly, just watching

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It’s interesting that for some people, the internet has wildly opened up their lives, given them community, made them new friends, but for others, it’s made them more anxious, more perfectionist, less willing to say anything at all Maybe for some it’s done both at the same time

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But of course perfection is impossible, and returns do diminish, and I’m always more satisfied anyway when I think less about things, when I share something spontaneously

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One reason I don’t post much is because I want everything I post to be perfect. The thing about Online is that it tricks you into believing you *can* be perfect, that you have as much time as you want to edit and polish and reedit, that you can keep approaching perfection, and returns never diminish

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Sounds silly but I do want to share more, and share things that aren’t as polished. I’m definitely online, I just don’t participate, and I want to get better at that

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 04/05/2025

I made a new years resolution to be more online, and so far it is not going well!

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This is the sea as seen from the Great western railway service to. penzance. calling at. newton abbot. totnes. plymouth. liskeard. bodmin parkway. par. st austell. truro. redruth. st erth and. penzance. This train has. eight. coaches #photography #film

An analog photograph of the English Channel as seen from the train. The horizon is sharp but the waves are blurred by the speed of the train. The sea is dark, scattered by rain and cloud-broken light.

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Good talk good book! (I assume, I’ve read about 10 pages)

Photo of Robert Macfarlane and Horatio Clare on stage at the book launch of “Is a River Alive?” They are very far away because Duncan (photographer) is sitting in the nosebleeds

Photo of the cover of Robert Macfarlane’s new book, “Is a River Alive?”

I loved your talk! Super inspiring. The live coding was great, I love the idea of using slides in the browser as a place to demo. Great way to end the day. I hope your meeting goes well

But they were all incredible!

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I only managed to take a photo of the first talk, by @lolaodelola.bsky.social

In a shocking twist of dramatic irony, Duncan finds himself writing alt text about a photograph of a slide about alt text.

Ekphrastic Poetry as Alt Text, reads the slide. Alt text can be vivid, dramatic, a verbal as well as emotional representation of a visual work.

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 29/04/2025

Had a great time yesterday at #AllDayHey in Leeds! Now it is time to make things

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And this is where that water is running.

Analog black and white photograph of bare, spindly trees leaning over a fast, shallow stream in the New Forest National Park in the UK.

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 29/04/2025

This is what the water in the new forest looks like.

Analog black and white photograph of the reflection of bare, spindly trees on the surface of a fast, shallow stream in the New Forest National Park in the UK.

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 27/04/2025

Except for this one. This one’s a little wonky.

Horizontally blurred photograph of the North Atlantic at dusk.

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 27/04/2025

Did some horizon blurs for the first time in a while and was surprised be how even they are. On my digital camera, I used to have to take loads to get a few good ones, but all three of them on this roll of film turned out pretty ok I think

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 27/04/2025

Scans came back! Horizon in Falmouth, Cornwall. #film #photography

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 26/04/2025

First frame of a new roll of film. I climbed out my window to take the throwaway shots and wound up with this. I know it’s cliche to keep the burn line but I like that the color of it matches the color of the chimneys #photography #film

Analog photograph, half cut-off by burn line, of eleven chimneys in front of a big blue sky

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 25/03/2025

I think of a personal website as a sort of digital bedroom, where you can decorate the walls and put your favorite books on the shelves and invite people in to show them who you are

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 25/03/2025

I hope so! Everyone should have a website I think. Even if people mostly just look at your instagram, having a website requires you to step back and figure out how to curate your work, which is really valuable and something you aren’t forced to do on social media

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 24/03/2025

Another cmyk screenprint, this time of a photograph I took at Aldwick Bay, near Bognor Regis. Those three green clumps are sea kale. Whenever I tell anyone I went to Bognor Regis they look concerned and ask me why, but I thought it was nice #cmyk #photography #screenprinting #bognor #westsussex

A cmyk screenprint of a photograph of a pebble beach. There are three tufts of sea kale growing on the otherwise empty beach. The pebbles are yellow-orange and the sea kale is green and the sea is green and the sky is blue and flecked with clouds.

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 20/03/2025

Hey! Is the in person still available? I’d love to go

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 16/03/2025

Yeah websites should close at dusk I think, like parks. But there should also be a way to sneak in after dark to look for frogs or snails or whatever

Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 09/02/2025

Probably not the best thing to do with my time, but jests become realities, and all affectation is bad, and if the shoe fits.., and a lot of littles make a lot, and grass doesn’t grow on an empty stomach, and that’s just a taste of what awaits you when you visit duncanpetrie.com/sancho

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 09/02/2025

It’d be cool if there was some non-js way to sync the audio and the gif, or an option start all the tracks at once, but it’s also fun to try to start them at the right time by hand

Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 09/02/2025

This is really nice I like it a lot

Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 30/01/2025

This is a place called Harrington Beach. I think I could have framed the first one a little wider. I’m trying to learn to give my photos more room to breathe - my inclination is always to shoot as tight as possible, but I often end up regretting it #photography #wisconsin

Reflection of a tree in the glass of a map case, at Harrington Beach State Park in Wisconsin.

Little footprints across the frozen, snow-covered quarry lake at Harrington Beach State Park in Wisconsin.

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And this is the original digital photograph. I think the prints look better! Also, taking pictures on a bicycle is hard

Here are some of the more interesting variations: a problem with the squeegee made the first one look a bit like a film still, the magenta was too thick in the second one, and the third one is only halfway done

12x8in cmyk screenprint of a photograph taken on a bicycle on Washington Island, Wisconsin. Zoom in for halftone pattern!

12x8in cmyk screenprint of a photograph taken on a bicycle on Washington Island, Wisconsin. Magenta layer is too dark and prematurely drying in this one.

12x8in cmyk screenprint (cyan and magenta layers only) of a photograph taken on a bicycle on Washington Island, Wisconsin.

This is what the prints look like in person:

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 27/01/2025

Cmyk! This is a screenprint I made last week of an old photograph of mine. I took it in 2019 while riding a bicycle on Washington Island, Wisconsin #cmyk #photography #screenprinting

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I migrated from Nextjs to @astro.build for my personal site last year and have zero complaints! Can do everything I was doing before but simpler and faster

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Duncan Petrie @duncanpetrie.com · 27/01/2025

That’s me! I’m also in Wisconsin, trying to keep my fingers from freezing onto the camera