iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 28/08/2026

A little bit of Scotland in Switzerland. August 2018.

Blue lake in amongst green ferns and tall pine trees.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 30/07/2026

Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this room?

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 28/05/2026

Let's make it easier for you, shall we?

Google AI tells me that there are 2 "r"s in the word "Howells".

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 02/05/2026

Being a photographer is trying to work out which of these two photographs is the better composition.

Red berries on a tree with shallow depth-of-field.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 01/05/2026

Kevin McCloud is now working with #WordPress clients, I see.

Kevin McCloud says, "You're not using blocks, you're using stuff mixed in a bucket piled into a hole with wobbly stuff on the outside." A woman replies "Yeah." and Kevin pulls a grimace.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 10/02/2026

Age verification? I built my first websites before CSS and JavaScript existed.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 09/02/2026

Netflix: yes, I know precisely which one you mean. No, you can’t watch it.

Netflix shows a long list of search results for a tv show which it doesn’t have.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 07/02/2026

Impressive cloud inversion over the road to Krattigen in January.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 26/01/2026

Thank you! Bright and even vaguely warm (for the time of year) here in the Swiss Alps.

View of a street in a town in Switzerland with snow-covered Alps behind.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 21/01/2026

Improving gradually — 175 of these 227 steps today without stopping.

Lots of steps on a steep hillside though the vineyards.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 21/01/2026

I realise that the latest entries here have been pretty negative, so here's a nice aerial photo of a snowy landscape near where I live, to make up for it. Heaven knows we need some positivity at the moment.

Drone photo of Iseltwald in the snow, a small village on the shores of Lake Brienz in the Swiss Alps.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 06/01/2026

Today, Epiphany (Dreikönigstag) 2026, is an historic day. For the first time in *25 years* living in Switzerland, I got the little king in the “King cake” (Dreikönigskuchen). 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Your author wearing a cardboard crown and looking astounded at drawing the little plastic “King” from the King Cake (Dreikönigskuchen).

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 22/12/2025

Much further north, I am delighted to have something much nicer to share with you than the TMI of my last message. Dusk looking across Loch Morlich to Cairn Gorm, near Aviemore in Scotland.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 14/11/2025

I forgot what a joyous film The A-Team (2010) is. 😁

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 08/11/2025

Autumn sunshine drawing gradually colder as November progresses. Still beautiful.

Autumn forest at Ballenberg in Switzerland.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 06/11/2025

Monday in the French Alps was full of views like this. Mental.

Ridiculously beautiful autumn larch forest and snow-capped mountain.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 05/11/2025

Just back from a trip to the valleys around Mont Blanc, and the first photo I share is from outside the front door of my office. 🤦‍♂️

Niesen with fresh snow, an autumn tree, and a flat cloud.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 28/10/2025

Aerial shot above the woods near home this morning, on the way to work. Niesen in the background with fresh snow.

Autumnal colour in the forest treetops. Snow-capped mountain in the background.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 26/10/2025

Most of the time, I think my photography has come on in leaps and bounds. Then, I see one of my photos from long ago, and am surprised just how good it is. These are the vineyards I've been photographing for over 20 years, as it was on a cold night in October 20 years ago.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 22/10/2025

In which Mark gets off his arse despite the windy and largely grey weather, and goes for a proper walk at lunchtime.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 14/10/2025

Unten grau, oben blau. Low cloud in the region today, but wonderful views from the upper slopes of the local mountains.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 12/10/2025

The classic and the reality. Montmartre, Paris, 2014.

Black and white view of a street in Paris. The Sacré Coeur basilica is visible at the top of the view.

A tatty street corner: a building with red, cracked walls, a combination of road signs, and some empty café chairs and tables.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 10/10/2025

When the drive to the starting point of the hike looks like this, you know it's going to be a good day. Schwalmere from Habkern, Switzerland, October 2025.

Snowy mountain peak framed with autumnal colours around a small road winding through green alpine meadows.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 22/09/2025

If you want to sand down a wooden table which has been treated with beeswax, get the wax off first. This destruction of a sanding pad took about 300 seconds. 😂

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 22/09/2025

There is a slight downside to this approach… 😂

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 22/09/2025

Regional train on the way to Spiez.

A train passing by blurs into a streak of light and casts a ghostly white light onto a neighbouring field.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 21/09/2025

There is rarely any crime where we live, but that doesn't make the back lanes of our village any less spooky at night.

Spooky dark lane next to a football pitch in our local village

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 03/09/2025

A wonderful dawn at home this morning: the view across the lake about 25 minutes before sunrise was something else.

Golden pre-dawn sunrise across an Alpine lake, with mountains in semi-silhouette.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 29/08/2025

Autumn is arriving! Be still my beating heart. 🥰

Autumnal clouds clinging to the mountains on a sunny day in the Alps.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 19/08/2025

Helvellyn and Catstye Cam, photographed from Birkhouse Moor in the English Lake District during October 2024. I can't stop looking at this photo.

Helvellyn and Catstye Cam in the English Lake District. A dark peak surrounded by lighter rolling hills under a stormy sky in autumn.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 07/08/2025

The café terrace at the Trümmelbach Falls in Switzerland. July 2025.

Café terrace, table and chairs, flowering bushes and a beautiful hanging lamp.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 28/07/2025

The new cable car, Stechelberg-Mürren, Switzerland, July 2025.

High contrast photo of a tiny cable car cabin in the distance en route to Mürren under stormy skies.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 20/07/2025

I'm always nervous when buying new camera gear, but I'm absolutely blown away with the performance of my “new“ Fuji XF 16-55 F2.8 LM WR. It's super-sharp right to the edge of the frame, even at 2.8. I was a bargain as it's reconditioned and guaranteed from mpb.com, who I can highly recommend.

Pixel-peeping the test results from my Fuji XF 16-55 F2.8 LM WR in Lightroom, with a full-resolution XT5 image of some trees against the light, zoomed into 100%.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 20/07/2025

One of my favourite ever photos of Scotland, taken in June and now printed for hanging in the office. Loch Maree and Slioch, photographed looking south-east.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 19/07/2025

Swan preening. Petite Camargue, 2018.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 05/07/2025

Cow parsley enjoying the sunshine in the mountains above Grindelwald.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 24/06/2025

I've been experimenting with the new Leica Lux app. I'm particularly enamoured of the extra-shallow depth of field (which improves on the fixed-lens' capability) and with the film-accurate lens and grain effects. These results have barely been edited post-capture. leica-camera.com/en-GB/photog...

Black and white landscape view of sand dunes and a beach under stormy skies.

Dark image of a room, with an extra shallow depth-of-field effect.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 19/06/2025

The former railway viaduct right next to the seafront at Cullen, which carried trains travelling between Elgin and Aberdeen from 1886 until 1968. It’s now part of the Sustrans national cycle path.

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Mark Howells-Mead @permanenttourist.ch · 12/06/2025

Another warm, beautiful, bluebird day today. The haze in the air at the moment is being caused by dust particles in the air which have drifted across the Atlantic from the wildfires in Canada.

Hazy view across a big lake in Switzerland

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