sptr.net
    • about sptr.net
    • about me

    • Contact me on Telegram
  • Stories
    • NixImagery
    • Tales of the Family
  • Pictures
    • NixImagery on Flickr
    • NixImagery on 500px
    • Wild Aye Photography
  • Tech
  • Research
    • About my research
    • ORCID profile
    • Digital Education profile
    • The BBC’s Something Understood

    • PhD/Supervisors (login required)
    • Thesis (in work, login required)
    • Participants (login required)
    • Web services structure
    • Cotman Paints
    • Pixie Puzzles

NixImagery

Stories and images

Published

20th April 2024

Modified

14th May 2025

The Lomonds in a winter sunset

The Lomonds in a winter sunset

Storytelling is one of man’s oldest cultural habits, and the evidence we have for this is in the images our ancestors left behind. From the earliest cave paintings to the insta trophy, we record from imagination and experience the world around us. Photography is the ubiquitous manifestation of this in much of the contemporary world we inhabit, so much so that the art of capturing images might seem trivial. In these pages are some of my own images, with perhaps some thoughts or stories to go with them using my powerful ally, words. Here I have the advantage over the cave painter: I can express or explain context to help the observer make sense of the image on the screen. You are at liberty to make your own mind up, of course.

Fordell
It has been a while since I have been able to walk any distance and, it being such a lovely day today, a nice lunch in Aberdour was had and a short walk at Fordell on the…
24th April 2025

Pettycur harbour
For various reasons I will not bore you with, it has been a while since my cameras were out of their bags. Today, though, with the rugby to look forward to in the afternoon…
22nd February 2025

Pettycur beach
Yesterday’s run up to the House of Bruar yielded some nice new winter clothes, a decent lunch, and the never-fails joy of a Scottish Road Trip. Perthshire is no less…
29th December 2024

Three Witches
A last hurl up to Scone for a while, and arriving too early as usual, I parked up on the lay-by along the road to kill half an hour before the Three Witches Cafe1 opens.
11th December 2024

Clashmore
The Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, when not teaching in Edinburgh, spent his time exploring and soaking up the culture and countryside of this gorgeous part of Scotland. He…
15th October 2024

Sanctuary, another sestina
We were given an activity to do as part of a course I’m taking, which is way more fun than a 20-credit masters-level research methods course ought to be. The course is full…
4th October 2024

Chess
My father bought me my first chess set as he left, never to return. Knowing what I know of him, he will have been as bad as I am at the game. My mother told me that he would…
29th September 2024

Sestina
This week, I started into the largest chapter of Marisa De Andrade’s book, “Public Health, Humanities and Magical Realism” (De Andrade 2022). Chapter 3 is called, “Measuring…
26th September 2024

Freedom!
I am one of those people who has been active in opposing mob suppression of the right for people to show a film. That was last year, and despite the embarrassing theatrical…
22nd August 2024

Torridon
We continued our adventures around Kishorn and Torridon with a leisurely drive from former to latter, through quite changeable weather. Before we left, we were treated to a…
7th August 2024

Kishorn
Weirdly, I have never been to Applecross or Torridon. It’s weird because these two places are famous for visitors up the east coast of the Scottish mainland, being on the…
5th August 2024

Bergerac
I love holidays away from home that feel much longer. For us, Bergerac in July was one of those.
7th July 2024

Arbroath
Well, not just Arbroath. The family took a weekend break in the Old Church House at Colliston, which provided a nice old-time, Cluedo-style setting for a murder.
15th June 2024

Pittenweem and Elie
Pittenweem harbour is one of those places where I just feel “at home”. It’s become a bit of a habit but today we needed headspace with the sensory assault of the Rosyth Gala…
25th May 2024

Three Lochs Drive
We’ve been up to the Three Lochs Drive on a number of occasions, always at the wrong time, until today. Today, we made a plan to take a picnic in the car and to enjoy…
11th May 2024

The cycles of life
Well, we all saw it, and quite a lot of us headed out to assume the contemporary pose of worship and wonder, peering at the sky through our phones. Tik-Tok, tempus fugit…
11th May 2024

On ducks and pigs
For reasons that don’t matter here, I’m reading about the origin of the “Duck test”. I’m quoting Gloria Steinem’s critical re-statement of it:
4th May 2024

Along the Fife Coastal Path. Pigeon mob raid on the cormorants’ peace. Fuji X-T5, 23mm f/2 at f/8, ISO 125, 1/250s

St. Monans and St. Davids
The short February break has been a long time coming. The world changes constantly and nowhere is this more evident than on the Fife Coast.
16th February 2024

Awaking from a dream
I awoke from a dream in which I had been at my childhood home, a post-Victorian end-of-terrace cottage in a quiet street backing onto a recreation ground (the rec — as in…
24th September 2023

Gate

Lower Largo
The summer is going down fighting, with thunder, rain, heat and humidity to set the mood. Injuries and the conflict between living and working raging, both raising anxiety…
13th August 2023

Oats and Thistle

Dumbarnie and Pittenweem
Where we live in Fife, we are very lucky indeed to have easy access to some of the most delightful coastal towns and villages anywhere in Britain. Earlier this week, we…
27th July 2023

The Conker
Cabinet-maker, could you craft me a conker?
23rd July 2023

Dog rose X-T5, XF35 f2, f/4 at 1/250s

Yellowcraigs Beach
Finally, a return to old habits as we took a road trip to Yellowcraigs, with a picnic and camera kit, blanket and a book to waste a couple of hours on a favourite beach. It…
20th July 2023

Sycamore

A walk in the woods
These images tell stories of their own. If you can, look at them on a large screen as big as you can make them.
14th July 2023

Modern paving in the old style

Corfu
During our recent short vacation to Corfu, we took no “proper” cameras to ensure we got the downtime we both so sorely needed. Although there were plenty of photo…
13th July 2023

Ardnamurchan and Moidart
This term has been quite a slog, and this week in particular has brought challenges both predictable and unexpected, and equally unwelcome. Very welcome, then, is a few days…
8th April 2023

Winter Walks
Winter has its attractions, even if it isn’t all frosty and picturesque by the time we’re up and about. The camera is often the excuse to get up off the couch and out of the…
5th February 2023

Patterdale
The February half-term break gave us the opportunity to head back to the Lake District for a few days of walking and exploration. We’d been to Patterdale several times and…
5th February 2023

Dunkeld Christmas preparation
Earlier in the year, we booked a dinner-bed-and-breakfast deal for Christmas Eve’s eve, as much for corporeal as spiritual health. Before he knew what was happening, the cat…
24th December 2022

School Sketches
During late November and early December, my job has required me to make visits to schools. The schedule can be challenging so I always try to arrive around 20 minutes early…
2nd December 2022

The Frandy Tree
The Frandy Tree, an Ash at Glendevon
3rd November 2022

In the Scots Pine
sa ghiuthas-Albannach, eun a’ bruidhinn
chan ann ann an cainnt nan eun
ach anns a’ chànan aige fhèin
30th October 2022

The Summer House
The Summer House towards the lake
16th October 2022

Autumn
Inside each of us there’s a continual autumn.
Our leaves fall and are blown out over the water,
a crow sits in the blackened limbs and talks about what’s gone.
There’s a…
15th October 2022

The Glen
A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.
– Diane Arbus
8th October 2022

Dysart
Make visible, what without you, might perhaps never have been seen.
– Robert Bresson
8th October 2022

Lower Largo
On the day of the King’s proclamation, and in need of some sea air, we took a run up the coast to Lower Largo. It’s been a challenging week for us in one way and another…
10th September 2022

The Rose
So this flower doth judge and sentence
Worldly joyes to be a scourge:
For they all produce repentance,
And repentance is a purge.
28th August 2022

An afternoon at Stronachie and Loch Leven
On Saturday afternoon, for no good reason and many, we jumped in the car with some snacks and went hunting for fresh air and ice cream. We went for a stroll down at Loch…
27th August 2022
No matching items
    • © Copyright 2025 Nick Hood