Unplugged #28: creative permission, forgotten forests, data vs. nature, and the soft wings of the night
In a July haze
Alpenglow Journal
Elevating human creativity and purpose through adventure. A journal of outdoor and nature writing, photography, analogue counterculture, literature and art.
Subscribe:.rss.atom.json.md.m3u.pls
Live Last read · last published · next check
Latest episodes
Turning 40, buying a house: creative boom, creative slump
It turns out that buying a house really is one of the most stressful things you can do. Add a bit of mid-life anxiety and things get interesting.
Unplugged #27: Beyond the visible, the books that count, the right philosophy for our times, and the people do not yearn for automation
Let’s shift the metaphors we use to think about ourselves. Nature is a great place to start.
All of these things, very bright
A time of sweeping energies and mighty creative forces – but also death.
Making a home for the Muse: Walden Zones
Long before I read Walden, or had even heard of Walden Zones, I had one of my own – but only for a brief time. And I have been seeking it again ever since.
Unplugged #26: You have more power than you think, courting the wild twin, and the enduring stories of place names
Sometimes it’s useful to see yourself through the eyes of another.
‘Scale dilutes your connection with your audience’ – publishing the outdoors at Fort William Mountain Festival 2026
I did not expect to hear publishing professionals arguing in favour of self-publishing…
Unplugged #25: Both Magazines At Once Month, unlocking the winter mountains, befriended by wild crows, and the Paperclip Maximiser
Is it just me, or has it been cold, dark, wet and windy forever?
Winter Colour: unmachining the mountains through the medium of photography
The lessons the mountains teach us, proving the reality of the human soul beyond the Machine, and an anchor of experience through photography
Return to Mythago Wood
’All things are known, but most things are forgotten. It takes a special magic to remember them.’
The pattern breaks
The lunch, the walk, the pause, and the carol
Unplugged #24: Give me the hills, negotiable resistance, beyond branded content, and nature responding through us
Drawing together the threads one last time for 2025
The stars that nobody else sees
Very rarely, the mountain spectre reaches down to touch the mortal world. The result is wonder and revelation.
Outdoor Connections, Kendal 2025: ‘Is the algorithm flattening the world? Yes.’
When I was invited to participate in a panel debate about AI in outdoor storytelling, I didn’t quite know what to expect. But I came away feeling encouraged and hopeful.
Unplugged #23: A student of chiaroscuro, the end of Trail magazine in print, birdwatching is having a moment, and the curious case of cursive
The winds of change in the outdoor industry.
Unplugged #22: Adventure is about making choices, inside the print revival, a visit to the new local darkroom, and how the world got so ugly
A regenerative time of year.
Experiments in deconvergence: the Mudita Kompakt e-ink smartphone fails in the Cairngorms
A field review of the minimalist e-ink smartphone that couldn’t.
Unplugged #21: Alex’s madcap climber era, what endures when adventure ends, and the great fusion of all things
I’ve been spelunking in old journals in the name of book research.
The illusory permanence of all things: a night of analogue counterculture at Eleven41 gallery
The story of Analogue11, my first photographic exhibition – and a phase shift in human meaning
Unplugged #20: Analogue11, a creative wellspring, from the Gothic to the divine, and memory on fire
Yes, it’s been yet another Alps-based personal creative revolution.