Let me start with a disclaimer; I am not of the social media generation. That said, I have an abiding interest in photography and am easily caught up by visual stimulation. An example of this is my difficulty to focus on the person I am with when I am in the presence of a TV screen. (In restaurants I look for seating that do not have a screen in view.) So when my wife introduced me to Instagram, a site where like minded and topic driven people find each other, I could not resist. She had found a bread making community who dig into the subject right down what variety of wheat one chooses and where that wheat is grown. These are bread amateurs and professionals sharing information. 

I found a name, nibistmd, to reflect my interest in pens and specifically in nibs, how they work and how to make them work better. I find people and they find me through these common interests and images. The scale suits the portable world of phone images which makes it so easy for me.  Also the "off topic" images can be surprising and inspiring, reflecting different kinds attitudes that pen people have. I appreciate the non verbal thinking that comes with this medium and like the narrative, both scripted and visual approach.

I started with a private personal Instagram account under my own first last name, johnmottishaw thinking that I would share these images with just a few people. As I understood more about this medium, I realized that nothing I am photographing is so private that it cannot be shared. So I made it public. I try to range more broadly and experimentally with my personal images while keeping some focus on pens and nibs for the nibistmd account. 

Summer vacation leaves me more time to observe the natural world using my personal account. Here is an example from this morning.

After  walking the beach at low tide I ran across this lichen covered rock in a salt water lagoon. Only a millimeter thick it only grows above the high tide mark, seen as a yellow band. The distinction is salt water shows as black and fresh water above it as yellow. 

Notice the spider web funnel in the rock on the left, an indication that this height is above high tide.