Princes Street Gardens

November 2024 - Princes Street Gardens 

Weather - Dry, mild 

Optional theme - Red

Refreshments - Travelhub, Shandwick Place - Ada recommends the lorne sausage breakfast roll. 

Kate resurrected the Photo of the Week, which we've been neglecting recently. She nominated Alex's multi-textured photo of rowan berries, which he created by layering 10 different images in Affinity Photo, and experimenting with blend modes. His other photo is a more conventional view of the autumn rowans.  

Eileen also experimented with textures this week. Her image of autumn leaves lying on the ground was enhanced in GIMP, using the Orton technique. Below is a photo of a colourful(ish) couple contemplating the steep steps which lie ahead.

Alison's photos capture a detail from one of the trucks undertaking work in the gardens, and the faded reds of one of the gargoyles on a stair-rail. 

Kate found red everywhere in the children's playground. And at the opposite end of Princes Street Gardens, in the display of poppies for Remembrance Day. 

Ada found a very different view of the poppy display, but we all enjoyed her photo of one red leaf doing its own thing surrounded, by green.

Warriston Cemetery

October 2024 - Warriston Cemetery 

Weather - Dull, but mostly dry 

Optional theme - Dereliction 

Refreshments - Costa, in the Tesco at Canonmills 

Sandra's photos capture two different aspects of the cemetery: an overgrown headstone, and a flash of autumn colour. 

Ada caught a crow perfectly placed on a headstone. 

Alex captured a couple of the cemetery's memorials, sadly diminished from their original splendour. His second photo is of the Red Lady - it's worth reading the story behind this one. 

Colin's photos capture the dreich autumn day. 

Maggie used Photoshop Elements to convert these still lifes* into semi-abstract compositions. 

Earlier in the week, Colin and Alex had made a trip to Aberlady Bay to see the pink footed geese. Sadly, the geese never showed - but the lapwings did, and they look fabulous in these photos by Colin. 

* I checked - this is the correct plural for "still life". 

Lauriston Castle

October 2024 - Lauriston  Castle

Weather - Bright and sunny 

Optional theme - Autumn 

Refreshments - Mimi's Bakehouse at Lauriston Castle 

Colin's photo captures the textures, as well as the colours, of autumn. 

John photographed two trees - of very different ages - showing the different stages of autumn colours. 

This perfect dahlia was photographed by Kate...

... while Sandra captured these sweet peas against a blue sky speckled with little fluffy clouds. 

The autumn colours this year were great, but Ada's photo - taken last year - shows that last year's colours were even better.

Alison's photo captures the textures of an old tree trunk. 

Alex took multiple photos of this tree and combined them in Affinity Photo to create this impressionistic view. 

The Botanics

October 2024 - Royal Botanic gardens, Edinburgh 

Weather - bright, with beautiful autumn light 

Optional theme - autumn

Refreshments - Café at the John Hope Gateway 

Sandra's photos perfectly captured the beautiful autumn colours. The reflections in the first photo are gorgeous! 

Alex captured some of the garden's flowers gently embracing the new season. 

Colin captured two very different aspects of autumn: the colours of the flowers fading to a gentle gold, and two squirrels scrambling to lay down a store of nuts for the winter. 

Another squirrel, this time from Kate. This squirrel has clearly noticed that it's being watched. Kate's other image looks out to a lawn from under the canopy of an autumnal tree. 

Maggie went for an abstract approach. Very autumnal, but concentrating on colour and texture instead of subject. 

Barrie found a couple of beautiful autumnal scenes, including this colourful cluster of rudbeckia.

Ada shared some photos from a recent trip to Ireland. That Guinness sure looks welcoming! That menacing Portrush sky, on the other hand? Maybe a good idea to find a warm, dry, pub. 

Stockbridge

September 2024 - Stockbridge 

Weather - bright and clear

Optional theme - Curves 

Refreshments - Nero's - cinnamon buns highly recommended 

We dived enthusiastically into this theme. Maggie's images come from the opposite ends of her zoom range - a still life and a long zoom of some distant chimneys.

Sandra's photo of the door gave us our longest discussion of the day. Is it blue or is it green? Eventually we decided it was turquoise. A good old British compromise! 

Everyone loves a dog - Ada found three cute wee dugs standing just by a curve in the pavement. 

We found lots of curves in Alison's photo of this very comfy-looking chair. Her other image highlights an art deco-style sunburst in the road markings. 

Colin used black and white to emphasise the curves in these semi-abstract images. 

Kate found intricate curves in the stonework of Stockbridge's historic buildings.