Edinburgh Fringe

July 2024, Royal Mile 

Weather - Mostly fine, a wee chill in the air

Theme - The Edinburgh Fringe

Refreshments - Café at the National Library of Scotland

An easy theme this week. We arrived at our meeting point early, when most of the acts were still setting up. But it was way busier for those of us who went out again with our cameras after our morning coffee. 

Photo of the week was slightly different this week. Barrie nominated Kate - not for any particular photo, but because of the historical context she shared when telling us the story behind her photos. Nice one, Kate! 

Kate shared this portrait of a street cleaner who seemed to be taking real pride in his work. 

Maggie found a very different aspect of the fringe - a queue of vans and lorries making deliveries before the madness of the day began. 

Sandra was experimenting with ICM - intentional camera movement. This shot was particularly effective, rendering the movement of the passers-by as though they were dancing to the harp-player's music. 

Alex turned his camera way from the performers and snapped this image of the crowd, against a backdrop of St Giles Cathedral. 

Barrie captured this image of a woman - plucked from the crowd - impersonating the sound of a dog. But pity her companion wearing that fabulous cardigan. He had to impersonate the sound of a badger.  

Colin concentrated on portraits of people and their facial expressions. You can just imagine the woman here saying "how much for the bus tour?"

Lots of people were handing out flyers advertising their shows. This was a little different. Eileen found a pot plant which was handing out flyers for their show. 

Alison couldn't join us on the day, so she shared photos from a recent trip to the Perth Show. This is a magnificent display of Dorset sheep. 

Lego Animals at Edinburgh Zoo

Ada recently visited Edinburgh Zoo to see the exhibition of Lego animals. Spectacular! As always, she had her camera with her, so she shared a selection of her photos at one of our Friday morning catch-ups. 

Don't worry if these photos look pixelated. The Lego animals really do look like that. 

Haymarket

July 2024, Haymarket

Weather - Dry and warm, mostly blue skies

Theme: Transport

Refreshments - Starbucks. Sandra's cinnamon bun looked awesome. 

We all took the theme pretty seriously this week - lots of photos of different modes of transport - but Barrie's still life of a flower against a basket-weave won photo of the week. 

We all loved Colin's photo of a fork-lift truck wearing protective socks on its tyres. Presumably this is to protect the city roads from the muddy building site? 

Eileen's photo of the wires for the Edinburgh tram managed to capture a seagull flying overhead. 

Maggie wasn't able to join us at Haymarket, so she shared this photo of a tugboat heading towards a cruise liner. 

Ada's photo of a blue car against a blue background showed a terrific use of colours. 

Alex's photo of bicycle wheels was another photo that showed good use of colour. Alex's own view was that he should have converted it to black and white. Everyone else disagreed!

Corstorphine Old Parish Church

July 2024, Corstorphine Old Parish Church

Weather - Fine

Theme - Doors and Windows 

Refreshments - The Dower House Café, Corstorphine Heritage Centre. Alex's choice of chai latté instead of his usual coffee caused much amusement. 

Alex's photo of the bell tower was awarded Photo of the Week. 

Sandra's photo shows another door detail - this time of an ornate face sculpted above the archway. 

A lot of us found ourselves taking very similar photos. But Ada was the only person to capture a shot showing what the church looks like from outside.

Barrie set his camera to record in black and white. We were all struck by how effective this was, particularly in this photo of a stained glass window. 

There wasn't a lot of bright sunlight, but Eileen managed to time this photo perfectly - capturing the sun shining through this window and highlighting all of the colours.

 

A member of the congregation kindly gave up their Friday morning to guide us round the church. John's photo shows three (four?) members of the group listening to his account of the church history. 

Maggie used spot metering to ensure the exposure was absolutely perfect for this detail of a stained glass window. 

Several of us took photos of this wooden plaque. We discussed Raymond's photo at length. One of those lambs looks very like a cat! 

Colin was unable to join us in Corstorphine, so he shared some photos he took recently on a trip to the Scottish Borders. That's one magnificent race horse. 

The Shore

July 2024, The Shore (Leith) 

Weather - Slightly overcast

Refreshments - Zhan's delicious room - home-made treats and great coffee

Theme - The Letter A

Ada shared some photos she took at the shore in 2018. This image shows that Leith has been in a perpetual state of redevelopment for a very long time. 

Ada's second image shows the iconic sculpture of prominent businessman Sandy Irvine Robertson. 

Sandra's first image addresses the theme very directly: Aye. 

My plant ID skills aren't up to the task of identifying this beautiful berry. Is it an "A"? Sorry, no idea!

Maggie captured this striking image of a Leither enjoying the sun. 

 Maggie's second image hits the theme exactly: adventure awaits. 

Eileen's first image captures a wee still life. 

Her second image - like Ada's photo of the scrap yard - captures Leith in perpetual redevelopment.