Scottish National Portrait Gallery

January 2026

Weather - Rainy and horrible, hence the indoor venue 

Optional theme - Warmth - Cue lots of photos of radiators!  

Refreshments - Portrait gallery Café - Pricey, but very good. The chai latte was excellent. 

Sandra found a lovely detail in the stonework

Ada photographed the warm colours of the lanterns in the main hallway

Beryl photographed the warm colours of the historical mural

Colin captured this very architectural radiator 

Dorothy found a warm spotlight illuminating the brickwork

Eileen found warm colours in a collection  of pencils

For Ian, warmth came from an umber lampshade

Kate reminded us that we were in a portrait gallery by photographing this colourful portrait of Nicola Benedetti 

Bonus photo

Alex was inspired by the exhibition "Alfred Buckham, Daredevil Photographer" to create this composite from his own photos

Holy Corner

January 2026 

Weather - dreich 

Optional theme: Points 

Refreshments - Eric Liddell Centre - great square sausage rolls!

Colin made this detail of a fluffy toy into a slightly menacing abstract 

Dorothy's macro of a wee beastie looks like a dolphin emerging from the soil 

Eileen found a triangle of three points against a surreal textured background 

Ian found points in the repetition of the apex roofs 

Kate's focus was on the plant's leaves all pointing in different directions - but there's also something slightly "accidental renaissance" about the light glowing at the top of the frame 

Maggie went for a posterization effect, rendering the sharp angles inside the Eric Liddell Centre as a pure abstract 

Ada found cranes pointing into the sky, echoing the points of the tiled roofs below 

Alex's abstract of a frosted window feels like a Manhattan skyline 

Chambers Street

December 2025 - Chambers Street

Weather - Flat light. 

Optional theme - Dark (we all struggled with this!)

Refreshments - Coffee Saints, Grassmarket - a favourite of ours

Eileen nailed the theme with this detail of the textures on the Greyfriars Bobby statue

Ada found a chimneyscape - effectively transformed into black and white 

Alex created this ghostly image of West College Street using a double exposure 

Alison photographed this detail of an old machinery, looking like a detail from a 1930s Frankenstein movie. 

Arthur photographed this group of tourists enjoying a guided walk of Edinburgh's Old Town

Colin found an abstract view of these windows

Kate also looked for abstract shapes, and found triangles of dark in the details of this sandstone feature 

George Street

November 2025 - George Street

Weather - Cold, but with gorgeous low light giving great shadows 

Optional theme - Light 

Refreshments - The Undercroft, with its world-class scones

Eileen captured this silhouette of the Scott Monument 

Kate found an abstract reflection of a crane, framed by rectangles

Maggie photographed this dramatic shadow 

Mandy captured this wintry view of a near-deserted Princes Street Gardens 

Ada photographed a silhouette of the Castle Esplanade and the dramatic cloudy sky

Alex converted this silhouette into black and white 

Lots of narrative in this photo by Colin 

Further afield 

Sandra photographed this tulip in a neighbour's garden 

Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre

The name is a bit of a mouthful, but Millerhill Recycling and Energy Recovery Centre (Millerhill RERC) is basically a power station that turns rubbish into electricity - all without creating any pollution. A worthy thing? Absolutely. So when the camera group got the chance of a guided tour, we accepted enthusiastically. Our guide started off by giving us an overview of what they do at the centre (keep 155.000 tons of waste per year out of landfill, and generate enough electricity to power 30,000 homes) and then took us on a fascinating tour of the whole facility. 

November 2025 - Millerhill RERC

Weather - A beautiful autumn day

Theme - A theme didn't seem necessary this week

Coffees/lunch - Dobbies. Cotton Traders and Lakeland were also very popular while we were there

Waste Reception Area - where the rubbish is transferred into a huge bunker before being burned 

The Control Room 

The view from the roof 

Interiors 

Still lifes 

The Furnace

The Ash Pile - all that's left after the waste has all been burned 

All photos by members of Edinburgh Ageing Well Camera Group