Edinburgh Tram

November 2024 - The view from the tram 

Weather - Cold, frosty 

Optional theme - Motion, though most of us ignored the theme this week

Refreshments - Food court at the Gyle Shopping Centre 

We boarded the tram at Princes Street and made our way to Gyle Shopping centre - stopping off from time to time for the odd photo. 

Eileen enjoyed experimenting with double exposures and unusual camera angles. But her highlight photo was of frosty leaves lying on the ground. 

Maggie's first photo is the result of some careful work in Photoshop Elements. Her other photos, however, are just very carefully chosen camera angles. 

Ada found nature even in this very urban environment. We all saw a dancer in that last photo of the dying thistle. 

Alex also found nature surrounding the tram tracks. 

Colin was unable to join us on the day, so he shared this idyllic image of a book-lover sitting under a group of palm trees in Malaga. 

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.

 

We all admired this bright red truck, but Colin took the best photo of it! And that photo of the robin. Who can resist them? 

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".