Starbank and Newhaven

Starbank Park and Newhaven Harbour 

Weather - another lovely spring day 

Optional theme - warm colours 

Coffee - Pier House, Newhaven Harbour. The bacon rolls were expensive but excellent. I went back a couple of days later for the full Scottish breakfast (£10) which was excellent value. 

Eileen's ICM (intentional camera movement) won Photo of the Week. 

Sandra's photo of Starbank Park divides the scene into horizontal bands of different colours and textures. 

Ada captured the view from Starbank Park looking over the Firth of Forth. 

Alex looked skyward to capture this image of the spring blossom. 

Colin's photo from Newhaven Harbour captures a very surprised-looking gull being startled by an eider duck emerging from its dive. 

Ian shared some photos from a recent holiday in Shropshire. We were all captivated by this still life of a fairy grotto. 

West End of Princes Street

West End - Rutland Square, The Caledonian Hotel etc 

Weather - A lovely spring day 

Optional theme - Grand and not so grand 

Coffees - The Hub, with its fabulous home-made tablet. If you're not from Scotland, you've maybe never eaten tablet. Why not try making it yourself? 

Sandra found this inspirational message for folks who prefer working from home! 

A few of us photographed this beautiful glass building, but Alison was the only person to capture the contrast it made with the more traditional architecture elsewhere in the square. 

Arthur found the rather sad remnants of a bicycle just in front of the very grand Caledonian Hotel. 

Townhouses in Edinburgh's New Town are invariably very grand - but Beryl looked down to the basement entrance and saw an aspect of this house which was much more prosaic. 

Eileen found an intriguing still life. 

Ian found this modern terrace whose shape echoes the New Town crescents of days gone by. 

Maggie found another still life - definitely grand, this time! 

Ada wasn't able to joinf us on the day so she shared some photos from the zoo. I'm not even sure what type of cat this is, but it sure looks grumpy. 

Heriot Watt Campus, Riccarton

March 2025 - Heriot Watt Campus, Riccarton 

Weather - Cold but bright 

Optional theme - Chaos 

Coffees - One of the student cafés on campus 

Easy to see why Heriot Watt moved to this campus when you see magnificent trees like this one captured by Ian. 

Maggie found chaos in this collection of parked bicycles. 

Ada looked up, to see chaos in the fractal branches of a bare tree. 

Alex's version of chaos came from another tree - a victim of a recent storm. 

Arthur photographed the same tree - but he found a wider angle that shows the gardeners' attempts to re-impose order on the chaotic scene. 

Beryl found chaos in nature. 

Eileen created her own version of chaos - zooming during exposure to create this scene from a science fiction movie.  

Sandra found a face in this tree trunk.

Musselburgh

March 2025 - Musselburgh 

Optional theme - Simplicity 

Weather - Bright and sunny

Refreshments - Hollies Community Hub - Great scones, but only UHT milk for the coffee :( 

We saw all sorts in Eileen's photo of this driftwood - rabbits, jelly monsters, ghosts! 

Alex's close-up of the eroding paint on a boat's rudder looks like a drone shot of a sunny beach. 

Arthur found simplicity in a bare shrub on the seafront. 

Ada photographed this redshank in the harbour.

Beryl photographed the boats by the side of the harbour - waiting for better weather to be lowered into the water. 

Maggie's photo captures the simple pleasures of a shared cup of tea. 

Colin shared some photos from a recent trip to Spain. This image of a terrapin fitted the "simplicity" brief perfectly. 

Ian shared some photos from a recent trip to Newcastle. 

Cammo Estate

February 2025 - Cammo Estate 

Optional theme - Nature - this was a very easy theme for this location! 

Weather - Bright and sunny 

Refreshments - Caffé Nero, Queensferry Road - very chill atmosphere 

Lots of us photographed the snowdrops, but it was Ada who captured the best shot. 

Alex captured this image of the bare wintry trees and the watery spring sunlight.

Alison's photo tells the story of the Cammo Estate - the old mature trees giving way to new growth.

Arthur captured this crow looking down from a bare tree.

Barrie spotted this tree - a storm victim, and ready to be felled. 

Beryl's photo captures the long shadows of the trees on either side of the path. 

Who's watching who? This dog had no fear of the icy water. Photo by Ian. 

Kate was the only one of us who photographed the spring crocuses.

Maggie's abstract is actually very simple: trees reflected in a flooded path. 

Mandy found lots of birds, including this wren posing on a log. 

Sandra photographed many of the park's mature trees - including this specimen which surely has a story to tell. 

Eileen saw a grumpy face in this image of a gatepost.