Welcome to the 2025-2026 season of Musselburgh Camera Club

I would like to welcome everyone who came to our opening night on 4th September 2025, especially the new members. If you entered your email address on the club home page you should receive these blog entries that describe our meetings. You can also follow group activities by joining our member-only Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411. Ask our web master, Elaine Gilroy, for an invitation.

You will find our 2025-2026 programme on the club website: https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/programme-2025-2026/. There are also monthly outings and photoshoots which are listed on our activities page: https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/club-activities-2025-2026/, but you’ll find the most up to date information and chat about each activity on our Facebook pages.

The club web site contains a collection of tutorials on photography that our chair has added over the years:
https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/introduction-to-photography-presentations/


A list of the events coming up in the next few weeks has already been posted. Click this link to read that post: https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/2025/08/26/events-coming-up-in-the-next-few-weeks/

This coming Thursday, 11th September, we have our Creative Lighting Workshop. Please bring your camera and (if you have one) a flashgun. We’ll start the evening by showing a selection of different lighting equipment. If you have anything unusual you would like to show, please bring it with you. We will have 3 different portrait lighting setups that you can try for yourself. On this occasion we’ll be concentrating on taking portraits, so please bring along any costumes and props you think would look good.


Information on how to enter the club competitions can be found here (or you can just ask George Todd, our competition secretary). Competition images are normally emailed to George at georgetodd1957@me.com:

An introduction to the club competitions

Welcome again to the club. A year of exciting photographic activities lies ahead of us.

Events coming up in the next few weeks.

Club members can check out planned events in East Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh by clicking on these links:

In particular, the following events may be of interest:

24 April 2025 (AGM and Presentation of Trophies)

The 2024/25 Musselburgh Camera Club season ended on 24th April 2025 with the AGM and the presentation of trophies. Although the AGM is our last meeting at the Fisherrow centre this season, we are planning a series of activities through the year, so watch out for notifications or check our latest activities page. The club has a private Facebook page which members can join to be notified about events and to chat during the summer. Click the link below to chat or request to join (you’ll need a Facebook account):

https://m.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411

Members had an opportunity during the evening to suggest and vote for the topics for next year’s set subject competitions. The top results were:

  1. Weather
  2. Emotion
  3. Comedy

which become the themes for set subjects 1, 2 and 3.

The AGM finished with a presentation of trophies and medals and with a selection of snacks and refreshments provided by Jennifer Davidson and Liz Sowler, who once again received the club’s “Golden Teapot” award. The full list of trophy and medal winners can be found on the following page. Well done to all of this year’s winners.

Trophy Winners – 2024/2025

Although the 2024/25 season has come to an end, the club’s exhibition will be touring local libraries during the summer. Here is the current timetable and list of volunteers. Further exhibitions may be added between 5th July and 2nd August.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered. Our first meeting of the 2024/25 season will be on Thursday, 4th September 2025. But in the meantime, I look forward to seeing you at our summer photoshoots.

05 September 2024 (Opening Night)

The 2024-2025 season is now well underway. I would like to welcome all the potential new members who came along to try us out. If you entered your email address on the club home page you should receive these blog entries that describe our meetings. You can also follow group activities by joining our member-only Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411. Ask Elaine Gilroy or Charlie Baird for an invitation.

You will find our 2024-2025 programme of activities on the club website:
https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/programme-2024-2025/ There will also be regular outings and photoshoots not mentioned in that programme, so keep watching our Facebook group. Ed, the club secretary will also notify members of events by email, in case you don’t use Facebook.

The club web site contains a collection of tutorials on photography that our chair has added over the years:
https://musselburghcameraclub.org.uk/introduction-to-photography-presentations/


Here is a list of interesting events that could present photographic opportunities in the next few weeks:


Information on how to enter the club competitions can be found here (or you can just ask George Todd, our competition secretary). Competition images are normally emailed to George at georgetodd1957@me.com:

An introduction to the club competitions

I look forward to another year of exciting photographic activities.

25 April 2024 (AGM and Presentation of Trophies)

The 2023/24 Musselburgh Camera Club season ended on 25th April 2024 with the AGM and the presentation of trophies. We discussed the upcoming programme for 2024-25, which John West has packed with more speakers and special events. We are planning a series of monthly photoshoots through the year, so watch out for notifications or check our activities page. The club now has a private Facebook page which members can join to be notified about events and to chat during the summer while we are not meeting at Fisherrow. Click the link below to request to join (you’ll need a Facebook account):

https://m.facebook.com/groups/25703565185901411

Members had an opportunity during the evening to suggest and vote for the topics for next year’s set subject competitions. The top results were:

  1. Buildings
  2. Distorted
  3. Cycling

which become the themes for set subjects 1, 2 and 3. We decided that the knockout will be open to all images next year.

The AGM finished with a presentation of trophies and medals and with a selection of snacks and refreshments provided by Jennifer Davidson and Liz Sowler, who received the club’s “Golden Teapot” award. The full list of trophy and medal winners can be found on the following page:

Trophy Winners – 2023/2024

Although the 2023/24 season has come to an end, the club’s exhibition will be touring local libraries during the summer. This year we also have an exhibition at Cockenzie House. Here is the timetable and list of volunteers.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered. Our first meeting of the 2023/24 season will be on Thursday, 5th September 2024. But in the meantime I hope to see you at some of our summer photoshoots.

All the best,

Steven Beard

15 February 2024 (Audio Visual Evening)

This week we hosted our annual audio visual evening with Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club. Two years ago we had hosted this meeting by Zoom in room G3, but this year we were fully back to normal. Members of both clubs met in room G6 of the Fisherrow Centre and were treated to tea, sandwiches and cakes by Liz Sowler, Ed Robertson and Carol Edmond.

Beeslack began the evening with a beautiful presentation created by Brian Nicolson, made from photographs of woodland scenes in Midlothian paired with inspirational music. Musselburgh then resurrected a presentation made by Steven Beard in 2012 describing his 2008-2009 trip to the Cerro Paranal Observatory Chile to commission the VISTA Infrared Camera. The place had also been used as the secret lair of the villain in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. The VISTA Infrared Camera was decommissioned in 2023, bringing the story to an end. Beeslack then showed their club presentation which celebrated the “Environs of Penicuik”. It featured a selection photographs from historical monuments and scenic places to visit around Penicuik taken by their club members.

The meeting then changed tack and showed a YouTube video created by Musselburgh member Derek Muller entitled “Getting Started in Screen Printing”. The video showed us how to use a MiSCREEN silk screen printer to transfer an artwork or black and white photograph onto paper, or a T-Shirt, etc… Derek creates his videos with a camera or iPhone and edits them using iMovie. Beeslack then showed a supplement to their club presentation which demonstrated the artistic filters applied by Bill Baird. Photographs of the Midlothian countryside were transformed into artworks before our eyes. This was followed by a short video showing a visit to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Musselburgh member Kevin Johnston and then a presentation showing a visit to Alicante, Spain in 2019 by Beeslack member Mike Walby.

The evening finished with three short presentations. Derek Muller showed a video of the waves crashing onto the shore at Portobello beach, which featured some lovely slow motion effects and a passer by who looked like they were going to get soaked but escaped. Then we watched a Beeslack video showing the Fells, Becks and Lakes of the Lake District. Beeslack also chose the perfect presentation on which to close the evening: a celebration of Valentine’s Day created by Gordon Peerless. We finished with a discussion over tea and cakes.

Thank you to Beeslack for visiting and showing their presentations, and thanks again to Liz, Ed and Carol for the catering. Next week Eddie Telford will be returning to give a talk on “Around the World in 80 Images”. See you there.

14 December 2023 (Quiz Night)

This week the club had its annual quiz night. 80 questions were devised by Ed Robertson, the winner of last year’s quiz. We began with questions about photography, followed by questions on history, geography, travel, culture, chemistry and biology. Do you know how many Hawaiian islands there are in total, the name of the river flowing through Lisbon, the name of the lead singer of The Who, or the heaviest organ in the human body? Well, neither did we. :) Club members competed in 3 teams of 4 lead by a scribe who compiled the answers and added the scores. The final result was:

  • 3rd place (51 points) – Team Jim.
  • 2nd place (55 points) – Team Liz.
  • 1st place (68 points) – Team Gavin.

Well done to Team Gavin! There will now be some negotiations to decide which member of the team (Gavin, Steven, Mike or Marian) will set next year’s quiz questions.

Don’t forget to submit your 3 JPEG images for our first set subject competition (on the subject of “Macro”) to George Todd.

Next week, Thursday 21st December, we have our Christmas social. We will meet in the bar at the Ravelston House in Musselburgh from 7pm and dinner will start at 7:30pm. It would be helpful if you could bring the exact money to pay your bill (£22, or £19 for OAPs). Directions can be found on the hotel’s web site. Don’t forget to register your number plate if you park in the car park.

How to get to the Ravelston House

I wish all Musselburgh Camera Club members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!