My newsletter has fresh weekly photo stories of Edinburgh & beyond sent direct by email if you subscribe - free if you choose or pay a wee bit to give me a regular pat on the back, and get freebies, discounts and access to live Zoom sessions.
You suggested I add a wee tips payment option - for when you don’t want, or can’t afford to subscribe but would like to offer something as a “Cheers mate, enjoyed that” gesture. So here is a link to do just that.
I’m gonna leave this link for you before we begin just in case I forget it later. We’re busy sending calendars out to destinations all over our wee planet, and you can also buy for collection in EH11. I only ordered a limited number this year as I got stung on last year’s calendar (made the mistake of correlating folk voting with folk buying) so don’t leave it too late.
2025 Calendar Order Page
January - The “Bridge To Nowhere” at Belhaven with the Northern Lights kicking off in the night sky behind.
This wee bridge near Dunbar in East Lothian crosses the Biel Water and is so called because at high tide it is surrounded by water. When the bridge was first being planned in the 1880’s there was chat about how best to raise the funds for its construction. I loved this wee snippet from the Haddingtonshire Courier 23 October 1885: “A bazaar had been spoken of, and when people went to a bazaar, with women present, there was no end of spending money”*
Every time we cross the bridge we should thank the profligacy of the esteemed bazaar-attending ladies of East Lothian for saving us having to remove our socks and shoes to cross the Biel. (Incidentally the bazaar raised £682 at a time when the average weekly wage was less than £1 - musta been a crackin bazaar)
*If you want to read more see this Dunbar History Society page.
February - Princes St
Sunset happens along the line of Edinburgh’s main city centre shopping street during the months of February & October. What I failed to mention when I offered it to you as a choice for February was that I took this image during Lockdown - hence the almost empty street at 6-7pm. It’ll probably be impossible to replicate this shot as the streets are never this quiet of people and traffic at that time of day.
It also points out my inability to label my shots accurately as lockdown started on 23rd March 2020 - maybe it reflects when lockdown SHOULD have happened?
Weel kent* spires and sticky-up bits at the west end from L-R : The Caledonian (Hilton) Hotel facade gable-end triangle; St John’s Kirk tower (biggest flag in town); Charlotte Chapel on Shandwick Place; three spires of St Mary’s Cathedral.
*weel kent: well known e.g. he’s a weel kent pus roon here.
March - 3 Forth Bridges at sunset from miles away - 500mm lens and then cropped some.
I started doing long range sun and moon images many years ago and it’s become an addictive strand of my photography. It does take a lot of time to establish good vantage points - researching, driving/walking/cycling to establish exact locations and then several, sometimes severely many, attempts at THE SHOT.
It’s a double lock, the first key is planning when and where, but the second key is the weather, over which you have no control whatsoever. This shot took me a long while to get halfway perfect and I try again to better it every year. If you’re a photographer you might be interested in my workshop series on this niche next year - stay tuned to stay posted.
April - Edinburgh Castle in “The Gloam”
You can get a bit blasé about some Edinburgh scenes and I was surprised when this won the public vote, but should I have been?
The Gloamin’ is a real thing - not just a romantic excuse for some *roamin’ (but please don’t let me discourage you). The Gloamin’ is better than twilight, stronger than dusk, more soul-punchingly powerful than a simple afterglow. When you see it backlighting your home city with an impossible-to-describe phosphorescence reflecting on the buildings and landscape below, it can be genuinely breathtaking.
*Harry Lauder’s Roamin” in the Gloamin”
Roamin' in the gloamin' by the bonnie banks o' Clyde,
Roamin' in the gloamin' wi' ma lassie by ma side,
When the sun has gone to rest,
That's the time that we love best,
Oh, it's lovely roamin' in the gloamin'
May - St Giles Cathedral with the sun setting behind the distant mountains of the Trossachs.
Using my big bazooka lens* again I’ve pulled together the spire at the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, the Fame statue on the dome of the Bank of Scotland building and layers of mountains to the west. The sun is still shining on the back of those 60 mile distant mountains giving us that beautiful blasting glow.
* Nikon 200-500mm for those who care
June - Edinburgh Castle - doon the back, with an early summer display of floo’ers
If I was smarter I would know what these blooms are but instead I’m hoping someone else will know, will tell me and then I’ll edit this and appear to be a genius. [Our genius today is Christine who wants you to know never to plant Red Valerian and Purple Loosestrife in your garden - “they are thugs!”. They sound like characters from a Gilbert & Sullivan production]
As well as being visible from most of the city, the castle has the gall to have many different appealing facades and perspectives. It’s really not fair.
July - Moonlight over the Forth Bridge
Most of you know this iconic rail bridge, one of Scotland’s most persuasive ambassadors and a honeypot for photographers and visitors from across the globe. I remember this night vividly, particularly the slightly forlorn Curlew calls and the gentle lapping of the wavelets as the tide slowly pulled the water from the open harbour in North Queensferry.
Sometimes when you’re alone on a photo mission, and it’s so late that it doesn’t matter how late you are, it feels as if you are watching the Earth rotate as you work through the compositions you are compelled to make. Connected right through the ground beneath your feet to whatever is at the centre of us. I like that feeling.
August - Sunrise at The Bass
The Bass Rock sits at the entrance to the Firth of Forth and is an iconic landmark for East Lothian and home to 150,000 gannets. Think of this image as an unfinished portrait - the weather got in the way again on 4 out of the 5 days I tried it that week but next year….
September - sunset light on Salisbury Crags
There is literally not one single day of the year when there is nobody on these cliffs at sunset. Someone famous - forgotten who - even claims to have conceived a child there during the Edinburgh Festival. I was on my way (late) to somewhere else and just had to stop to grab the beautiful light hitting the 325 million year old Dolerite. There’s a song in there somewhere.
October - Princes St Gardens
I was pleased this one was chosen because I think it’s a great advert for the work that the gardening and park team do in Edinburgh. As citizens its our job to be moany-faced dirgemongers* just to keep our city fathers alert, but we also need to give the occasional round of applause when it’s due. Stand up parkies and gardeners and take a wee bow, thanks lads and lassies, great work.
*dirgemonger: sorry, just made this up
November - Greyfriars Bobby on a Black n White night
One of the reasons haar* is such a favourite weather to get photos in is that it disguises many of the signs of modernity. These Edinburgh streets and the wee doggy statue are featured in many historic images of Edinburgh so the challenge is to require the viewer to study the details to work out when it was taken. It gets increasingly difficult as the years progress but haar is a great conjuror’s assistant.
*haar: a cold sea fog on the east coast of Scotland or England
December - Charlotte Square in a snowstorm
Edinburgh’s New Town is place of formal regularity: clean lines and patterns, so it was a fantastic place to witness the snow softening its edges, disguising the regular patterns and creating new ones. These visitors trudged towards me in strict single file as if on an arctic expedition, taking turns to break trail at the front. Oh, I hope we get more this winter, or it will be one of discontent.
So there you have it. A year in and around Edinburgh, presented beautifully in print and available for your home, the homes of your loved ones and your very favourite friends. Here they are laid out on the kitchen table ready for dropping into envelopes with your name on.
Confession: I tried making an angel out of them and middle son said “That looks shit” and then he made this circley thing which I have to admit is tons better. Thanks Bro.
Order yours today, right now, please.
Let’s look closer upper at the cover cos I forgot to show you that earlier. It’s from one of my haar days on Arthur’s Seat with most of the city invisible under the blanket of cloud.
I forgot the datey bit - so here’s the printer’s proof of that as I’ve put the camera to bed. This is an A4 page and it hangs below the monthly image.
Thanks for watching.
Maybe see you out there.
TD
You’ve made a beautiful calendar. All the best for great sales!
Thanks for the nudge, now ordered.
The floo’ers are, I think, Red Valerian and Purple Loosestrife. Never plant them in your garden, they are thugs! Pulling them up is a never ending job 🤷♀️