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What we've been up to

We started West Fife Camera Collective in 2025, and it's been a busy first year. Here's what a year at the club actually looks like — the Thursdays, the competitions, the studio, the days out, and the evenings that have very little to do with cameras.

Placeholder — awaiting photograph of a Thursday meeting
IMAGE NEEDED — a Thursday in full swing at Abbeyview: the screen lit, members turned towards it, a mug of tea in the foreground. Candid, not posed. Landscape.

Every week

Every Thursday

The backbone of it all. Every Thursday, 7pm to 9pm at Abbeyview, right through the year — we don’t stop for the summer.

Some weeks it’s members’ photographs up on the screen, some weeks a demonstration, and some weeks a guest speaker — we’ve had a sports photojournalist in to talk about how they cover sport. Most weeks there’s a good half hour of tea and conversation in the middle.

What happens at a meeting
Placeholder — awaiting photograph of a competition review night
IMAGE NEEDED — review night: a challenge entry up on the screen with the room looking on, or prints laid out along a table. Landscape.

Every month

Competitions and challenges

A new theme every month, and a handful of bigger competitions through the year. We’re affiliated to the Scottish Photographic Federation and enter its competitions, so members’ work gets seen well beyond West Fife.

Entering is always optional, and it’s friendly — the fun is seeing a room full of completely different takes on the same idea, not keeping a league table.

Placeholder — awaiting photograph of the studio day
IMAGE NEEDED — the studio day: a member behind the camera with the lights and backdrop in shot. The set-up matters more than the sitter. Landscape.

Special project

The studio project

We hired a fully equipped photography studio — lights, backdrops, the lot — so members could have a go at studio work without buying any of the kit.

It’s the kind of thing that’s hard to try on your own and easy to try together.

Placeholder — awaiting photograph of members helping each other
IMAGE NEEDED — two members with their heads together over the back of one camera. Close and candid. Landscape.

Any Thursday

Learning as you go

Nobody expects you to arrive knowing how to drive a camera. Ask anyone on a Thursday and they’ll show you — getting off auto, working with the light, making sense of your settings.

There’s no class to sign up for, and no question too basic.

Placeholder — awaiting photograph of the structured course
IMAGE NEEDED — the course: a small group with cameras out while someone explains a setting. Landscape.

New

A structured course

For anyone who’d rather learn step by step, we’re starting a structured course, with each session building on the last.

CONTENT NEEDED — start date, number of sessions, what it covers, cost, and how to sign up.

Placeholder — awaiting photograph of the Edinburgh photo walk
IMAGE NEEDED — the Edinburgh walk: members spread along the Water of Leith at Dean Village, cameras up. Landscape.

Summer 2026

Out and about

Photography happens outside the hall too. In summer 2026 we took the club to Edinburgh — Stockbridge, Dean Village and the Water of Leith — with a shot list to work through. A few of the briefs:

  • The Water of Leith
    Two seconds of river
  • Primary colours
    Three doors in a row
  • View of a bridge
    Telford's, in its entirety, from the river
  • Animal or fauna
    A heron, at eye level
  • A 50mm shot
    The 47-degree view
  • Bonus: interaction with water
    The iron man standing in the river
Placeholder — awaiting photograph of the pub quiz team
IMAGE NEEDED — the pub quiz team around a table, answer sheet out, mid-laugh. Landscape.

Socially

The social side

Not everything is about photographs. We’ve fielded a team at a pub quiz, and the Christmas night out is being put together now.

Start coming along on a Thursday and you’ll hear all about it.

Come and see for yourself

The easiest way to find out whether it's for you is to turn up on a Thursday. Your first few visits are free, and nobody will hand you a brief on your first night.