Once a fortnight, I meet up with a group of friends and we head out with our cameras to enjoy some photography. And of course coffee. We’ve been doing this for many years, so even in a city as beautiful as Edinburgh, we’ve photographed pretty much everything there is to see. Usually several times.

We’ve learned to deal with this by setting ourselves a theme. Nothing too ambitious, just a gentle prompt to help us see our surroundings in new ways.

So I found myself recently in Inverleith Park. This isn’t usually a fruitful venue for me. Many times I’ve walked through on my way from Stockbridge to the Botanic Gardens, and not even bothered to take the camera out of its bag.

This time was different. I had a theme. And so, armed with the thought that I was looking for “lines”, I found them everywhere.

What I like here is the three groups of strong lines: the strong diagonal line dividing the photo into thirds, the parallel lines formed by the edges of the boardwalk, and the perpendicular repetition of lines separating the individual planks. Of course those elements aren’t the whole photo. The two ducks, floating through the clouds reflected in the smooth surface of the water, add an organic whimsy to the frame, contrasting with the strong geometry elsewhere. It’s a very satisfying image, but without the theme to work to, I doubt I would ever have taken it.

There’s maybe too much water here, but I was trying to capture the reflection of the line of trees on the horizon. Again there are multiple lines here. The pond’s edge provides a central line between the distant boardwalk and the wee island in the middle ground. Meanwhile on the horizon line, there are multiple lines of trees running in different directions.

This is probably the only photo out if this panel that I would have taken anyway, even without the theme to guide me. It’s a very simple two layered composition with a strong line of trees echoing the image’s main compositional hook: the green horizon line which splits the images into thirds.

Overall, I was happy with my themed photo-shoot at Inverleith Park. The first image, of the ducks, was particualtlu successful. Strong colours accentuated by even stronger lines, all contrasting with the organic shape of the ducks floating in the clouds. And without the theme to guide me, I would never have taken it.