Photo of the month is chosen by members from a selection of images they have submitted for consideration, taken within the last 30 days.

Canon R7 – Canon RF-S 18-150mm

18mm – f11 – 0.3s – ISO100

“Taken on a trip to the Edinburgh Christmas Market, though it was on the 29th December, I was there with my wife Maggie and another club member Paul. I hadn’t taken the main gear in the backpack, or my tripod, only the R7, my carry-round. I was mainly there to help Paul who had requested assistance in taking night shots. He is one of the club’s best wildlife photographers but as many of us find, other genres sometimes test us and a second pair of eyes can help. I didn’t expect to come away with anything. In fact, with no tripod I was mostly experimenting with ICM.

We’d been taking longer distance shots from across the way looking at both the LNER Big Wheel and the Around The World Starflyer but eventually headed alongside the wheel and decided to set up looking directly upwards. Given I had no tripod with me, and a not very wide lens, I didn’t have high hopes for anything. We’d also been questioned by one of the security people as to whether we were professional, being told that we needed a permit if we were (that’s how good we looked). They didn’t move us on, thank goodness.

As Paul sorted his own composition, and with the wheel stationary, I shot upwards positioning the spindle top left corner and including as many of the gondolas as I could. At 0.3sec shutter speed I was surprised it was sharp enough. I could have upped the ISO to achieve a faster shutter speed but never got around to it.”