Stills Centre for Photography based in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

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Visit

Stills is a centre for photography based in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. With over 40 years of history, we’ve got a lot of experience to share. Our exhibitions, production facilities and range of creative, educational opportunities allow anyone to discover, enjoy and understand photography.

STILLS: CENTRE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY
23 Cockburn Street
Edinburgh
Scotland EH1 1BP

GALLERY
Tuesday—Saturday, 11am—5pm

PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Tuesday, 11am—5pm
Wednesday, 11am—9pm
Thursday, 11am—9pm
Friday, 11am—5pm
Saturday, 11am—5pm

Explore more and hear insights about Stills through our digital guide on Bloomberg Connects. The free arts and culture app takes you behind the scenes with exclusive audio, highlights from our archive, and more. You’ll also find must-read content to help you get the most out of Stills.

History

Stills was established in 1977. Since that time it has become a champion for the important and powerful role that the medium of photography plays in the world today. We are currently working to make our archive accessible for research, here are a few items that we’ve uncovered so far.

1976

Creative Camera was a monthly fine art and documentary photography magazine published between 1964—2001. This edition featured work from the “Recent American Still Photography” exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery in 1976. The exhibition was organised by the Scottish Photography Group, which went on to become Stills. Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Harry Callahan and Garry Winogrand were only a handful of amazing photographers included in the show.

1977

This exhibition book is from Angus McBean “A Darker Side of the Moon”, the first exhibition held at Stills in 1977 at our original location on the High Street. Angus McBean was a prolific theatrical photographer associated with the Surrealist movement. “The camera’s love of her face is entirely serious and magical, and the unreality of the composition – she rises like a goddess out of the earth, her perfection emphasised by classical sculptures on columns that recede over the sands towards a painted sky – is not just a joke. It is also a quasi-religious recognition that she is not, after all, like you and me but inhabits another, dreamlike world created by the adoring eyes of cinema-goers.” Jonathon Jones, The Guardian, June 2006

1978

In 1978, Paul Strand’s “The Hebridean Photographs” was exhibited at Stills. This body of work, created in the 1960’s, documents Hebridean life, from people, to labour, to home-life, to landscape. We have a copy of this exhibition book in Stills’ eclectic, public-access, photographic library. “It may be unusual in an exhibition […] to include a small and seemingly alien group of images. We have assumed however that Strand’s earlier work may be unfamiliar to many people and that some brief introduction may be of value. Despite the changes of style and interest apparent in Strand’s work over the years, there is also an underlying consistency, an adherence to a creed established early in his career” Richard Hough, Stills Director 1978.

1982

In 1982, Stills exhibited work by Man Ray, a famous Dada and surrealist artist. These objects display some behind the scenes happenings of how galleries operate; deciding where certain works are to be hung, and sending out press releases are still common practice today.

1987

Did you visit our Jo Spence exhibition in 2016? This flyer from our archive shows that Stills already understood the importance of Spence’s work, way back in 1987. The “Women in Photography” event organised by Stills lists Jo Spence as a speaker alongside Val Williams, Grace Robertson and Maggie Murray. Sadly Spence had to pull out due to ill health, a final draft of the flyer reveals she was replaced by Dr. Roberta McGrath, an Edinburgh based photography scholar and lecturer.

1988

This cassette is a recording of Paul Graham giving an artist talk in 1988 when Stills exhibited Graham’s Troubled Land series. In this recording he talks about his images and working practice as well as some practical tips and advice about making a living as a photographer.

1994

“A Stuggy Pren” was an exhibition in 1994 which coincided with the release of a collaborative book between photographer Katrina Lithgow and poet Ivor Cutler. Featuring fascinating portraits of Cutler, taken by Lithgow, this exhibition elaborated on the dynamic collaborative relationship between both artists.

Our Team

DIRECTOR
Vivienne Gamble
vivienne.gamble@stills.org

PROGRAMME MANAGER
Cheryl Connell
cheryl.connell@stills.org

CREATIVE LEARNING MANAGER
Claire Cochrane
claire.cochrane@stills.org

FINANCE CONTROLLER
James McKenzie
finance@stills.org

TECHNICIAN
Joseph Wilson
joseph.wilson@stills.org

MARKETING AND VISITOR COORDINATOR
Daisy Mason
daisy.mason@stills.org

PROJECT COORDINATOR (CREATIVE LEARNING)
Louise McLachlan
louise.mclachlan@stills.org

GENERAL ENQUIRIES
info@stills.org

TECHNICAL MANAGER
Evan Thomas
evan.thomas@stills.org

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (MATERNITY LEAVE)
Caitlin Serey
caitlin.serey@stills.org

DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (MATERNITY COVER)
Monica Sutcliffe
monica.sutcliffe@stills.org

RESEARCH ASSOCIATE & TUTOR
David Grinly
david.grinly@stills.org

TECHNICIAN
Joseph Glover
joseph.glover@stills.org

LIBRARY COORDINATOR
Connie Leroux
connie.leroux@stills.org | library@stills.org

PRODUCTION FACILITIES ENQUIRIES
resource@stills.org

Board Members:

Lewis Blackwell (Chairperson)
Rianna Andrews
Graham Berry
Sarah Brown
Mike Cookson
Antonia Laurence-Allen
Andrew McNiven
Christine Moorhouse
Sham Sandhu
Fiona Shields
Antony Sojka
Rose Younger

Residents

Scotland’s Workshop Award 2025

Application deadline: Thursday 10 July 2025, 12 midday

We’re excited to share a new opportunity from Scotland’s Workshops – the aim is to give one emerging artist the time, support and financial means to experiment and gain new skills through spending time at two of the 10 visual art production facilities around Scotland that make up Scotland’s Workshops. The selected artist will receive a bursary of £2500, with an additional £1500 production bursary to cover tuition, technical assistance, materials and any additional production costs, and up to £1000 to cover travel and accommodation, as well as up to £500 towards access costs. The award will be fully supported by the host organisations.

This award will be flexible, with the recipient being able to spend time at two organisations, with the expectation that you would commit to four weeks of your time – these would not have to be consecutive weeks, and the time could be divided as you’d like between July 2025 and March 2026.

One of the aims of this award is for artists in Scotland to learn more about our production facilities and what they offer. For this reason, we ask that one of your chosen locations is outwith your home location.

Sustainability is also one of the long-term goals of Scotland’s Workshops and therefore we’d also like to know how the award will help you to develop your practice in an environmentally responsible way.

Scotland’s Workshops is a network of 10 visual arts production facilities all across the country. The spaces give both artists and newcomers access to an amazing array of equipment, studio spaces and unique technical expertise to create and learn about art. scotlandsworkshops

Deadline for applications: Thursday 10 July at 12 midday

Benefits

£2500 artist bursary.  
£1500 production bursary
£1000 available for accommodation and travel. 
Access costs available up to £500

The successful applicant will have access to 

Dedicated one-to-one tuition and technical assistance at your two chosen organisations
Year membership within your selected Scotland’s Workshops organisations who operate a membership scheme or equivalent.
Support to reflect on the award and produce a short final report, website article or video interview. 
Promotion via host organisations and Scotland’s Workshops websites and social media.

Eligibility

Open to all Scotland based emerging and those who have graduated within the last three years.  

We cannot accept applications from undergraduate and postgraduate students or contracted staff from Scotland Workshop’s organisations.

How to Apply

Please complete the application on the Wufoo platform via this link: here.

You will be asked for

Statement letter or video/voice file describing your current practice, and interest in the Scotland’s Workshops Award (max 500 words or 3 mins for a video/voice file)
CV/track record summary
A PDF of 6 images of your work, relevant to your proposal, with image credits.
In the last section, please let us know if you have any ongoing commitments or notes about dates that might impact your proposal. Please let us know if you would require the available access costs.
Optional links to your website or other online source of your work.

In your statement, please include

Your initial proposal and artistic intent
How the opportunity will allow you to develop your practice
Outline what you would like to do at each of your selected organisations
How you will consider the environmental impact within your proposal

Selection Criteria and Process

All applications will be reviewed by the organisations mentioned in the proposal to consider practicalities of project plans. The final selection panel will comprise representatives from Scotland’s Workshops. 

Policies

As a charitable organisation Stills is committed to and conforms to various policies.

View our Environmental Policy and Action Plan

View our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Policy and Action Pla n

View our Fair Work Policy & Action Plan

View our Safeguarding Policy

Green Arts Initiative

Here at Stills we believe in our responsibility to demonstrate best practice in the environmental sustainability of all our activities. In turn, we aim to inform and influence audiences, staff, stakeholders, suppliers and partners to adopt a responsible approach toward the impact of their operations on the environment.

We are proud to be part of Creative Carbon Scotland’s Green Arts Initiative! One of many projects: In 2019 Stills library transformed into an urban green space. Members of the public were invited to learn about native wildflowers in our exhibition and participatory workshops.

Scotland’s Workshops

Stills is part of Scotland’s Workshops – a network of 11 visual arts production facilities all across the country. The spaces give both artists and newcomers access to an amazing array of equipment, studio spaces and unique technical expertise to create and learn about art.

Nurturing the making of art that happens right across the land, the geographic reach of the network spans 6 local authorities in Scotland, from the Central Belt to Inverness and Lybster in the North. From sculpture to printmaking, photography and glassmaking, the 11 organisations that make up Scotland’s Workshops have a huge wealth of experience built up over decades since their creation began in the 1960s.

Read more about Scotland’s Workshops here.