My Glasgow photo project
18 July 2025
Simon Community Scotland, the charity providing safe places, support, and hope to people experiencing homelessness, has today (Friday 18th July) unveiled twenty-four powerful photographs of Glasgow — all taken by people supported by the charity.
The images are the result of My Glasgow, a unique photography project that gave disposable cameras to people experiencing homelessness, with the simple brief: capture the city as you see it. They had one week, which happened to be a rare week of Glasgow Summer sun, to take their photos and return the cameras..
Lorraine McGrath, CEO for Simon Community Scotland, said, “People we support continue to amaze us every day. They have done it again, the images the public have to choose from showcase talent and love for Glasgow and all its quirks. To now see that talent being shared with the public and then go on sale in a beautiful calendar, that will showcase their work and our wonderful city, brings a level of recognition and value that is seldom experienced by the people we support.”
The final 24 photographs are now on public display in the windows of The Metropolitan Bar as part of The Merchant City Festival this weekend. The images are also available to view on Simon Community Scotland’s website and social media channels.
The charity is now inviting the public to help choose twelve final images to feature in the first My Glasgow Calendar. The calendar will go on sale in October. All finalists have received a cash prize and the final 12 will receive a further prize for being part of the calendar. Funds raised from the sale of the calendars will go directly to helping people experiencing homelessness.
Lorraine continued: “Our team works tirelessly to provide people with hope and support. This project shows what’s possible when people are given opportunities, purpose, and a platform to express themselves. This is just the beginning of My Glasgow — and we’re already exploring how to grow it next year.”
Emma McBride, Project Co-ordinator for My Glasgow, said; ““I’ve been blown away by the creativity of everyone involved. These photos capture the raw vibrancy and beauty of Glasgow from a truly unique perspective. I’d encourage everyone to come down to The Merchant City Festival, visit The Metropolitan Bar, and cast their vote — either by QR code or online. It would mean the world to our finalists.”
Emma added; “We would like to thank Merchant City Festival, MYWORLD, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, FUJIFILM, Gulabi, Jessops, Street Level Photoworks, The RPS, and BBC Scotland for all their support with this project.”
Simon Community Scotland supports hundreds of people every single day in Glasgow through their street team, hubs, helpline, outreach and our supported accommodation services.
To view the My Glasgow finalists and vote, please visit https://www.simonscotland.org/programme/myglasgow/