Simon McCarthy, The Piper (PEOPLE 2024)

Princes Street in Edinburgh is the southern-most street of New Town; an arterial line that separates the historic Old Town built around Edinburgh Castle and the more modern and geometric neo-classical and Georgian New Town. The street borders Waverley Station and the Princes Street Gardens, and is popular with tourists who come to see busking pipers performing along the way. On a chill and rainy morning in October 2023, I came across a young musician in a fleece jumper and wellies performing for coins out of a suitcase on the corner. The scene captures the young performer playing with all his might, overshadowed by the historic Old Town and the monument to Allan Ramsay on the corner of Princes Street and The Mound where, on a finer day, other pipers in the full Scottish regalia are known to play.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.