The Deacons’ Dozen, plus one

On January 23, 2017 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

I don’t do event photography usually, primarily because its not my style, but also because there is less control than, say, a wide open scene on the coast where everything is in its place and nothing’s about to jump in front of me and suddenly obscure the shot. And it seems that often when there is an important event that I do concede to shoot, there’s some dude in a hot pink shirt who just does not understand “space” limitations and to respect the other people also doing a job there (although I seriously doubt they were ever there “doing a job”).

OK, digression aside, I don’t do Events because I want to capture every moment, and I want every one to be good, but that just isn’t possible, and with my style of shooting, very much next to impossible to satisfy those expectations.

I recently took some photographs at the Ordination to Deacon-hood of Berchmans Devadass & Joel Rathna at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Brickdam, Georgetown. I did process some 82 images to give over to the Diocese, but at the end of doing so I was not happy, so I then pared those down to 12 images, that would more reflect the moments I would chose to share and would be more in keeping with my particular style of photography.

The full set is on my Facebook profile, but I wanted to share the set I chose, which I named the Deacons’ Dozen, over on my site here.

And just to be difficult, instead of just having the 12 chosen Black and White images, I also added one extra; I had left one image back to process separately, this one is in colour. I had noticed at one point during the Bishop’s address that the sunlight had began to stream into the western windows of the cathedral, so I left my spot and went to the rear of the altar to capture that and as much of the rest of the scene as possible. (Chronologically, it falls in the middle of the other images in the set.)

Untitled – 17-3077 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 2017

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, also in the Gallery are the 120 Black and White Images of the ceremony that I called the Deacons’ Dozen.

2015 Deck – Week 41

On December 28, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

For the duration of week 41 of 2015, I was out of circulation, I was in hospital for a bit of minor surgery, and amazingly, I got a few good pics with the phone… 😀

This is one that I favour above the other few good ones.

I think that my Instagram experiment this year was a success, I do not regret it at all, not with a few gems like this coming from it:

Earth Tones (Brannon) | Instagram | Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Duos

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2015 Deck – Week 16

On July 18, 2015July 18, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography1 Comment

I was wondering why I found this particular photo appealing… not great, just appealing… then realized my eyes kept following the branches all over the place like a maze, or one of those optical illusion drawings that keep looping back impossibly onto itself.

It’s just a tree, one that was uprooted on the seawalls, and even though the roots are above ground, it just refuses to die 🙂

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, 1/160s, f/8.0, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

Framed Flora

On February 21, 2015February 21, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Taking time away from the images can be a good thing… but it’s important to actually go back to them, because if you don’t, it becomes a matter of “out of sight, out of mind”…

I was looking for a certain Mashramani photo this morning in my 2010 photo library… and I stumbled across this image…

This day was a good one, I really have to sort out a few more images from it 🙂

2010 | Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270mm

Click on the image to see it in the Flora Gallery along with other photos in the Floral category 🙂

High-key Bird

On November 20, 2014November 20, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Just about two years ago I had taken about four photos of a bird sitting on a branch, he was against the brighter light (sunlight) so the portion of him directly facing me was in shadow, not having a flash to fill-in with, I had thought at the time that I’d use post-processing with the sliders in Lightroom to retrieve the detail I wanted.

I was checking for some other images today when I came across the set and decided to process this one, I had now changed my mind slightly about the processing and was not thinking of a high-key style, giving some delicacy to the image, I think the light colour of the bird, the leaves behind him and the textured bark of the branch gave me the idea.

Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 32

On August 17, 2012August 24, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography6 Comments

I was driving up the East Coast Demerara Public Road and noticed the lovely blue skies, as I was alongside the seawall, I decided to stop and just take a look over the wall to see if there was anything that might catch my eye, that would make a good photo. Although I thought that I already had a good photo for the week, I still wanted to see, and I think I was lucky, I was down on the other side looking at a very clear ocean, with just a few poles sticking out of the mud and thought that I had better jump back in the car, when I noticed the coconut,

I switched lenses to the ultra-wide Sigma 10-20, and tried out a few shots, and this one appealed to me. I hope it pleases some of you too 🙂

For a better view, click on the image to see it in the Gallery, along with many other photos, this one is in the Seawall Gallery 🙂

2012 Deck – Week 31

On August 13, 2012August 13, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

After all that scenery and strange sights of Jamaica and Barbados, you would think that I would come back to Guyana with an eye for more landscapes and such, but my first morning back and I see a photo opportunity that was perfect for Nikhil, but since he wasn’t around I thought I’d give it a shot, I’m not very good at lining up my images in the eyepiece, something to do with my eyesight and spectacles, but after some attempts and a bit of correction in post-process I think I got a decent shot out of it.

While we were away, this weed decided to grow up through the grill over the hole in our bridge, tiny aquatic plant-life covered the water, and the morning sun helped to cast nice shadows to bring some dimension to it all 🙂

As always, click on the image for a better view in the Gallery

2012 Deck – Week 8

On March 5, 2012March 5, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography10 Comments

Although Mashramani fell in the eight week of the year, I did not necessarily want to use a photograph from that event, fortunately I had gone on a walk with Nikhil around St George’s Cathedral and I had tried out an HDR, although it has some issues, I rather liked the outcome.

I was a mere four feet from the door, but other than standing in mid-air to get the shot, this was my only option. Although I did some correcting to the distortion caused by the Sigma 10-20mm lens (and the close proximity to the subject), I still got some distortion that I couldn’t get rid of.

My aim with this HDR, was to get the doorway, but also to get as much detail on the inside that I could. Nikhil wanted to go and adjust the mat, but I thought that the angle that it was at worked fine for me.

Oh, and as usual, I neglected to lug the tripod with me, so this was handheld.

The Deck – Week 29

On July 23, 2010August 28, 2010 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2010 Deck, Photography3 Comments

This week was a poor week for photography for me, didn’t take too many photographs 🙂

The deck photo is not the best photo that I’ve taken all week, but it is unusual for me, so that’s the reason for its choice. Aesthetically, it may not be pleasing to everyone, or as we say, not everyone’s “cup of tea”. I went to accompany Nikhil again, and not having too much time, we took a short visit to the Promenade Gardens again. I wasn’t in the mood for photography, but Nikhil said I couldn’t go and not take something, so after shooting a few things; a flower here a leaf there, I followed him to a spot where he would eventually get his photo of the day for his 365 Project, and the sun coming through the fabric of some leaves caught my eye.

When I put the camera to my eye, there was a spectrum of colours in the light rays that showed in the viewfinder and I was just hopeful that it would also appear that way when I snapped the photograph, to be sure I tried a few different exposures. When peering through th eyepiece of the camera directly into the light it does appear more vibrant, but I think I caught the nice effect that grabbed my attention in the first place.