If walls had ears

On January 31, 2011January 31, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography20 Comments

Last year I did a post called September Monochromes, and in the series of photos that I had on the post was one of a Coconut, to which a friend (Cecil) made the comment:

“I see the mystery of the coconut which may have travelled hundreds or even thousands of miles to land on the beach there and possible to continue it’s journey with the next tide.”

In this post, I have two photographs, the first is another coconut, not in monochrome this time, but it reminded me of that comment from Cecil. If that coconut could tell us the tales of it’s short life and probably long journey, what would it be like? Did it grow on a tree on our own shores, or on a distant shore in a far away land? Was it cut from a tree to give of it’s juice (and maybe jelly) immediately to the person picking it, or to be loaded with others and sold to someone else. Was the water drunk au naturel, or used in a sweet rum cocktail and served with one of those little umbrellas?

The second photo wasn’t originally meant to be lumped into the same post, but who decides these things anyway?

I had titled it “Of a Time gone by” even before considering this post. I grew up hearing the “old folks” using the phrase “If walls had ears”, meaning; what stories and events took place near those walls, what stories the walls would have been witness to. People should be more concerned with “if the walls had tongues”!

This building sits on (or in or next to) the St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital compound, across the road from the Eve Leary Police Headquarters, a few doors down and around the corner from the US Embassy and the Felix Austin Police College, on a street called “Parade Street” (I give you one guess as to why) and in walking distance of many other places of note (such as the Umana Yanna, The Pegasus Hotel, the Canadian High Commission, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. One can only imagine the things that have taken place in and around this humble looking building 🙂

On a Breezy Afternoon

On January 29, 2011January 29, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography12 Comments

I liked how this particular image came out, not necessarily for art, but for the framing of the couple on the bench. It’s one of those Georgetown Seawall scenes that can be somewhat iconic.

This scene brings to mind the song by Dave Martins and the Tradewinds entitled “In Guyana”, it’s mostly of a time gone by, and mostly even before my time, but some of it pulls at my heartstrings.

Sunsets on the seawall, enjoying the breeze, Sweet Caribbean Music, blowing through the trees, a stroll along the seawall, from the Bandstand to Ayanganna, that’s how it was, In Guyana…

OK, I know those aren’t the words to the song, but I hope Dave won’t hold that against me 🙂

2011 Deck – Week 4

On January 28, 2011January 28, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography14 Comments

I went out on at least two occasions this week with the sole intention of using the Sigma 10-20 Ultra-wide angle lens. Just so that I didn’t disappoint myself I made sure I chose one of those for this week’s Deck photo 🙂

This is what remains of the building that housed Frandec Travel Service and Frandec Health Insurance, it was one of Georgetown’s old wooden structures, nothing as fancy as a Victorian Styled Mansion but nevertheless, it gave the area some of it’s character.

It was burnt down this January, suspected arson.

Looking into the sun

On January 26, 2011January 26, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography14 Comments

I remember reading the manual for the Canon PowerShot S5 (and later for the Canon EOS Rebel T1i) and one of the things they say NOT to do was to point the camera directly at the sun.

Well, I couldn’t help it, I did it numerous times with the S5 and I certainly didn’t stop when I got the T1i, although doing it with the T1i hurts more since I am looking through the viewfinder and not using a LCD screen 🙂

One of the dangers of taking a photograph pointing into the sun is losing most of the correct colour in the scene, but since I was planning a BW with this one back in September of last year, I don’t think that consideration mattered too much.

This is the bandstand at the Kingston seawall, with the Pegasus Hotel seen behind it, and the sun behind them 🙂

The Calm – LBI HDR

On January 25, 2011January 25, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography24 Comments

For anyone who has followed my through my blogging, you’ll have seen Nikhil’s name popping up with some regularity, we’re friends, and he’s also my photo-buddy. In September of last year he came out with a spectacular image which has since been used by Kriti in their publication of the 2011 Scotiabank (Guyana) Calendar, it’s an amazing image, he titled it Resting Drama (if you click on the name you’ll see it on his site).

I was left stunned with his image and had not processed any of my images from that day, they will all pale in comparison. Today I decided to process one, (I’ll get to the others eventually) this one was a three image HDR, whilst he faced north, I faced east, into the slowly setting sun.

I want to explain a few things; firstly, it’s a three image HDR (High Dynamic Range) trying to get the most detail out of the scene. Secondly, it’s about the scene as it is depicted, I tried as much as possible to keep the image as “natural” as possible, sometimes HDRs can go overboard and look over-processed or even cartoonish.

The sky was cloudy, so we were in a shadowed setting with some cloud coverage overhead, heavier as you looked eastward,but far towards the east the sun was setting, and fewer clouds were in the sky that far east giving the sunlight entrance to the scene. The sunlight bathed the seawall mildly or gently, You can see the wetness towards the sea reflecting the light, even the grass shoreward was lit to a degree.

I think I may be using too many words, I should just let the photo speak for itself.

The Calm - La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara. 3 Image HDR, 27mm, ISO 200

The Parallel Project – Starburst

On January 24, 2011January 24, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, The Parallel Project20 Comments

There are special filters that you can buy to create those “star-burst” effects from very bright points of light, but you can also do this by using a small aperture, the aperture rings in the lens will help to produce this same star-burst effect without you going out and buying those filters. Of course, the filters do give some very neat effects 🙂

I had intended this experiment for a night scene, but as I was in the park accompanying Nikhil, I thought I’d try it out using the sun as my source of bright light. (I even took shots with a larger aperture to make sure it was working as it should)

The Tree in the Park. 1/30s, f/16, ISO 400, 18mm

2011 Deck – Week 3

On January 22, 2011January 22, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography7 Comments

I almost thought that I’d have to re-post Compton as my Deck Photo this week, I didn’t do much photography until the end of the week 🙂

I had the chance to re-visit a scene I had done a few year’s ago, back when I was shooting the Canon PowerShot S5 IS, which I still miss. The scene was on Sheriff Street, and it was a photo that was “borrowed” from my Flickr photostream to be used on a Facebook page about Guyana.

Once again, it’s Twilight time and the sky is touched by the wings of the angels, the wands of the fairies, or just one of those physical phenomenons of light on particles in the air 🙂

I hope you like it.

Buddy’s Pool Hall give s a nice addition of lights to the street, and it is Sheriff Street, the street that never sleeps!

100

On January 21, 2011January 21, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography13 Comments

Normally on a Friday, I post the newest photo for the Deck Project, but I will have to post that tomorrow. This is my one-hundredth post since starting this blog, so I was looking for something special to do to mark it.

I decided to go through the photos that I’ve taken since using this current camera, the Canon EOS Rebel T1i, and I found three images that I thought would mark the occasion nicely.

Firstly, an image taken on the one-hundredth day of 2010, I only took photos on one subject that day, so I had to choose one from those, and one that I had not already uploaded. I may never see Washington DC (especially when the Cherry Blossoms are blooming) so this tree is our Guyanese version 🙂

Secondly, the one-hundredth photograph, or more specifically the one-hundredth shutter-activation of the T1i. This was from a project I did for Banks DIH, they were soon to open the new fine-dining restaurant and bar now known as OMG! This scene is from inside the restaurant, This is among the first experiences I’ve had with a Digital SLR camera.

Thirdly, I had reached and surpassed nine-thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine shutter actuations on the camera, and the numbering had started over, so the next photo is the second one hundredth image by number on the camera, so technically it’s the ten thousand and one hundredth image.

I started this blog with a post called “Before Our God”, with an image taken at the funeral of my maternal grand-mother, coincidentally on the one-hundredth post, an image from that same day is numbered 100.

For all those who have gone before us, those with us and those to come after us, most of us eventually realize that photography is more than just clicking the shutter-release button, it’s about the Moment, the Memory and the Meaning of the scene you have captured.

Compton

On January 20, 2011January 20, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography15 Comments

I recently put this image on Flickr, and I got some favourable responses, and because I haven’t blogged in a few days I thought I should put it here as well 🙂

I was sitting in the vehicle waiting for my wife to finish up in a Supermarket on Regent Street, I was reading on my phone (at this time it was “The Witching Hour” by Anne Rice), and in my peripheral vision I say some movement in the distance. Yes, it’s a busy street, but I’m sure you get my point.

His name is probably not Compton, but amidst the multitude of things adorning his attire is a name-tag proclaiming him to be Compton. He is a colourful character, and you seldom see past the spectrum of colours, the purposeful stride and the “insane” air about him.

I hurriedly put the phone down, reached into the back-seat for the camera, and quickly composed and clicked to get my shot. I had to wait two seconds while the camera took the shot since I had forgotten to reset the timer from the previous night, so he is two seconds out-of-focus.

The Parallel Project – Cross Polarization

On January 17, 2011January 17, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, The Parallel Project15 Comments

I say cross-polarization and people ask me about bees and plants, its polarization not pollination! Yet, I do miss those bees and the flowers shots, I must go hunting soon!

This week’s experiment is in cross-polarization. If you’ve even wore polarized sunglasses (and I haven’t because I wear spectacles already), you might have seen strange patterns on car windshields, the polarised sunglasses are revealing areas of the glass that was put under stress during the manufacturing process, the patterns resulting when using the polarised sunglasses are a phenomenon known as “birefringence”.

The important part of all this is that the results have a very cool effect when combining a polarised filter on the camera with a polarised light source through a transparent material that has gone through a stress-related manufacturing process.

Just for experimentation, I’ve used a transparent plastic ruler.