2011 Deck – Week 28

On July 28, 2011July 28, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography9 Comments

For years I have had the job description of a “Computer Graphic Artist”, I can honestly say I don’t think I deserve that title, I am not an artist, I can’t draw to save my life! I know some computer software programs that help in “artistic” layouts, so that’s what I do 🙂 And apparently, successfully, at least for a number of years now!

If someone were to say that my “vision” of the product I am trying to create using those software was artistic, I’ll take it as a compliment, and if someone were to say that I have used that artistic vision and adapted it to my photography, I would also take that as a compliment 🙂 My first “artistic” job under that title was under Bernard Ramsay, and I learnt more about layouts and type-style usage from him than at any other time in my life, I helped to bring the Computer into his business (which was mostly hand-done even then), but he helped shape the “artistry” in me.

Even before then when I did small posters or flyers for the church, or Posters for the National Cultural Center for the late, great Lloyd Grannum, it was the encouragement of those that I did those things for that helped shape me.

As a side-note, Lloyd Grannum was probably one of the greatest men to ever walk this earth (in my humble opinion), his outlook on life, love and his laughter always made me feel that this simple man, with a simple job and a simple family life, had more greatness in a smile than I would ever achieve in my lifetime, and that feeling has never changed.

Back to the topic of artists! During the recent Squash tournament that took so much of my time away from my work and my “casual” photography, there was an Opening Ceremony for the event, and just before that ceremony, one of the female squash players of the Guyanese team did some “face-painting” for the members for the team. She is an Artist (yes, with a capital “A”). A talented young lady, who comes from a very talented family, I think every member of their family expresses “art” in one way or another, simply amazing!!!

She is Gigi! watch out for her, she is destined for greatness in art. My Deck photo this week is of her in action, while painting faces may not be very glamorous, this was not only about the art! It was about Squash, about Team, about Compadres and Friends, about Expression, and Patriotism!

2011 Deck – Week 27

On July 25, 2011July 25, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography6 Comments

In the last post I mentioned that I was thinking about the past and the future, and this post was to be the photo about the “future” I was thinking about.

I recently spent a very packed week doing some “sports” photography, something that I don’t do. I was volunteered to assist with the photography of the Junior CASA (Caribbean Area Squash Association) Squash Tournament. Squash is an indoor game, played on a “closed” court, and in Guyana, there is very little area available for viewing, much less photographing the game. The lighting on the courts is not exactly geared towards photography either, the courts are lit by flourescent lights (some more than others), three of them have glass backs, but the reflection in the glass are an obstacle by themselves!

I took photos in each of the five courts, two of them I had to shoot through the glass, no choice, two others have no glass wall, and I had to shoot from the spectator area above the back of the court, and the last court I shot through the glass, from the spectator area at the back of the court, and from windows high on the side of the court.

For simplicity I used the smallest lens I had, the 18-55mm, and since none pf my lens are particularly fast, it didn’t matter too much, I had to play a lot with ISO and shutter speeds 🙂

The photo I chose to use from that week is of one of the first round games of the tournament, as photos go, it’s not spectacular, but it shows the angle from which I was taking photos (up at the window), some athleticism demonstrated by the players, a small piece of the glass back-wall to the far left; it was taken at ISO800, with an aperture of f/5.0 and a shutter speed of 1/320. During the afternoon I actually got up to those speeds, but as the time passed 5pm the light changed and getting any shutter speeds in the 1/200 vicinity was lucky 🙂

It was a learning experience, hours on hours shooting, hours and hours sorting the photos looking for acceptable ones, playing with camera settings just to get the shutter speed up! The full gallery of photos from the tournament is at their home page, there are contributions from at least three photographers (all amateur) including myself.

I guess what made me think of the future for this photo, was that it was a Junior Tournament, so maybe some future great squash players, and for some of them (the players in the Under 19 category, like these two) it is their last year as Juniors, their future in Squash is with the Seniors.

2011 Deck – Week 26

On July 22, 2011July 22, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography14 Comments

I’ve been delinquent in my posts recently, but I have a really really good excuse…. no I don’t, I’ve just been busy. I can’t even conjure up a plausible excuse that might fool a school teacher on this one.

Recently I’ve been thinking about the past and the future, for this post I’ll deal with the past. As you know I recently posted a photo of St Barnabas, a church that will soon be just a memory, and in my case a few thousand pixels worth of data, and on a recent walk with Nikhil (during which I think I accomplished a grand total of three shutter actuations) I took a photo of a piece of architecture that always fascinated me, for one reason and one reason only, the tower!

I’ve always dreamt of having a tower on my dwelling that I could climb into and see the world around me, and since I’ve taken up photography, probably capture amazing sunset and sunrise photographs from it. Of course, I don’t have any such tower or photographer’s perch, so I just admire the ones that exist.

Of course, this building also has other “architectural” interests, like the Demerara Shutters, the wooden louvres and the shingled outer wall.