Pakaraima Mountain Safari – First Glimpse

I was on the “Safari” in 2009, and I will present a series of images from that trip in the next few blog-posts.

This is an HDR Image of a view from the Oasis at Annai, this is a famous stop along the Lethem Trail, and in the distance you can see the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains, and the trail that leads through them on the way to Lethem.

2012 Deck – Week 11

I try not to do single image HDRs, that is, using a single exposure and tone-mapping it for greater detail throughout the scene, but sometimes I can never quite seem to get the processing on an image quite right in colour, and sometimes its an image that I would prefer not to use as a monochrome, so then I tone-map it in an HDR software to bring out that detail that I know is there.

This photo is of the Moravian Church in Queenstown, Guyana.  It is more than a hundred years old.

It stands at the junction of Anira Street and New Garden Street, and there are utility posts and wires on two sides of it, I composed this to minimise the effect of those wires.

Queenstown Moravian Church

Ma

Mother Church

I can’t speak for others, I can only speak for myself, and I want to mention how I remember someone who died this morning.  To me she was always Ma Cheong, not Mrs. Cheong, or Aunty Martha, but Ma Cheong.

For as long as I’ve known her in our parish community at the Cathedral, she has been a mother to many, her home (not her house) was always filled with young people, her children.  Whether they were her own flesh and blood, adopted, fostered, or just happen to be there as friends, church member or passing through, she treated all the same.

Although she may never be immortalized in stone, she will live on in those she was a mother to, her ideals, her thoughts, her wisdom will shine through those that she imparted them to.  To all of her children (and there are many of us who counted ourselves among them) I extend my condolences.

Like the statue of Our Lady that survived the fire which destroyed the original cathedral and now stands proudly at the Entrance to the current cathedral, I say to you her children and anyone who has known her, stand proud to have known and to have been loved by Ma Cheong.

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Please Click on the Image to see it larger in the Gallery.

Celebration of Life!

For what we have accomplished and the hard work we’ve done, let us have a celebration, in thoughts, in words and in action.

For the life that we have, the lives we are living, we should join in the celebration that IS Life!

For the hard work ahead, and the things we can do, should do and will do, let everyone join in the celebration for all that can be

Take the colours of the rainbow and decorate ourselves, let down our hair, move to the beat, join the celebration of Life!

2012 Deck – Week 10

In the first few years after my daughter was born, I took photos (snapshots) of her every chance I got, but for some reason, as time went by I took less and less.  She now poses “too much”  🙂

On Phagwah day I deliberately asked her to pose for me, and got a nice portrait of her  🙂

I don’t often do portraits or posed “people” photos, I’m just not very good at it, so when I do try it and get at least one good one, I feel happy  🙂

Miriam "Dressed for Holi"

Touch of the Goddess

Although I am a Catholic, I have always been fascinated by the old myths and legends of ancient civilizations, so sometimes that comes through in my art  🙂

A New Day

As Selene departs, another night done
She comes charging, the day’s begun
Sky aglow from her robes of saffron
As her mighty steeds keep galloping on.

Firebright and Daybright in the cool early morn
together they pull her Chariot along
the harbringer of Helios; the master of day
she dispels the night with her soft golden rays

Mother of the winds and the Morning Star
lighten the darkness, let night leave no scar
Upon a world of cold night chills
bring warmth, bring light, bring what you will

The Dawn-bringer comes, her tears on the flowers
creatures of dark, well should you cower
I stand on a mountain in the far distant west
And patiently await the touch of the Goddess.


Touched by the Goddess

Please click on the photos in this post to see them larger at the Gallery, I think the small sizes here may do them an injustice.

200

Just over a year I took this photo, I wasn’t very satisfied with it then, but then there was another image that had pulled most of my attention away from that same day.  There’s just something about fishing boats that pulls your attention though, for this image I had wanted to incorporate the rocks, the boats, the heavily clouded sky, try as I might I could not get all the lines parallel, so I went for an image of divergent lines.

This post will mark the 200th post for this blog (I think that counts the “Hello World” post as well.  I suppose if I did a daily photo project and blogged each one I’d be way ahead in count  🙂  For me, its not enough to just post a photo, I want something else to go along with it, some of my thoughts, or insights (or lack of)

There were some little things that I liked about this image; the water pulling away from the area just in front of the rocks, the waves breaking on the lower wall, the two boats at rest and, of course, the clouds  🙂

Be sure to lick on the image above for a much better view in the Gallery.

City Watch

For anyone who has read the books by Terry Pratchett, specifically the ones dealing with the twin-city of Ankh-Morpork, you know about the City Watch, for those of you who have not read those books, I encourage you to try them, Terry Pratchett is a master story-teller and a comic genius.

But this is a photography blog, not a book review blog, and the title of this post has nothing to do with Samuel Vimes or the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, although now that I think of it, maybe I should have titled the photograph “Vimes” 🙂

Most of us get very few opportunities to rise above the humdrum of everyday life, to stand above it all and, with a calm that belies the hustle and bustle below, just take in the view of a city, our own city, noise-filled, garbage-filled, accident-prone, with a mix of colonial buildings and modern square concrete structures.

Imagine this; from one vantage point, you can see the hub of public transportation, the minibuses and taxis, a landmark eatery, hotel and beer-garden, the seat of government, hotels, churches (including one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world), the high court, one of the largest markets in the country, city hall, the busiest business district in the country, the Atlantic Ocean and so much more.

That is the view from the clock tower at Stabroek Market, and you haven’t even turned around to see the wharves and the mighty Demerara River with its speed-boat traffic, the ferry and the aging but impressive harbour bridge.

Click on the photo below, see it larger in the gallery and imagine yourself in that man’s position.

2012 Deck – Week 9

As things got busy, I got fewer photos, but I was still left with a choice for Week 9, in the end I decided on this one.  Nikhil was trying especially hard to get photos of some wall-walkers with the boats in the background, I wasn’t inclined to do the same at the time, but as I walked on the lower section later, this guy passed me and I thought I’d catch a shot of him walking away.  As it happens the boats were in nice positions at this point  🙂  Dumb Luck  🙂

 

Walk the line