Supermarket

On March 31, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Supermarkets are usually very busy places, especially during the hours I can shop in them. During this time when people are trying to practice social distancing, its probably not surprising that I can actually get shots that are not too “busy” 🙂

Cleaning (and hopefully sanitizing) the shopping environment.

What caught my attention here was the slight distortion that the cold frosted door caused to the image of the man there as opposed to the clarity of the man beyond the door.

Tilted images are not my thing, but sometimes they are necessary and sometimes they work.

Some people can’t leave their children at home, so it becomes necessary to take them into potentially dangerous areas. Who would have thought that we would ever describe a supermarket as a potentially dangerous area…

Inside supermarkets are not easy to shoot, at least not for me, the lighting is not optimal, being relatively low light, especially in narrow aisles, the diversity of images may not be as ideal as out on the streets, and the space tends to be cramped, luckily, these allowed for some space due to a sparsity of people. 🙂

As you might notice, there is no prevalence of masks, not because Guyanese are conscious of the actual dangers of that, or the possible benefits, but because its not part of our preventative measure, just like staying at home isn’t….

The WHO recently reiterated its position on who should wear masks and when, as always, its about educating ourselves on these things.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other photographs “In the Streets”.

Around the Block

On March 25, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Yesterday I decided to literally take a walk around the block, just to see how the COVID-19 and its repercussions might be affecting the neighbourhood (my work neighbourhood, that is). So as not to waste the opportunity, I walked with my DXO camera as well.

As street photography goes, nothing great, but a few decent ones 🙂

You probably can’t see it, but in that vendor’s section is some Nenwah Husk, used my many a Guyanese as a body scrub.

Being the lone Chinese walking around I kinda attract unnecessary attention, this lady kept a close eye as I walked by; good thing I didn’t sneeze or cough.

This rastafarian on crutches carefully made his way along the pavement, but was very observant of all the stalls he passed, might have been looking for Nenwa. 🙂

In her hand is a bag of sliced green Mango, I can only assume that maybe it also had “loud pepper and salt”

Almost as if COVID-19 were not on our shores, these gentlemen were busy “gyaffing” and the topic as I passed was all politics, aka GECOM-20

Less people than normal during midday, but still enough, and as you can see, not much social distancing occurring.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other images “In the Streets”

The Mask

On March 24, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Depending on where you source your information from, some places are saying that wearing masks will help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease, some are saying the masks won’t help prevent you getting it, but if you have symptoms, then you should wear a mask in public… regardless, in some places in Guyana, masks are starting to appear with more frequency.

Before I myself am sent into lockdown, I think I’ll keep trying to capture street scenes.

Many supermarkets, staying open to supply us with our necessities, are mandating that their staff be masked, some are assisting with sanitisers as you enter, one I went into even gave me a mask to wear while in their store.

Taking no chances, this Chinese man masks up in the market, probably getting some fresh produce for his restaurant. Some Chinese restaurants have taken to doing Take-Away only, through a window, helping to limit exposure while still serving their customers

At a shopping “mall” – even though this isn’t the sharpest image, I’ve always found that for Street Photography, the story matters more than the technical perfection of the image.

Take every precaution possible. Be informed, beware of fake “cures and remedies”.

Tech giant Google has created a COVID-19 Information and Resource page.

And the World Health Organisation (WHO) is a trusted source of anything health related, including COVID-19, Keep checking their page for Updated information and guidance; here’s a link to their COVID-19 Advice page.

Please desist from spreading via social media (especially WhatsApp, unconfirmed data or things you’ve heard; be informed, be safe, be responsible.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery, along with other images “In the Streets”

More from Mon repos

On March 21, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

In my previous post, I showed what would have been my “select 5” images from a walk in Mon Repos Market, select as in those I’d choose to enter into the VISIONS Exhibition 2020 (were I to submit). Today I’d like to share another five images from that walk.

Any place where people are involved with activities of interaction or even just on the move, are places where you can find a treasure trove of Street Photographs 🙂

Some people make shopping look fun, getting a smile on the face of someone fetching several bags, priceless 🙂

These guys are using a blow-torch to sear the outsides of the poultry, never saw this before.

One of the few that I felt should be left in colour.

The dynamics around this stall caught my eye, not sure I got what I wanted but I got a decent one either way 🙂

This lone young girl at this stall right at one of the exits also caught my eye, another angle that I took was better, but the image quality was not, so this one works 🙂

Click on the images to see them in the gallery along with other images “In the Streets”

My Rest

On March 19, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

With unrest in town since the General and Regional Elections as well as less people in town due to the COVID-19 arrival on our shores, I had a Saturday morning off, and went into the Mon Repos market for a short walk.

Mon Repos is a village on the East Coast of Demerara, not too far before the large Lusignan Village. Saturday is Market Day at Mon Repos, and while I’ve walked in there a few times, this time I think I came away with a few good shots. whilst processing them, I couldn’t help but think that if I were submitting images for this year’s intended VISIONS Exhibition 2020, I might actually choose from these. In that spirit, I went through the ones I had earmarked as keepers and chose five to share,

VISIONS allows photographers of Guyanese descent or even non-Guyanese who live and work in Guyana, to submit three to five photographs; the photographs should be chosen with a theme in mind, a theme of the photographer’s own choosing. The submitted photographs are then collected by the curator (or curatorial panel) and viewed together as an entire collection of images from a variety of photographers, and naturally, there will be a variety of genres as well as themes. From this collection a narrative (or narratives) emerge, and it is this narrative that the curator works towards telling with the images chosen for the purpose.

Since it isn’t a competition, many excellent images are not included, but be assured that all those that are used are not only well suited to the narrative, but are also exemplary works by the photographers who submitted them.

I’m not much of a Street Tog (photographer), but these would be my picks for VISIONS is I were submitting. Quite a switch from my usual seascapes 🙂

To see them in the Gallery “ In the Streets”, click on the images, you’ll see them there along with other images in that Gallery.

Cyclist on the dam

On March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I tend to take photographs with composition in mind, maybe except when I’m trying Street Photography, but other than that, its usually about how the scene shapes up, where the lines go, how much foreground versus background to use, and sometimes, even where the main subject should fall, although that is not always the case.

Because of that approach, and because I seldom think about the “colour” of the image, I tend to see the resulting image in terms of black and white, shades of gray, more about form and function, lines, elements, etc.

These were just some thoughts going through my mind while processing this image: