Category: Photography

This is what the blog is about, the results of my being a Photo Hobbyist

Midday Meditation

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

If I had the time in the middle of the day, I’d probably be doing just like this fellow in the photograph… sit and just stare out to sea for a while; but I was taking a walk and taking some photographs 🙂  (The walk ostensibly for health reasons and the photos for my sanity) I’ve photographed this spot many times, I was going through an old album when I came across this one and thought that a square crop would work nicely, then I saw the faint details of the clouds and thought that some tone-mapping would give me more detail and a monochrome version might just look nice, and voila!  I got a bit of haloing, but I can live with that 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in my Sepia Collection

2014 Deck – Week 09

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

The fascination with all things coastal continues!  Of course, it’s more like searching for images that I like and since most of my time seems spent on the coast, that’s what you’ll get 🙂

The fishing boats at Lusignan, always seem to compel me to take a few photos, even if I never use them, but this one worked well for me, I think my processing went a tad overboard (no pun intended) but at the end of it all I still liked the final image.

I was considering a Dutch title for the image since the word Moored comes from the Dutch word Meren (according to some dictionary I was reading), but then the name Lusignan was from France, so I went with a French title instead (not that anyone really cares) 😀

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/250s, f/10, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with the other images for this year’s Deck Project

2014 Deck – Week 08

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

This week was the week of our Republic Celebrations in Guyana, which I’ve shared photos from already, as is my custom, I look through those to choose one for the Deck Project.

This year there was no one image that stood out to me as much as this one did.  I had processed it in Black and White and had decided not to include it in the original upload, I was still not sure anyone else would like it.

I like it, it seemed to me to be a moment frozen in time… something more sensual than what was occurring all around… maybe that is why I converted it to monochrome, to remove the distractions.

I hope you see something other than a Mash Photo 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery 🙂

Mashramani 2014

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Mash_2014

I’m not sure I ever come out of these events with the right photos… but I think I usually get a few that are nice, and once in a while, one that is very nice.

Mashramani was on a Sunday this year, making the following day a holiday, so it was more relaxed for me in a way, there were a few bands fewer as well, so the last band came earlier than normal, which is good, I always get a bit peeved when the last band comes and the sun is already getting low in the sky

I was without my flash this year, and shooting into the sun without fill-flash was a different experience for me.  Also without my Tamron 18-270mm I felt a bit lost, but I stuck to my plan of attempting it with a borrowed Canon 55-200mm, and I think I did a fairly decent job of it.

I usually cull the set much more than this, but I think that these are fairly representative of the day, and I decided to keep almost all of the first draft.

Click on the image above to see the Gallery on the site for the full set, I will try to do a Select collection soon.

2014 Deck – Week 07

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Many readers assume that my photo for the Deck Project for each week is the “best” photo from that week, while sometimes this might be true, it is not always so.  The photo I choose is usually one that can, by itself, make a contribution to the 52 photos that comprise the Deck Project, and it can often have meaning or relevance as a photo to myself more than to readers / viewers.

This photo that I chose for this week may very well fall into that category of not necessarily being the best, but to me it stood out among others from the Children’s Mashramani Parade, this young lady had lots of energy and I liked how her darker skin contrasted with the white costume, and how the touches of coloured glitter accented ever so slightly the celebratory nature of the event.

She was part of the Smalta sponsored band from Chateau Margot Primary School, their main costume was depicting their theme “Princess of Peace and Purity” which they entered in the Ages 8-10 Fantasy Category.  This young lady was not the “Princess” or the main costume, she was one of the banner or standard bearers at the front of the “band”.

I hope you like it 🙂

Canon EOS 60D  |  Canon EF55-200mm Lens  |  1/500s @ f/7.1, ISO100, 200mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery with other images from this year’s Deck Project

For a Small selection of the Images from the Children’s Mash Parade, check the Children’s Mash 2014 Select album.

2014 Deck – Week 06

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography, Poetry4 Comments

The day this photo was taken did not turn out to be a happy day, so you’ll excuse me if the post seems depressing… even morbid.

That being said, I do believe that the photo was chosen not based on that but on it’s own merits.  I rather liked how this one came out.  I was using my Sigma 17-50mm, mostly to take photos of the scenery (not much of it that day) and some snapshots of my daughter.  I was pleased that this came out as good as it did, considering that most times I would have tried this with my ultra-wide Sigma 10-20mm.

The reason the day was a bad one is that shortly after taking these photos, I returned to my vehicle to realise that someone had gotten into it and stolen my bags, which included my laptop computer, and all my camera gear barring the camera and lens in my hand, the Sigma 10-20mm which a friend had borrowed, and the tripod which they left on the floor of the car.

Sadly, the police have neither found nor recovered any of the items (and have no idea who might have done it)

Now onto the photo…  and you can ignore the poem that follows 🙂

Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 17-50mm  |  1/320s at f/6.3, ISO 100, 50mm

Click on the Image to see it in the Gallery

Caught in the nets,
prisoners from the deep
dragged into the air,
I’d cry, but fish don’t weep…

Tossed into a boat,
tormented by the sun
gasping for breath
the boat; shorewards run…

Sorted by calloused hands,
most onto the ice,
I upon the ground;
apparently I’m not nice…

Upon the hard ground,
I flounder, I try…
On land, beneath the sun
I dry, I die.

For those curious people who will ask 🙂  Here’s a shortlist of some of the Camera related gear that was stolen:

1 LowePro Backpack Camera Bag
1 Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash
Serial Number: 611144
1 Canon EOS Rebel T1i Camera
Serial number: 0370111906
1 Tamron Di II 18-270mm Lens
Serial Number: 096584
1 Tamron AF 18-270mm Lens
Serial Number: 061042
1 Canon EF50mm f/1.8 II Lens
Lens No: 2514A003[BA]
1 Canon EF40mm f/2.8 STM Lens
Lens No: 6310B002[AA]
1 Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
1 Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens

The list is very long, but most of the rest is camera related accessories and paraphernalia, oh, and my Kindle Fire which I really really miss… I hadn’t realized how much I read until it was gone.

2014 Deck – Week 05

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I was tagging along with Fidal Bassier at Park Vue Hotel, Guyana’s newest Hotel, and we were given a tour by one of the owners who showed us the various offerings of the hospitality establishment.

Fidal was being considered as one of the photographers to record images for the Hotel for use in their marketing (I believe some other lucky photographer did the job eventually), while we were there we asked to take a few photos in the lobby / reception area and the Lounge.

Although I don’t think I’m very good at it, I’ve always liked a bit of Architectural photography, so I tried my hand at this one for this week’s Deck photo.

I hadn’t noticed that I’d lost some detail in the tiles when I originally shot it, so I did a tone-mapped version of the photo to retrieve some of that detail

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

Mashramani Children’s Parade 2014

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

Although I am much behind in my current Deck Project, I thought it prudent to choose and process photos from last weekend’s Children’s Mashramani Parade.

As usual, I am seldom disappointed with the parade itself, the Children are always great to see, I often say it is better than the Adult’s Parade…

I will be making a shortlist of these photos soon, but for now you can click on the image below to see the current images in the Gallery

Mash - Kids 2014

2014 Deck – Week 03

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Even though I don’t get out too often to take the landscape photos I yearn for, I do enjoy picking my daughter up from her Saturday “Revision Classes” on a Saturday and heading out to the seawall, she goes hunting for rocks and shells, and I hunt for photos.

This tyre with it’s bright paint caught my eye, and I was going for a simple photo then my daughter began running on the far side… resulting in an even better photo 🙂

I’ve been working in LightZone again for this one, and I really believe that it has a lot of potential, I really miss the gradient tool that I’ve become accustomed to in Lightroom, but it’s just like switching cameras, you just need to use the tools at hand to achieve a finished product that you can be satisfied with.

I used two localised masks in this one just to see how that would work, and it did a good job, I wanted some more clarity on the tyre itself without affecting the entire image, and I wanted to make local adjustments to the sky (I didn’t have a polarizer on the lens)

I hope you like it.

Clink on the image to see it in the Gallery.