2011 Deck – Week 38

On December 12, 2011December 12, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography2 Comments

On this week, I only went out to take photos on one occasion, and on that occasion I took 45 photos, and I was way odd that afternoon, most were very underexposed. It wasn’t that I wasn’t feeling in the mood, I was fairly enthusiastic, I was enjoying the fresh air, the brief walk, and the scenery, but I never once looked down at the screen to check my photos, no chimping.

I was fairly disappointed but one of them had to work 🙂 I chose one that appealed to me in a general sense and felt that it would work well in monochrome, after playing with the processing for a while I found I wasn’t getting what I felt the scene needed, so I took the file into Nik’s HDR Efex to try a single image BW tone-mapping, and amazingly got what I thought was a good final processed image. I would never consider this a true HDR, since I only used one image, but the tone-mapping of the HDR software helped bring out the details that I wanted in this image.

2011 Deck – Week 37

On December 10, 2011December 10, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography10 Comments

It’s the little things. Whether its an unexpected hug, or a smile to brighten your day, it’s the little things that make a big difference sometimes.

I was at my mother’s place and my daughter said she was going to see the flowers and she wanted me to take photos of them, I know many of my fellow enthusiasts are not “flower people” and many of the female Photogs I know are very into taking photos of flowers. I went with my daughter to see the flowers, and while I wasn’t enthusiastic, I found myself being caught up in her joy and simple pleasure of seeing the flowers.

Sometimes, it’s the Little things that matter.

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery.

2011 Deck – Week 36

On December 9, 2011December 9, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Since the members of the Guyana Photographers (Facebook Group) started doing PhotoWalks it has provided me with other opportunities to get out and do some photography, as well as to see and admire the photos emerging in the group from these walks, there truly is a lot of enthusiasm and talent among the members.

On one of those walks (this one was to the villages of Good Hope and Triumph, I got what I thought were good shots, then I saw what others put up and realized that mine were all just OK 🙂

I fell into the trap set by all the enthusiasm and put my better shots onto the Group’s Page, without thinking to reserve at least one for this post, so a-hunting I went through my images for one that I could use. You can check out some of the photos from the group in the 3rd Photo Walk album Facebook.

2011 Deck – Week 35

On December 8, 2011December 8, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography8 Comments

Making Time. If anyone has ever figured out how to get more hours out of the day, please let me know 🙂 Once in a while you just have to stop, and slow down. Back in August (yes I’m writing this blog several months late) I was visiting with my in-laws and we decided to take a drive/walk out to the seawall at Lusignan. I took some photos (many left to be processed) but I processed two sequences that I had intended for HDRs, and was somewhat satisfied with this one.

I think that I was still standing in the village of Lusignan, but I was looking towards Annandale, I was told that somewhere ahead of me was an area known as Courbaine Park and (probably more to the left) is an area called Sand Reef. As usual, when taking outdoor HDR images I tend to go for the clouds, there was a very nice layering and depth (or height) to the clouds.

I used Nik HDR Efex to merge and tone map the image.

I’m hoping to sneak in a blog post or two to catch up before the end of the year 🙂

2011 Deck – Week 34

On October 18, 2011October 18, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography8 Comments

Although I had quite a variety of shots in this week, I couldn’t help but do a Sunset, a variant of one I had uploaded to the Guyana Photographers FB Group for a Photo Walk 🙂

This was an evening when I was heading into Good Hope on the East Coast of Demerara, as I crossed the bridge into “Good Hope South” I noticed the sunset down the canal, so I decided I’d stop and try a few photos. I had often noticed sunsets or similar scenes in the evening, but because its one of the only ways into the village it is always busy and I never stopped. This time, I determinedly stopped the car, grabbed the camera and walked to the bridge. The bridge is wide enough to hold a car and a pedestrian to either side 🙂 As I stood on the bridge, vehicles passed by and I was hand-holding a low-light shot, it took some patience, but I think I came away with one or two good shots 🙂

2011 Deck – Week 33

On October 14, 2011October 18, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography6 Comments

I had mentioned to someone that it has been a while since I tried a Panorama, or a panoramic image, so when I was with a few other photographers on a visit to the Stabroek Clock Tower, I decided to try one (or two).

Before I go farther, I thought I’d share a bit of information that I have. I was once told (someone can help verify this) a few facts about the Stabroek Market building; the name comes from the area in which it is located, Stabroek, which is a Dutch name in origin, it was commissioned and erected by the British when they ruled Guyana (then British Guiana), and was bought or sourced from an American company out of the United States.

OK, back to the point of this post, the photo. I took a sequence of photos starting from the North (my left) and panning right, this Panorama is comprised of seventeen (17) images, each taken in portrait orientation.

I forgot to do any correction for lens distortion prior to combining the images, so there is some chromatic aberration when viewed actual size. I used Photoshop to combine the images, and minor processing in Lightroom.

2011 Deck – Week 32

On October 7, 2011October 7, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography6 Comments

Another symmetry inspired image, or a Nikhil inspired image 🙂 I’ve seen Nikhil shoot this particular spot a few times already, but I never tried it, mainly because I wasn’t “seeing” anything that captured me, this week was a slow week, I only got out one day to take anything, and this day I forced myself to shoot something, if not I’d have had to post an image from a recent wedding I attended, and I didn’t want to have to rely on that 🙂

This is the side of the Ocean View Hotel facing the seawall, the salt air can be seen taking it’s toll on the iron-work, and the rust staining the face of the wall. This particular afternoon I was going for something simple, I tried a boat, some silhouettes, just the plain old sea and sky, but I kept going back to this image for a second look. Although I was tempted to go for a monochromatic image I liked the red iron structure and the rust-stains, so I kept it in colour. also the discolouration on the walls added to the warm afternoon sunlight 🙂

As usual, click on the image for a better view in the Gallery.

2011 Deck – Week 31

On September 16, 2011September 16, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography12 Comments

I struggled with this selection, partially because I was busy, and also because I took quite a few photos that week (mainly a wedding), did some sight-seeing where the taxi-driver afforded me some “drive-by shooting” of some scenes 🙂

I could have stopped him to get better shots, but time is important and I didn’t want to waste his, but it did form a base of where I’d like to see when I go back!

The shot I chose is more Nikhil’s type of subject, but it was one even I couldn’t resist. In the village of Suddie, this tank sits near the Police building and the Hospital, you just don’t see these tanks much these days.

I didn’t do much processing on this one, a crop to remove some distracting portions and to center it, and some added black, contrast and clarity. Oops, that sounds like a lot to some people.

This tank is in remarkably good condition for its age, of course, I drew some strange stares from the people in the area, especially the security guards at the hospital 🙂

World Photography Day

On August 19, 2011August 19, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography9 Comments

Thank goodness it’s not World Bloggers’ Day, Id feel miserable! Even though I have been taking photographs I have not been blogging enough, but this gives me an excuse to do a quick blog 🙂

Since it is apparently World Photography Day (which I had not heard of until today), I thought I would get out of the office for at least a few minutes to catch a quick photo-walk and post a photo 🙂

So here it is. Let photography be a gateway to greater things, to brighter ideas, to more interesting paths!

2011 Deck – Week 30

On August 16, 2011August 16, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography9 Comments

It is not every week that I can come up with something that pleases everyone, so this week don’t expect something that pleases you 🙂 but if it does, hooray!

I went to the Essequibo Coast a few weekends back for a wedding (photos from which I don’t have permission to share as yet), I took photos other than wedding ones, so here is one from the first day there, which happened to be the last day of the 30th Week of 2011.

It seems that from the North-West region to the Corentyne Coast there is a common theme on the shores of our land, Jhandi Flags! You can’t seem to walk the beaches, sea-walls or the coastline in general without seeing them.