Cold

On January 10, 2017 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, Poetry3 Comments

Rest gently in the palm of my hand,
know not the difference ‘tween mine
and your regular haunts.
Don’t fly, for your company I like,
You’re cold-blooded, much like
those I often come for,
Yet you live and your heart beats so fast,
Like the hooves of the horse I ride
across the last threshold.
Stay with me until my next ride,
’tis only moments away,
And then, then must I go;
For another waits for my embrace,
for my dark cloak to cover
and welcome forever…

Cold – 12-8171 | Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270mm | 2012

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery. (Edited image, cloned areas to the left to remove stray foliage, for composition/aesthetic purposes)

Lazy Afternoon at Liliendaal

On November 21, 2016 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

Just a photo 🙂

Liliendaal, Georgetown, Guyana, South America.

Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery.

500

On June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

The Art of Photography and Photography as Art

2015 – Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

This blog post is a milestone of sorts, it marks my five hundredth blog post. It began on a sad note, with a photo from my maternal grandmother’s funeral, it has been more of a photo journey rather than a photo blog, more about myself and the photos than about the photos themselves I suppose, so it’s rather like a journal…almost… of sorts.

On this journey I’ve learnt a lot, with still much more to learn, I’ve met many other people with a passion for photography, and many who love to look at beautiful imagery.

I have learnt that there is a difference between the Art of Photography and Photography as Art, and I believe that it is a realization that comes to most of us who pursue it with an aim for creating “art”.

2010 – Canon T1i, Sigma 18-270mm

It sounds presumptuous even to my own ears to refer to anything that I produce with the camera as “art”, but people like my friend Nikhil would thump me behind the head for even saying that. Not everything I take can be considered as art, so I humbly submit that I have a few that may be taken into consideration by those who are more knowledgeable than myself and more in-tune with the art world to be judged and pronounced as art.

Nikhil would also tell me that I have had work exhibited once at the National Gallery of Art (Castellani House) and have also been among the finalists in two of the recent Guyana Visual Arts Competitions, so I can’t get away with trying to play modest about being called an “artist”.

2011 – Canon Rebel T1i – Tamron 18-270mm

I began as most of us probably did with learning to use the camera and just snapping away at anything and everything that caught my eye.

After a while it began to be more important to learn and understand the art of photography, to understand how light plays an important part, where paying attention to composition results in a much better photo of the same subject. The art of photography is to know your camera (whether it’s a mobile device such as cellphones or a larger DSLR) to learn what it can and cannot do, and to know how to use it to accomplish what you want. Like any craftsman worth his salt, the art of the craft is the union of the person and the tools at hand.

It is good to learn different techniques, different approaches, different styles; that can be part of your arsenal, but it need not define the photograph you take.

2012 – Canon T1i, Tamron 18-270mm

The photograph is an extension of your self, it is a product of your own thoughts and skills, when the photograph stops being just a snapshot and becomes an expression of an idea, a concept, more than just a moment frozen in time, then it is possible that you have created a piece of art.

Photography as Art has to be more than just a pretty photo of a pretty scene or even a technically perfect photo of a dilapidated house, for a photograph to be Art it should have soul, it should convey an idea, elicit a reaction from the viewer, it has to be seen, talked about, appreciated or ridiculed even.

2013 – Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270mm

Not many of us in Guyana can successfully claim to be original in our photographs, most of it has been done before and by better artists than ourselves, Photography as an Art has to overcome the fact that everyone now has access to a device that captures images, and in the maelstrom of images swirling around the internet we have to produce a piece that stands out, that makes people stop and look, but also to have them remember it afterwards, to recall it and speak about it.

Art is subjective, that’s basically saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is not enough for the creator of the piece to want it to be art, the viewer has to appreciate the piece, not necessarily from the perspective of the creator but from how it affects them.

2014 – Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm

All the images in this post are “new to you”, they are from the six years than span this blog, 2010 to 2015, one from each calendar year. I went through the files looking for images that I have overlooked, or just not processed, not looking for any subject in particular, but for images I think worth processing, worth sharing and reflect what I would like to show others.

I hope that at least one strikes your fancy.

Click on each one to see them in their respective galleries in the Collection. Thank you for being a part of my journey so far.

The Carpenter’s Tools

On February 5, 2015February 5, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Every so often, I take photos, then never get around to looking at them until long after… I think I still owe someone some wedding photos… oops! Good thing I don’t do this as a paying job.

Anyway, I took about ten shots of this during the third week of 2012, a few before Vishal put the level next to the tape and a few after. I felt that there was something there, but don’t think I got what it was… yet, I went back to this today and processed this one… three years later, I’m regretting not trying a few other angles and perspectives that occur to me now… I’ve learnt a bit since then, hopefully I get to put what I’ve learnt into practice 🙂 Going back to these images, reminds me of what I did, what I didn’t do, what I could do, and keeps me thinking about the next time I come across a similar scene and what I might do 🙂

Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270

Click on the image to see it in the “Odds and Ends” Gallery in the Collection

Weed

On January 24, 2015January 24, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Well, I don’t think it might be a weed, but the title sounded better than “Plant poking through Planks”, actually, that sounds kinda nice…

I was looking through 2012’s week 3 folder and came across this one, which I thought salvageable. 🙂 Even though the histogram said I was fairly safe I got some blown highlights in the leaves… of course, this was three years ago, I hope I’ve learnt something since then.

2012 | Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270

I did some localised brush work on the “weed” in Lightroom, not something I normally do or that I am very good at… 🙂

High-key Bird

On November 20, 2014November 20, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Just about two years ago I had taken about four photos of a bird sitting on a branch, he was against the brighter light (sunlight) so the portion of him directly facing me was in shadow, not having a flash to fill-in with, I had thought at the time that I’d use post-processing with the sliders in Lightroom to retrieve the detail I wanted.

I was checking for some other images today when I came across the set and decided to process this one, I had now changed my mind slightly about the processing and was not thinking of a high-key style, giving some delicacy to the image, I think the light colour of the bird, the leaves behind him and the textured bark of the branch gave me the idea.

Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 6

On April 5, 2013April 5, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

The Journey Back.

On the way back from Orinduik, the journey usually takes a slightly different path, we bypass some places, particularly Monkey Mountain, and this cuts short the return trip significantly.

As we awoke at Kurukubaru, we noticed that since the previous evening we could feel a soft drizzle and this had not changed, it was then that we were told that it wasn’t really a drizzle, we were simply in a cloud 🙂

The view from so high up is so breath-taking, that it is hard to render that on camera, one direction looks very much like the other, but you can’t help but snap a few anyway 🙂

Be caught up with the main convoy at Kato and continued our journey onward, here are some more photos from the trail…

We stayed at Yarong Paru where I got in some more photos to show 🙂

I even got one at a village further on, I think it was Tiperu, when Frank and a few others took a break and sat aside the trail 🙂

At Karasabai the Safari was pretty much over, at this point the option was given to members to either head back to town or proceed to Lethem for the Annual Rodeo. We opted for town and overnighted at The Oasis at Annai

As we were crossing the Essequibo River at Kurupukari I noticed Jason washing down his tires from all the mud… presumably making room for more mud as we hit the trail on the other side 🙂

On the other side of the crossing we stopped for Lunch and I took a few moments to get in a couple of shots at the shop 🙂

If I ever make the trip again, I hope I get to spend more time at some of these villages. Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery along with all the other select images from the Safari!

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 5

On March 30, 2013March 30, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

As we were behind schedule, I thought we would have left Paramakatoi extra early, but we started out close to 8am and headed for Kato.

At Kato we had a brief stop, some vehicles were attended to, and some thirst needs were also attended to 🙂

Our next stop would be at Kurukubaru, although I did not take many photos on the way into the village or even at the village, this one of a family at their home I liked.

From Kurukubaru, our next stop would be the destination of the entire Safari, Orinduik Falls, the route there proved to be unusually treacherous for the vehicles, it was on the way there and back to Kurukubaru that evening that the vehicle suffered the most damage 🙂 Unfortunately, no photos, not a lot of stopping on that leg of the journey 🙂

Just to prove that the Destination was worth it, I’ve selected quite a few photos to show you of Orinduik.

One of my favourites from Orinduik, Jason and Lily take in the grandeur of Orinduik Falls

See the crazy white dude? He just HAD to get a bit of fishing in… no, he didn’t catch anything 🙂

A Panorama of Orinduik Falls to catch the breadth of this stage 🙂

Although we wanted to make it back to Kato that evening, we lost the main convoy in the rains up at Kurukubaru, and were advised by the villagers not to descend the mountain in the rain, so we spent the night at Kurukubaru, the highest village in Guyana.

There may be one more post in this series, but it will be sometime next week, the Easter Weekend is upon us 🙂

Please click on the photos to see them larger in the Gallery.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt 3

On March 26, 2013March 26, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

We awoke on the third day of the Safari at Rukumotu, and after clearing up our campsite, we joined the convoy to start our day’s drive. Shortly after leaving the village we saw the reason that Frank declined to descend the mountain at night… a very rocky and difficult drive, with loose rocks that needed some steady nerves for Nikhil.

Once on the valley floor we made better time, but for some reason we lost sight of the convoy, some gentlemen on a tractor indicated a route we should follow, the trail seemed fine until we came to a fork, made deliberately because the older trail was badly damaged. Although the bypass included a steep ascent, Nikhil mastered it like a veteran.

Further along the trail, we cam to a widening in the trail that was mud from treeline to treeline and probably more than twenty-five feet across, at this point we were still alone having not caught site of the lead vehicles of the main convoy as yet. We were now two hours out from Rukumotu, not finding any path across that looked any better than another, we drove straight in…. and got stuck…

Although we tried extricating ourselves from the mud with the winch, we didn’t get very far, and decided to wait on more experienced travellers to assist us, surely the tail of the convoy would catch up. After what seemed like an eternity, but was more likely a half of an hour, we saw the entire convoy coming up behind us… somehow we had gotten ahead of the lead vehicles.

We can take some comfort in the fact that most of the other vehicles also got stuck coming through that patch… but we do hold the dubious distinction of being the first to get stuck… for the entire Safari.

Of course, Nikhil is also quite proud of being instrumental in hauling many of the others through, once we ourselves were on solid ground

From there to our next main stop at Yarong Paru (or Young Peru) it was uneventful (relatively); at Yarong Paru, we took a breather, and gave over some packages the convoy had brought along for the village, as well as made arrangements for re-fuelling… and I took some photographs too… lovely spot on the mountain to be…

I even did a Panorama.

After leaving Yarong Paru, we crossed the Ichilibar bridge, and as we drove along the river bank, we noticed the scene towards the river, we paused (very briefly) to get a few photos. Here’s one:

Our next stop would be at the village on Monkey Mountain, a hard drive, but I did manage to get in a few photos as we drove.

We arrived at Monkey Mountain with time to spare (compared to 2009 anyway), it was still daylight, as we prepared camp, and Naseem worked at our dinner, I managed to catch a nice shot of some children playing football not far from our benab.

Click on the photos to see them larger in the Gallery

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 – Pt. 2

On March 25, 2013March 25, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

When on Safari, we tend to want to get up early, not just to get ready, get breakfast, break camp etc, but to ensure that we get our ration of fuel for the day 🙂 And that the convoy doesn’t leave us behind. I jest, they wouldn’t do that, would they?

We awoke early at Karasabai and broke camp, after the morning ablutions, breakfast and so forth, we then had some time for a few photos as we waited for the convoy to assemble

Karasabai is not a cluster of huts, but a wide area.

Bicycles, the main method of transportation, after walking

Our first full day in the mountain trails, and we even had a few stops where we could take more photographs 🙂

One of the Army vehicles making its way through a rocky part of the trail.

Cecil Beharry, and his Land Rover from Jamaica!

Just after a rather steep mountain pass, we stopped at a village called Karabaiko, where Eddy even got into doing some repairs.

We visited the village of Tipuru on the way. Tipuru has a nice little shop that has lovely indigenous food and drink for sale, like Cassava bread and “Fly”, a potato liquor.

Thence to our final stop for the day at Rukumotu (not our planned stop, but it was too late and too dangerous to proceed any farther.

At Rukumotu, they gave us permission to camp out on the grounds or in the school, we picked a nice hard spot outside the school, that ended up bending at least one of our tent pegs… we were definitely in the mountains, not soft Rupununi soil at all.

Click on the photos to see them in the Safari 2012 Gallery in the Collection.