Photography; I shoot what I like, and sometimes people like what I shoot. All photos are copyright to Michael C. Lam unless explicitly stated otherwise.
The Coastal Seawalls that protect us from the mighty Atlantic Ocean, are familiar to most Guyanese, that’s because most of the population lives on the coast… it is not surprise that many of my photos for the Deck Project this year are from the Seawalls.
I’ll let the photo do the rest of the talking…
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery!
I was quite disappointed with my photos for this week, but I figured that somewhere in there was a photo that I could use for the Deck Project. I did a Panorama, but it was somewhat uninspiring (maybe I’ll look back at it with a different vision later), I had lots of Street Photos that were out-of-focus, badly composed, and uninteresting even…
I did have three photos of the Anglican Bishop’s Residence (Bishop of Guyana), and one I rather liked, but decided not to use, this one I liked and I had thought early on in the process (like when I clicked the shutter) that I’d like to see it in Sepia, so here it is…
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
This is one of the very few examples in recent years of someone restoring a Victorian styled building in Georgetown, rather than demolishing it, although it created some controversy, I think that it was a good move in the end, for the City, if not for the Diocese.
I had stopped near the Shell Service Station at Ogle on the off-chance that there’d be something over the seawall to shoot, this was one of those times when I was not disappointed…. I took quite a number of photos trying to capture the mood, and I think this one comes close… I have others that I may use at a later date, but this one reflects a lot of what I saw… and hopefully conveys the mood to you as well.
It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon (remember we live in the tropics here in Guyana), but instead of a harsh overhead sun, we had very overcast skies, very fluffy clouds, not that dead-pan grey sky that depresses me, and the light filtering through the clouds was just enough to really lend something special to the scene.
As soon as I started walking along the wall I had company… a dog, apparently resident to the general area, but that’s a photo for another day 🙂 I photographed from on top the wall, from an eastern viewpoint, a western viewpoint, then went over the wall for another series of shots… all the while thinking about what’s the best angle…. what’s the best composition.
There are other photos, with other elements, but this one simplifies it for me and gets the idea across better 🙂
Canon EOS 60D, Canon 18-135mm Kit Lens | 1/400s, f/13, ISO320, 18mm
Click on the image to view it in the Gallery, while there check out the other images for this year’s Deck Project, and other albums as well.
Getting the subtle colours out of a sky opposite the now setting sun isn’t easy…. but I think I caught this one at the right time…
In the distance is a Koker and boat offsetting the foreground rock, the rock shows some of the warm light of the setting sun coming through the clouds to the back of me.
I often think to myself that if I keep revisiting the same spots then I’ll not find new photos to add to my collection, but although I do come away with many similar photos that often never see the light of day, I do get one or two that are different and worth sharing 🙂
Canon 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, 1/60s, f/5.6 | Lusignan, E.C.D, Guyana
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery with the other images from this year’s Deck Project.
As the year progressed, I expected to be using more Street Photographs, as I am not getting the time or opportunity to do lots of the scenic ones I like. So this week’s taking did not surprise me that most of what I had were Street shots, and the only one I thought worth tackling to process and share was this one.
Those who know me, know that I have a thing about having the horizon level, especially where a scene is involved, but I’ve been told and shown many photographs where having the horizon absolutely level is not optimal or necessary from an artistic standpoint or through necessity.
Don’t get me wrong, I still think I could have tilted this to get the horizon straight… but it is what it is… 🙂 And I actually like it the way it is.
I’m not very good at it, but this is one of those shots using the “From the hip” technique 🙂
This week, I’m adding a new image not only to the Deck Project but to my slowly growing (as yet untitled) Seascape project.
It may be more a combination of landscape and seascape, you can see the road and the seawall, but I still consider it part of the Seascape set 🙂
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, ISO100 | Red filter in Post-process
Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery.
The Driftwood.
Have you seen the driftwood that climbs the rocks,
and basks in the midday sun?
The one that crossed two oceans and a sea,
Yes, that’s the one.
It was cast adrift by a little boy
who threw it from the shore
To see if it would then return
back to him once more
He watched it bob among the waves
until it was lost from sight,
Then away he ran to play among
the children of the night
Upon many beaches it took a rest,
then washed to sea again
until it touched upon our shore
and bathed in sun and rain
I doubt that you will find it now
for I passed a hobo this morning
And I thought I smelled some fish broth
and the scent of driftwood burning.
There are some scenes you come across that just beg to be recorded, and having a camera (or a device with camera capabilities) on hand makes it so much easier. My number one rule in photography is to always have a camera with me (not always practical).
It’s occasions like these that make it so worthwhile to actually have a camera… and the more I think about it the less words I can find to express/explain anything about this image 🙂
Canon Rebel T1i | Sigma 17-50mm | 1/1000s, f/11, 50mm, ISO400
You really should click on the image to check it out in the Gallery
A bit of the background on the image: It was midday, and we were not allowed onto the seawall as some ranks of the Guyana Police Force (and maybe a few civilians) were shooting live rounds out to sea), so we had stopped and were about to turn back, when this one officer approached the one sitting on the bench, could not help but try to capture it 🙂
P.S. You may be able to read the sign on the larger version in the Gallery (it says DANGER – LIVE FIRING IN PROGRESS)
Keeping a photo project going is not easy, I found that many times I “force” the images by going out looking for things to shoot… and often times I’m not entirely satisfied with the results. Most of the images that I like are the ones that I just happen to see, being in the right place at the right time 🙂
I was on the pavement near the intersection of Regent Street and Avenue of the Republic when I noticed the reflection of City Hall in the flooded pavement and road near to me, I actually had my camera in hand and tried to compose a few shots between people walking by me, and vehicles splashing the waters occasionally.
Some people can go out and “make” the photos, others are just the instrument that is manoeuvred into the right place at the right moment to see and capture what is shown to them 🙂
Canon Rebel T1i | Sigma 17-50mm | 17mm, f/8, ISO400
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with the other images in the 2013 Deck Project.
Our coastal sea-walls are fairly famous, built by the Dutch during their colonization of the area during the 1600’s and the 1700’s, and lasting all these years, protecting the land which they reclaimed from the sea (mainly Georgetown).
Whilst the walls keep the sea waters out, the Kokers (sluices) and pumps allow water accumulated in the drainage canals to be expelled out to the sea, the Kokers only work effectively if the tide is low, so the pumps are used to augment the Kokers, especially at high tide, but not exclusively.
While walking along the wall at Lusignan, I was passing one of the large pipes through which one of the pumps expel the water when I saw this scene. 🙂
Canon EOS 60D | Tamron 18-270 Lens | 1/400s, f/11, 18mm, ISO400
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery with the other images from this year’s Deck Project so far.
I was perusing my takings for the week and I had pre-selected 16 photos that I was thinking of using for the Deck Project, some street photos, some seawall photos a few bird photos… you get the idea… Maybe it’s the mood I was in or just that most of them seemed “normal” to me, but I ended up choosing one that I knew was not necessarily a great composition, and then in processing I also did some unusual work with the sliders 🙂
All that being said, I don’t expect many to appreciate or like the final result, but to me the entire thing was so off-kilter that I ended up titling the image just that… “Off-Kilter”, and it grew on me. 🙂
Canon Rebel T1i | 18-55 Kit Lens | 1/200s, f/11, 30mm, ISO400
Processing notes: Selective desaturation and hue adjustment.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
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