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.
A new Koker takes shape at Buxton.
In the context of current instability mostly due to imminent elections in Guyana, this can lend some social commentary, if one chose to look at it from certain vantage points.
You may have to look twice, but there is dog running away from it all in the scene.
I leave the storytelling to your own imaginations 🙂
Buxton, East Coast Demerara | 2015 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm
Click on the image to see it in the 2015 Deck Gallery.
On a Saturday after work (which is generally after noon) I try to make a stop along the seawall, just to walk, feel the breeze, and hopefully get a few photos in, the harsh sunlight in the middle of the day is generally considered to be “not the best” light for photography… but for me, it’s the time I have available mostly, so I have to make it work 🙂
I’ve walked past this particular piece of wood many times, but never saw anything I wanted to shoot… that happens a lot to me, but this day, the sky had some nice striations, after squinting and peering at the sky for a while I decided it had enough detail to work with for what I had in mind 🙂
Thomaslands, Georgetown. | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the 2015 Deck Project.
I don’t normally do abstract photography, actually, even including this photo I’m not sure I’ve ever done abstract photography, I just don’t see the world that way.
This photo I liked, I am not sure why, it just appealed to me, even when taking it.
To me it has an amalgamation of the things that make me “feel” like I am where I feel most comfortable, where I was born, where I was raised, where I belong… I am of Guyana, I am in Guyana, I am Guyana!
Now that I’ve gotten the crazy bits out of the way, here’s the photo 🙂
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/125s, f/10, ISO 100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
…. and yes… that bit in the top right hand corner was knowingly left in the frame 🙂
Although I am keeping an eye out for “square(s)” upon which to base my compositions this month, I didn’t intend to include one in each photo I choose for the Deck Project, but, coincidentally, this one met both criteria (so to speak)
I noticed the square shape of the front of the food cart (or juice cart), and the square doors, I ran upstairs to grab the camera (light conditions not ideal for the phone), when I came down the vendor himself had moved away from the cart (still to be seen wearing a beanie cap or tam and glasses at the back of the group of people), I was lucky enough to catch this “active” scene.
Everyone was trying to stay dry, from the cart-man to the pedestrians to patrons of the fast-food restaurant on the corner.
Staying Dry | Canon EOS6D, Canon 24-105L | 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO 200 (cropped)
I cropped the image for the final composition, because, frankly speaking, I was trying to stay dry too 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the gallery.
Every year I have a photography project that I call The Deck, it’s basically what other photogs refer to as a Project 52, one photo for every week of the year. The main reason I do it is to keep me shooting, with work and family life it is easy to sometimes put the camera down and not shoot anything, and I prefer not to have that happen, some weeks I get good stuff, other weeks I get a load of crap, even in those weeks the “crap” has to have something salvageable, and I find that in those instances I find myself seeking out the basics of the composition and putting the little artistic portion of my mind to work for the best processing possible to make it worthy of the project, failing which that would be the end of the Project, and I don’t really want that.
In shooting images all year round, I get more than I need for The Deck, and out of these I’ve been able to narrow down some to my Oniabo collection, I intend to keep the Deck Project going, and hopefully get more smaller collections developing.
I decided that for January 2015 I want to also try and photograph (not exclusively) around a sub-theme: Square. I started using Instagram (see my last post) and the square composition, while at first very ill-fitting for me, has become a bit more appealing, so my first week’s image will be an Instagram photo, and I hope to include “square” into other images for the month, not necessarily as the crop ratio, but maybe as elements in the composition.
Since you’ve probably already seen the last post I did, and in there is the image I chose for this week’s Deck photo.
Respect – Samsung S5 Mini Duos | Instagram
In Guyana, we have many cultures that have merged into this cook-up that we call our “One People”, and many are from the east, as in Asia, most eastern culture have in their traditions or as part of their religious beliefs the habit of removing one’s footwear when entering a home.
I’ve always seen this as a sign of respect, but I also know that in some religions it is mandatory, and in some cultures such as in Japan it was originally a hygiene/health habit (not tracking dirt and germs into the space that you eat and sleep).
In many parts of Guyana, this is how we’ve been taught, but the western culture has slowly crept in over the years and the respect we the dwellers show the visitors to our homes is one of acceptance, in that we may ask them to take off their shoes, and they may refuse, often we let our own judgement dictate who to ask and who not to.
In this photo, I also show respect for the change in photography as it widens its doors to an acceptance of non-traditional devices, processing and distribution methods, my older phones would produce some real crap, but with my current phone, I think I can produce acceptable images.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
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