Tag: 2015

Goodbye Unity

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography8 Comments

Robb Street begins in Robbstown, down on the “waterfront” by the John Fernandes’ wharf area, both the ward and the street got their names from the man who designed the area in terms of the building lots and landscape, it ends at the famous Bourda Cricket Ground (Georgetown Cricket Club), on what is now Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, renamed to honour the achievements of one of Guyana’s great cricketers of the 1990s into the first decade and a half of the new millennia.  The original name of Shiv Chanderpaul Drive was New Garden Street, because Robb Street was to originally end at the new Botanical Gardens, but that was pushed back a further block (an area that is home to the Georgetown Cricket Club, Georgetown Football Club, Ministry of Agriculture, and Office of the President.)

At the end of Robb Street, on the northern corner, is the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church (if you’re a Portuguese language speaker, you may want to check out their Portuguese language mass that caters to our growing latin/spanish/Brazillian population), in the southern corner is (or, in a few days/weeks, was) Unity House, a three story wooden house.

I don’t know enough of it’s history, but it once housed the chapel in which Holy Mass was celebrated while the church across the road was being built (on the middle floor), and for many years it was the headquarters of the United Force, a political party which has held parliamentary seats in Guyana up until two elections ago.   Prior to the last elections, also, there was some in-fighting among the executives, primarily as to who would lead the party, but that’s just politics.  As I write this the building is being torn down, let’s hope the party can last a bit longer 🙂

I was processing a photo that I had taken near the gate, but that would not enlighten anyone as to the structure of the building, so I went on to process a wider photo for elucidation 🙂

 

Closed – 15-9996  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Unity House – 15-9986  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the images to see them in their respective Galleries.

Vanishing Vanity

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography5 Comments

There once was a time when we created not just for function but for appeal, when we designed things to make our lives easy, as well as for those things to be easy on the eyes.  There is a sense of loss, its physical, but also emotional, when the older buildings are removed and replaced with structures that closely resemble steel slabs  or concrete cuboids.

I don’t do it often enough now, but I once had a fascination with capturing old buildings around Georgetown… but they seem to be vanishing faster than ever now; I hear it’s the sign of progress.

Like everything else in life, if we don’t fight to keep it, then we will lose it, but most of us seem to have grown up in a time when that “fight” is not in us,  where we accept the decisions of others, because we believe that our voice, our opinion does not make a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Regent Street, Bourda, Georgetown, Guyana.

Click on the image to see it in the gallery, along with other images from around Georgetown, Guyana.

’tis the East

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, Poetry4 Comments

Arise, Oh sun, and pierce the veil,
relinquish unto me
the warm embrace of heaven’s light,
the night, ’tis history.
Light kissed leaves and unveiled paths,
beckons to my feet
the way meanders, ever on,
away from the paved street.

Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105L  |  Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. October 2015

The trodden path meanders, avoiding obstacles.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

The Carpenter’s Daughter

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography9 Comments

When I had taken this photo a year ago, I knew that I would like the final result, not perfect, but it has that bit of “soul” that I always want in a photo.   Originally I had stopped to take a photo of just the shack, then my daughters and niece came along playing around it, as Christine climbed in and sat, I decided that this was going to work even better.

The title came from some random thoughts jumping around my head, originally I wanted there to be a reference to the type of hut; it’s a fisherman’s hut by the ocean, but no title immediately popped to mind.

As I thought about it, the phrase “Fishers of Men” came to mind (a phrase used by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew), but with the girl in the photo, that didn’t work, then her name correlated somewhat with that idea, Christine, from the word Christ (as in Jesus Christ), and then it suddenly dawned on me that Jesus was often referred to as the son of a Carpenter, and Christine’s father is a Carpenter, so voila!

It’s a stretch, but it works for me.

This is also one of the photos that sat on an SD card for a year, to think I almost lost it…

The Carpenter’s Daughter  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana, South America.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

The Fourth

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, thoughts6 Comments

Apparently, I took this photograph on the Fourth of July, last year.   I remember taking the photo, but the date doesn’t ring a bell; I only know it was the 4th because the metadata says so.  Metadata is handy, you can tell a lot about an image from the metadata, from the type of camera used, to the focal length, ISO, speed and aperture settings, to a host of other miscellaneous  fields, these days, even the GPS coordinates.  The Canon 60D doesn’t have built-in GPS though, so that wasn’t included.

Across cultures we find that the importance or significance we place upon one thing may not be the same that those who live in another country place up a similar thing.  Take the Fourth for example;  Americans (as in those who live in the United States of America, and not just anyone who lives in the Americas) are very proud of their Independence Day, the 4th of July, it’s a big deal, so much so, that by just saying “the Fourth” anyone in that country knows what you’re referring to.  In Guyana, it used to be the case that our Independence Day passed largely unheralded, with more emphasis being place on Republic Day, or as it is more commonly known here, Mashramani.  That has changed over recent years, but the emphasis is still skewed that way.

I suppose photography is similar, as a parent taking quick photos of their children, the emphasis is centred on the child (most times literally centred in the frame); as a fashion photographer, the subject is the model and the articles being displayed by said model;  as a wedding photographer, the bride better be the main subject or somebody’s not getting paid; I get asked sometimes about my seawall photos, why do I shoot them?, what is it I see that makes me take so many?   I figure I have to be a lousy photographer to be asked what it is in the frame that I’m trying to show.

The subjects of my photos are not always front and centre (hardly ever actually, unless it’s people on Mash Day, or that kind of thing), the subject is often the entire scene; the lines, the textures, the tonal variations, the clash or harmony of nature and man; If a photo doesn’t make an impact on you, just move on; if it made you stop for a second, then it was good, if it made you feel something, anything, whether good or bad, then it was a great photo for me.

Meander – 15-9718  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Georgetown Seawall, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the Collection, along with others in the Black and White Gallery

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Jump

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

Finding Treasure.  That’s what it feels like when you pop a memory card into your camera and realize that it is full of images from a year ago, it was a 4GB card, but it was full of RAW files.

I don’t recall how it is that I never copied off the images, but given that it was not one of the cards I normally use, but more of a backup or emergency use card, it seems that I forgot that I had used it for a few days of shooting.

As is usual for me, it will take time to get to the images, but here is one that I spotted and wanted to share.

Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20 | Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the collection along with others in the People Gallery

Shift

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

Sometimes, its necessary to stop, let everything that’s weighing on your mind take a backseat, and just let the wind, the waves, the sun and the sand speak to you.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Thomaslands, Georgetown, Guyana | 2015

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other Black and White images