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.
Sometimes even images I select in a seemingly random way often tend to have a theme of sorts running through them. I was processing these and uploading, when I noticed a theme of sorts, or maybe I was just stretching it 🙂
I took these in 2020, for us that would have been considered first wave COVID-19 I suppose.
Time to checkout, click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other Street Photography
Shooting in the streets can be a hit and miss form of photography, especially when you’re doing it “on the move” like I do. I know many Street Photographers sit and wait for things to happen, and these result in some extraordinary images. I tend to take photos on the street while I’m walking, either to a particular destination or just walking like a rabid dog in the midday sun (the words of the song go “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun…”, and since I’m not an Englishman, I must fall into the Mad Dog category)
On this particular day, as I walked beneath the midday sun, I took maybe about 19 photos during the space of a half hour, I think a normal day I’d get a lot less. Of these 19, I had set aside 4 keepers and a possible two others for later consideration. Of the four, one I posted directly to Facebook, another I gave over for use in a poetry blog, and of the remaining two, I had one that I thought was quite the catch in terms of Street Photography.
I was very happy with the overall capture, but more so of the expressions on the faces of the people within the frame, I hope you enjoy it, click on the image to see it in the gallery along with other images “In the Streets”
Tree of Knowledge – 13-0493 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm
There was no good nor bad, just life
to this only man, and his given wife,
Days would pass, nights would fly,
animals their friends, of earth and sky;
Everything existed, no rhyme nor reason,
their world, their life, through every season,
All that would change with an admonition,
“Taste not the fruit of the tree, this one”,
All else permitted, this was forbade,
why not partake, why else was it made?
A question asked, a quest begun,
why shouldn’t they eat of this one?
A search for an answer, the first defiance,
revelations shattered the silence,
An answer found, more questions arise,
the world now seen through opened eyes.
The tree of knowledge, a planted seed,
And now it grows, it blossoms… indeed!
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
© Photograph and Poem by Michael C. Lam, All Rights Reserved
As August comes to an end and the new school term begins, and with September being “Education Month” in Guyana, it is fitting that I just processed this photo.
Knowledge is powerful, and while we can be intelligent and knowledgeable without being literate, it is the written word that has the power to cross miles and years to communicate ideas of forward thinking and to reflect on historical events.
Read a book, give a book, encourage our children to read.
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | Knowledge – 16-1242 | January 2016
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
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The idea that someday, someone in power would choose to make the decision to fix the beautiful structure that is Georgetown’s City Hall is likely a dream, one that may remain unfulfilled.
As it is, most of us can see that is makes more financial sense to let it fall to pieces and then put up a square unattractive concrete block of a building with no character and no appeal, probably all because of years of neglect, and the squandering of taxpayers monies.
Should it be fixed? That depends on your view I suppose. Guyana’s tourism depends largely on natural wonders like Kaieteur and the animals of the rainforest, as well as upon the old-world Victorian/Colonial architecture that is still evident in many structures along the “Heritage Trail”, but are our tourist numbers enough to justify spending millions of dollars on rehabilitating this beautiful building?
What would I know? I’m just a citizen 🙂
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | City Hall, Georgetown, Guyana. 2015
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
Georgetown, Guyana.
The French called it Longchamps, the Dutch called it Stabroek, the British named it after King George III, Georgetown. Each generation always seem to wish for the “good old days”, but as I’ve aged and seen this edifice that I pass daily age as well, I think that City Hall has indeed seen its Glory Days, unless something radical is done quickly.
I look at the photo and the phrase that comes to mind is “everything looks better in the morning light”
City Hall, Georgetown, Guyana. Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20 Lens
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from the 2015 Deck Project
Today we honour one of the more famous of the Street Photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson (born August 22, 1908). I won’t try to mimic or even come close to his type and style of street photography… but here’s a Georgetown Scene for you.
Morning Munchies
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other Street Photographs.
A street photograph – as much as I can get one 🙂
It really needs very few words, but what caught my attention was the way the police officer and her companion deliberately walked diagonally off the pedestrian crossing…
In Guyana… is just suh!
2014 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other attempts at Street Photography 🙂
This is Georgetown, Guyana, if you walk through the streets, you’re bound to come across a few characters before you walk a few city blocks, photographing them is a whole different story.
Most people are very wary of cameras, they believe you’re either some foreigner trying to “make money off their image” or “from the papers”, apparently people just being photographers who do it for fun or for art isn’t something they’ve quite gotten used to as yet.
When Nikhil pointed out this man to me, we were walking toward the curb, and I quickly snapped photos from the hip… almost like a spray and pray technique 🙂
I had the Canon EOS 60D with the Canon 40mm pancake lens on, as I never did get the “shoot from the hip” method quite right, this one had to have some rotational cropping done to make it presentable, but I really wanted one to share as there was something about this fellow that made a photo compelling.
Seen large, he’s wearing a t-shirt (or vest) under that shirt that has USA emblazoned across the chest… 🙂
2015 | Canon EOS 60D, Canon 40mm Pancake Lens
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other attempts at street photography
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.
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