Balance

On May 30, 2015May 30, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography8 Comments

Balance is over-rated… it’s boring, right?

I mean, eat a balanced diet… where’s the fun in that? Balance your time between sleep and wake, work and home, business and pleasure…. you get the drift… keeping the balance is just too hard; of course, going totally unbalanced is not good, not good at all, trust me, I know.

I was out along the seawalls on a midday walk (yes, no one who is balanced would be doing that either!), and I was composing some shots, I normally do not position my horizon in the centre anymore (that was the default position when I started taking photos), but something about this scene made me want to balance the earth to heavens proportion in the frame.

My thought processes often differ from the moment of pressing the shutter-button to the time of processing, and that might be a good thing, at the time of processing, I was looking at the elements and the thought that came to mind was a bible verse… no, I do not normally go around quoting bible verses… but this one many people already know; it is from what we know as The Lord’s Prayer

“… on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10)

I think it fits… in a way 🙂

OK, so I’ve babbled enough nonsense to confuse even myself, here’s the photo:

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, ISO 100, 1/200s, f/10

Click on the image to see it in the gallery along with others from the Sewall album

2015 Deck – Week 09

On May 23, 2015May 23, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

This blog is now 5 years old…. it doesn’t feel like it. Today I am feeling somewhat introspective….

I am not my parents…

I am not my ancestors…

I am not a representation of one particular political party or the other, of one race or the other, of one ideology or the other…

I am the debris upon our coast, that which is a product of the actions of others, whether deliberate or accidental.

I have been cast upon the shore, faithfully placed or carelessly thrown.

I have been left on my own, to survive or perish.

I may be strong or I may be weak, but mother nature will still prevail.

I may be solitary, or in the company of others…

I am the debris upon our coast.

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery

Message

On February 9, 2015February 9, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, thoughts1 Comment

In the larger picture, the broader landscape, what is the message?

Is there a message in the bottle, or is the bottle the message?

Do we read the message, do we even notice the bottle?

2015 | Canon 6D, Canon 24-105mm

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

2015 Deck – Week 04

On January 29, 2015January 29, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, PhotographyLeave a comment

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.

Vangelis

On January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

As soon as I saw this scene, somewhere in my mind I could hear strains of Vangelis’ compositions playing, and that name has stuck since then, even though I have only now processed the image itself 🙂

Unlikely to be anything but a “nice” photo, but I like it 🙂

2013 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm

2014 Deck – Week 51

On December 29, 2014December 29, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

One of the things I like about the seawall, is that you just never know what’s going to wash up (or out) 🙂

1/100s, f/10, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2014 Deck – Week 46

On December 19, 2014December 19, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I could have just kept on walking, but while I visit the seawall fairly often, scenes like this don’t occur with much frequency while I am there, and the juxtaposition that I noticed in walking could not be ignored, so I shot it, a few times…

In a small print or viewed small this won’t look like much, I really do have to set this one aside for a large print.

And yes, I did keep it in colour, shocking, isn’t it? 🙂

The Open Temple – Kingston, Georgetown. Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 44

On December 18, 2014December 18, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Looking for more meaning.

Although I did not intend for this photo to be associated with these thoughts, this is where Fate stepped in.

I have finally gotten to have a series of photographs that I think embodies an idea that I can convey through a collection, and then I had a very short but enlightening (maybe even a little dampening) conversation with Mr Carl Hazelwood, the chief judge at the 2014 Guyana Visual Arts Competition. He basically told me that while I have “nice” photographs, the ones he sees lack that little something extra that would make it more than a pretty picture… and here in the last two years I thought I had gotten past the pretty picture stage 🙂

This man knows what he’s talking about, and if he says that I don’t make the cut, then I don’t, and I am grateful for that honesty, I may never make that transition, but I will surely try.

I processed this photograph last week (I only had this conversation last night with Mr Hazelwood), and I almost chose a different photo, one more in keeping with my seascape series of recent, but this one had a few elements that appealed to me a little bit more, and I wanted the diversity for the Deck Project 🙂

This one probably would not hang in a gallery among great works of art, but I ask myself if I would hang this on a wall, yes I would, but would you?

Seashore – Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105, 105mm, f/9.0, ISO200

Click on the image to see it in the gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 41

On December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

People write all sorts of things in the sands at the seawalls… and beaches worldwide, from Love Letters (Pat Boone sang about this), to drawings, to directions to the nearest Qik Serv, to Hearts with cupid’s arrows through it and the Lovers’ names inscribed, all to be washed away with the next high tide.

Those messages are as transient to us as we are to the timeless sea; and yet, we keep making those markings and the sea wipes them out again.

I snapped a photo in passing this fellow as he used quite a long stick to mark out something in the sand, I have no idea what it was he was drawing, maybe it was a message to an extra-terrestrial ship 🙂