2011 Deck – Week 36

Since the members of the Guyana Photographers (Facebook Group) started doing PhotoWalks it has provided me with other opportunities to get out and do some photography, as well as to see and admire the photos emerging in the group from these walks,  there truly is a lot of enthusiasm and talent among the members.

On one of those walks (this one was to the villages of Good Hope and Triumph, I got what I thought were good shots, then I saw what others put up and realized that mine were all just OK  🙂

I fell into the trap set by all the enthusiasm and put my better shots onto the Group’s Page, without thinking to reserve at least one for this post, so a-hunting I went through my images for one that I could use.   You can check out some of the photos from the group in the  3rd Photo Walk album Facebook.

...beyond the shore

2011 Deck – Week 30

It is not every week that I can come up with something that pleases everyone, so this week don’t expect something that pleases you  🙂  but if it does, hooray!

I went to the Essequibo Coast a few weekends back for a wedding (photos from which I don’t have permission to share as yet), I took photos other than wedding ones, so here is one from the first day there, which happened to be the last day of the 30th Week of 2011.

It seems that from the North-West region to the Corentyne Coast there is a common theme on the shores of our land, Jhandi Flags!  You can’t seem to walk the beaches, sea-walls or the coastline in general without seeing them.

2011 Deck – Week 22

Although when I first started trying my hand at Photography (you know, snapshots that looked awesome, even though they were probably mediocre) I was never inclined to monochromatic images; the black and whites and the sepia-toned images, but as I learnt more about the art, and as I came to appreciate the works of others, there has always been scenes that seem to render better in monochrome than in vivid colour.

I have found recently that I like to work in “special” fields of photo processing, I like playing with Panoramas, HDR (High Dynamic Range) images, tone-mapped images (using the same HDR software but on a single image and not using bracketed images as in a true HDR), and monochromatic images, more towards black and white or sepia-toned images rather than cyanotypes and the other tones available.

At any given period of my photography, you’ll probably notice a certain “type” of image popping up, so don’t be surprised by today’s monochrome.  This was taken on the Georgetown Seawall towards the Kitty pump station, the building is Celina Atlantic Resort (I am not sure how the word resort got in the name, but its more a Restaurant and Bar)

Skies over Celina

2011 Deck – Week 20

I thought to myself this week that maybe I should just put up as good a photo as I could get up to today before I let another week pass by and then I would be behind again in this project…  and since I went with Nikhil to the Kingston Promenade yesterday photo-hunting, I came back with a few decent shots, so here’s to the twentieth week of the year.

It was one of those uninspiring afternoons, nothing seemed to leap out at you, at least not photographically.  I did get a shot of a crab before he scampered back into his “hole” (is there a name for those?), but he isn’t super-sharp, I may yet post it up.  The beach was littered as usual, and the sun was shining so brightly I almost couldn’t look eastwards, and the glare off the water and sand wasn’t helping any either.

Fortunately I did manage to see through the glare enough to spot a youngster playing near the waves, as it turned out I got more than I thought  🙂

Silhouettes on the Seashore

2011 Deck – Week 14

It seems that there is seldom enough hours in a day, either that or I’m getting lazy 🙂  Saturday was a little rough, and I didn’t get around to posting my regular Deck blog-post, so it was left for today.  SO, I’m squeezing in a few minutes to write this and post it.

In between being busy and being lazy, there are times when I just want to sit and stare at a scene that makes me feel at peace. to forget that there is war in the middle east, tragedy in Japan, injustices in Africa, crazy weather in North America, every country in the world has its problems, and we have impending elections here in Guyana; disasters every one of these thoughts.

This might help explain my choice for this week’s Deck photo 🙂

Sit back, relax, clear your mind, and just stare towards the setting sun…

 

Down to Dusk

Ships at Sea

Well, I had to title it something and this sounded apt enough.  Both photos have a sea-vessel and the water they traverse upon, so “Ships at Sea” it is, even though I am not sure they would call it the Sea…  I’ve always been confused by that.

Growing up it was always the Sea, and protecting us from it was the Seawall, made sense….  now technically, the water to the horizon northwards from our shores is the Atlantic Ocean, I don’t think it is still the Caribbean Sea, and since I am being technical, both photos are not pointing Northwards but more West by North West, making that particular area of water the mouth of the Demerara River.

Aye, my head hurts from trying to sort that one out, so Sea or Ocean or River, its got a boat on the water.  They’ve both been done in monochrome to emphasise the clouds and the water, taken on different days but in generally the same location, on the stretch of beach along the Kingston shore.

Click on them for a better view in the Gallery.

 

Out to Sea
Into the Demerara

2011 Deck – Week 10

Only one day of shooting photos this week, terrible!  But I did get a very nice one (at least one), and it is somewhat in keeping with my last post “A fascination with skies”.

Both Nik and I needed to get out and get something, as the week had progressed without much photography being done, it was raining and we thought that we might have to abandon the idea (at least for me, since the camera wasn’t going to handle the rain too well), but as we drove the rain eased for a bit and we decided to stop at the Koker at Ogle and see what was there for the offering.

A good thing we decided to stop, I got a few and I am sure Nik got more than I did  :-), and as we headed back to “town” the rains decided that we’d had enough of a break and continued its work.

I hope you like this one, it’s another “seawall” shot, and another monochrome 🙂

 

Overcast at Ogle

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery.

A fascination with skies

An Afternoon Swim

 

Many of my favourite images have had some amount of sky in it, I usually get very “miffed” when shooting landscape or even people and building shots and the sky is just a drab gray, I like blue skies, plain blue, hues of blue, I just really like blue skies, if there are errant clouds then all the better, but a sky fully covered with clouds usually gets to me,  I found a way to deal with that over time, I look for a good scene that will process better as a monochromatic image.

 

Fibre in the Sand

While I have gotten better at that, I still like the blue, and I like dramatic skies, streaming clouds, or clouds spotting the vista to the horizon.  The last Deck photo was taken on a day that had a nice variation of clouds in the sky, and I got a few others that I thought were worth sharing.

These were taken with the full intent of getting as much out of the sky as possible while still retaining some foreground interest.  All were taken with the Sigma 10-20 Ultrawide Lens.  I hope you like one or all  🙂

The temptation to render any of the three images into monochrome was great, but I resisted, barely. I felt that the colours in the sky and the foreground were more truly representative of the “feel” of the afternoon, than a monochrome would express, although I think I could probably have gotten more drama out of the images in monochrome  🙂

Inland Bound

Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery, I think I may have to print the one title “Inland Bound” larger for better scrutiny myself 🙂

2011 Deck – Week 9

This week I almost didn’t have anything to upload, and I almost went for Sasi’s idea of using the eggs 🙂  Fortunately, Nikhil had a desire to go check out the Kingston Promenade again, so we took a few minutes and went.

I started out with my Tamron telephoto lens but quickly switched to the ultra-wide Sigma 10-20, I had noticed the skies were nice, some clouds, some patches of blue showing, some streaky areas, and some heavily clouded areas, so I thought something good can come of that.

I got a few keepers from the shoot, but this one stands out, somehow a coconut got wedged or nestled into the hollow of a tree trunk on the beach… Nature’s “hole-in-one” 🙂

Click on the image for a larger viewing in the Gallery.

On a Breezy Afternoon

I liked how this particular image came out, not necessarily for art, but for the framing of the couple on the bench.  It’s one of those Georgetown Seawall scenes that can be somewhat iconic.

This scene brings to mind the song by Dave Martins and the Tradewinds entitled “In Guyana”, it’s mostly of a time gone by, and mostly even before my time, but some of it pulls at my heartstrings.

Sunsets on the seawall, enjoying the breeze, Sweet Caribbean Music, blowing through the trees, a stroll along the seawall, from the Bandstand to Ayanganna, that’s how it was, In Guyana…

OK, I know those aren’t the words to the song, but I hope Dave won’t hold that against me  🙂

 

On A Breezy Afternoon