Bad Boy

On January 28, 2022 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

I haven’t been out to the seawalls in a while, I should do something about that!

This one was take a couple years back, came across it this morning going through the catalog for 2020, I processed it and exported, and its only when I started typing this blog post that I realised that its a decent-ish Street Photograph. There are Street ‘togs who would seek to contrive something similar by waiting for the right moment, it just so happens this one was accidental in a way, I actually paid no attention tot he writing on the wall, I was focused on the tyre, the wall and the approaching boy on his bicycle.

Bad Boy – 20-3414
Annandale Seawall, East Coast Demerara

Even after realising the Street Photography nature of the image, I would still keep it in my Seawall Folder 🙂 Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other Seawall Images.

Rainy Market Day

On June 22, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

A couple weekends back, I ventured out of my vehicle to try and get a few shots on the outskirts of Mon Repos market, by the time I arrived at the road junction it had begun raining, not knowing the weather resistance of the DXO, I didn’t linger too long, but I did manage to snap a few shots, and one stood out for me.

Hope you like it.

Rainy Day at Mon Repos Market – 20-1051 | DXO One Camera

By the time I arrived back at the vehicle I was almost soaked through, I don’t think the camera would have survived much longer in that weather, luckily I managed to protect it for much of the way back to the car. 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the gallery.

Cyclist on the dam

On March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I tend to take photographs with composition in mind, maybe except when I’m trying Street Photography, but other than that, its usually about how the scene shapes up, where the lines go, how much foreground versus background to use, and sometimes, even where the main subject should fall, although that is not always the case.

Because of that approach, and because I seldom think about the “colour” of the image, I tend to see the resulting image in terms of black and white, shades of gray, more about form and function, lines, elements, etc.

These were just some thoughts going through my mind while processing this image:

At Lusignan its currently more of a dam than a seawall 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some others from the “Up East” album

In the beginning…

On July 13, 2017 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Well, maybe not “the” beginning, just “a” beginning.

It was probably around 2007 that I began to pay more attention to what went into the frame, to what it was I was taking photographs of. Prior to that it was mostly point, click, “look, isn’t that pretty??” Most probably weren’t pretty at all, but family and friends always say “yes, it is” – In 2007, somewhere amidst the generic photos, there began to emerge a few that stood out, and I think that I was seeing things, the things around me, differently, and in so doing I was capturing them differently, light was beginning to take on lifelike characteristics that would change how everything looked, and how everything could be captured on a few thousand pixels.

It was now not so important to capture every detail, but just the ones that would help tell the story, using light and dark, contrast and brightness to illustrate an idea, a concept, a feeling… It was time to pay more attention to the composition rather than just the subject.

I decided to take a look back at the photos I took ten years ago, to see what, if anything, was worth sharing. Most of the images I took were family oriented, so those didn’t count, but I was experimenting, looking around me and trying to capture something out of the ordinary (ordinary being the family photos, nothing captured can compare to even the ordinary of professional photographers, much less fine-art photographers).

I even tried my hand at pointing the camera at strange people, out in public, although I was still much more comfortable pointing at non-human subjects, those that might not complain or make a fuss.

And its also the year, I did my first Photo-Walk, not what would really be considered a photo walk, but myself, my brother, Andre, and two friends, Nikhil and Naseem. We went for a drive “over the river” up to Wales estate on the West Bank of Demerara and I think up to Windsor Forest on the West Coast of Demerara, stopping every now and again to take some photos.

That photo-walk was somewhat of an eye-opener as well, in a relatively short distance, there was quite a lot to see, and a good variety of subjects and scenes to photograph as a result.

This isn’t a retrospective of any kind really, just taking a look at some photos with an eye that has had a decade of shooting, and processing them anew. They were all shot on a bridge camera, or an advanced point-and-shoot camera, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, a 6 Megapixel camera with a 1/2.5” CCD sensor, so there’s not a lot of post processing I could do without delving into the realm of editing.

Back then I was mostly all about colour, vivid vibrant popping colour, so the monochromatic versions (BW) you see are how I see them today, not then.

I chose ten images to illustrate what I had accomplished that year, I don’t think I would have found very many, if any, more that are worth sharing. I hope you enjoy a few.

All the images were reprocessed, and cropped. Click on any image to see them in the Gallery.

Walkabout

On March 18, 2017 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Just a photo.

I’ve had it processed for about a month now, but after waiting for the right words to say, I figured I’d just share it 🙂

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 2016

Click on the image to see it in the Up East Gallery, along with some other choice images 🙂

Joyride

On September 26, 2016 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography7 Comments

Growing up in Guyana, a joyride meant what it sounded like, jumping on a bicycle/ motorcycle and going out for a ride with friends and having fun, but it seems that up north it means and meant a completely different thing… I guess we were wrong.

Joyride – 16-1823 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigm 10-20mm | 2016, Lusignan, E.C.D, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the “Out and About” Gallery, a rather quirky collection of images.

Georgetown, Guyana

On September 20, 2016 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

It’s been 50 years since some forward thinking people declared Independence for this little nation we now call Guyana. They were looking forward to their futures, some idealistic land of self-rule and happiness for the masses I suppose.

I think by now, most of them have all gone and left many of us wishing we were still under colonial rule, it wouldn’t have been that bad, would it? We’ll never know, and doing the whole “what if” dance is not going to help anyone.

Sadly, even though many of the idealist have gone, there remains some of the followers who can’t seem to open their eyes and realise that the old way can’t work and that the path the country is on is not the right one, that implementing old ideas, once discarded, will not bring about new changes.

I babble… I’ve been staring at this photo for weeks and didn’t know what to write and now I write something quite out of character and from way out of left-field.

Here’s a photo 🙂

Wrong-way Rider 16-1092 | Canon EOS 6D, Canon EF24-105mm f/4L | Croal St, Georgetown.

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

2015 Deck – Week 35

On December 21, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, PhotographyLeave a comment

There are times when you take a photo and know right away that you’ll love it; whether anyone else might, that’s a different question, but so far this one has turned out to be pretty well liked.

For those of us still living here and for many of those Guyanese living abroad… this is probably iconic of some areas of Georgetown.

Cummings’ Street Car Wash | Instagram | Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Duos

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

Street

On August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

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.

Charlestown

On July 11, 2015July 13, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

I lived in Charlestown (Georgetown, Guyana) for a short while after we got married, if I crossed the street, I’d then be in Albouystown. Back then I had my first access to a digital camera, an Agfa ePhoto 1280 (Megapixel? what’s that?). It was mainly for work purposes, but through it I learnt a few things about digital photography, and it probably rekindled my interest in photography at the time.

I had read somewhere that Charlestown (and Charles Street) was named after the Duke of Brunswick, Charles William Ferdinand (or Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, his original German name), but why a Ward of Georgetown, Guyana is named after a German Duke is a question I can’t answer.

Charlestown, at the time I lived there, was still quite “quaint”, in respect to the type of buildings, but even then things had begun to change, with one or two square concrete building being erected where once stood more aesthetic wooden structures, but times change, and change is inevitable. Fortunately, change is also slow, comparatively, and some of the older buildings are still standing. I walked, rode or drove past an old wooden building on the corner of Broad Street and Charles Street for many years, when I took up photography a bit more seriously, I kept an eye on it and kept putting off taking a photo, one day I decided that the “For Sale” sign meant that it may be bought and torn down, so I made the extra effort to stop and spend a few minutes grokking the scene seeking out a nice photo, waiting for the “perfect” photo was out of the question, so I just wanted a “nice” one.