Tag: building

Pigeon on Square

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I think using a particular theme as a guide for a period is a good idea, I am keeping it at the back of my mind while shooting, but not letting it dictate the photos in general, so while I am shooting the things I see and like, I am also on the lookout for the thematic image as well.

This one I had driven past and then reversed quickly to get the shot, luckily it was a Sunday so the traffic was a bit light 🙂

Obviously, the square is the window… but those colours!!!  I love the Caribbean for scenes like this 🙂

Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105  |  1/400s, f/8.0, ISO 200  @105mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, along with some other “Odds and Ends”

2015 Deck – Week 02

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

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.

2015 Deck – Week 01

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Every year I have a photography project that I call The Deck, it’s basically what other photogs refer to as a Project 52, one photo for every week of the year.  The main reason I do it is to keep me shooting, with work and family life it is easy to sometimes put the camera down and not shoot anything, and I prefer not to have that happen, some weeks I get good stuff, other weeks I get a load of crap, even in those weeks the “crap” has to have something salvageable, and I find that in those instances I find myself seeking out the basics of the composition and putting the little artistic portion of my mind to work for the best processing possible to make it worthy of the project, failing which that would be the end of the Project, and I don’t really want that.

In shooting images all year round, I get more than I need for The Deck, and out of these I’ve been able to narrow down some to my Oniabo collection, I intend to keep the Deck Project going, and hopefully get more smaller collections developing.

I decided that for January 2015 I want to also try and photograph (not exclusively) around a sub-theme: Square.  I started using Instagram (see my last post) and the square composition, while at first very ill-fitting for me, has become a bit more appealing, so my first week’s image will be an Instagram photo, and I hope to include “square” into other images for the month, not necessarily as the crop ratio, but maybe as elements in the composition.

Since you’ve probably already seen the last post I did, and in there is the image I chose for this week’s Deck photo.

Respect – Samsung S5 Mini Duos  | Instagram

In Guyana, we have many cultures that have merged into this cook-up that we call our “One People”, and many are from the east, as in Asia, most eastern culture have in their traditions or as part of their religious beliefs the habit of removing one’s footwear when entering a home.

I’ve always seen this as a sign of respect, but I also know that in some religions it is mandatory, and in some cultures such as in Japan it was originally a hygiene/health habit (not tracking dirt and germs into the space that you eat and sleep).

In many parts of Guyana, this is how we’ve been taught, but the western culture has slowly crept in over the years and the respect we the dwellers show the visitors to our homes is one of acceptance, in that we may ask them to take off their shoes, and they may refuse, often we let our own judgement dictate who to ask and who not to.

In this photo, I also show respect for the change in photography as it widens its doors to an acceptance of non-traditional devices, processing and distribution methods, my older phones would produce some real crap, but with my current phone, I think I can produce acceptable images.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 52

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Another year, another 52 images for the project.  Almost thought I wouldn’t make it this year…  My fascination with Jhandi flags on the shore as well as my focus on seascapes has spurred some thoughts to the cohesion of images into proper collections…  My Oniabo collection is still taking shape and I hope that the new year will bear fruit in similar manner.

The last photo of the year exhibits the theme nicely, in colour, so it would not be a part of my Oniabo Collection, but it is a seascape with Jhandi flags at Lusignan.

After taking a series of images here, with both the Canon 60D and the Canon 6D, I then used my phone to snap one for Instagram, and I rather like that one!

Canon 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/250s, f/11, ISO 100  |  Lusignan ECD.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with all the images from this year’s Deck Project.

2014 Deck – Week 47

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

I don’t often do these types of shoots, but when I do I usually have fun, it allows me some experimentation and I get to be in a place that few would have seen before…  A new Bar.

My friend Diane asked me to take a few photos of a new Bar that she was going to run, well, sorta new, it was originally located at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, but has now been relocated to the Midtown Hotel, it’s Friendly’s Bar, and it’s pretty cool.

The nice thing was that she and Larry did not want people in the shots at this time (hopefully I get to go back to do some with people), so I got to be as free with my shots as I liked (and a couple free drinks)

Friend;y’s Bar, Midtown Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 44

On 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 42

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Winslow Craig is one of my favourite local sculptors, his work appeals to me more than most, probably because I know so little about the art-form that I cannot appreciate the intricacies of others (particularly those that bested him in the 2012 GVACE; he placed third)

I was at Moray House for his recent retrospective presentation, and took a photo that I quickly grew fond of, and so did someone at Moray House; although I originally processed it in monochrome, they requested a coloured version for their inaugural magazine “Ku’wai”, as a non-profit organisation and one that supports the Arts in Guyana I really couldn’t say no, and I was honoured that they wanted it for the cover of the magazine.

Since I had only uploaded the monochrome processed version to Facebook, I decided that the coloured one worked nicely and I would also use that for the Deck Project.

Moray House, 21st October 2014  |  Sculptures on display by Winslow Craig

The piece on the table was loaned to the presentation by the current owner,  the one in the background is called “Saving Seeds”, it was the piece that placed third in the 2012 Guyana Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition; to my understanding, it is a wire-framed structure covered with a material that Winslow made called Sawdue (sawdust and glue).

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, and to see Winslow’s current entries in the 2014 GVACE, visit the GVACE 2014 Exhibition which opens on Thursday 18th December 2014, exhibition of pieces are likely to be at Castellani House and the National Museum.

2014 Deck – Week 35

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2010 Deck, Photography5 Comments

Exploitative or Journalistic?

The question with regards certain street photographs is usually whether the resultant image and its use are exploitative or journalistic; this is not a question for viewers or critics, it is a question for the photographer; anyone says otherwise is trying to be self-important; yes, a fallacy, I don’t care.  🙂

I saw this chap sitting in what seemed a dejected and sad position, and I “had” to take a photograph, but carefully, surreptitiously, so as not to make him too aware of my intentions;  wanted the scene as I saw it to be portrayed as I remembered it…

In the shadows cast by the trees along the avenue, in the bright midday sun, one man, sitting, alone, almost overlooked, in the heart of Georgetown.

I titled this one “In the Shadows”, because that is how I see many of our fellow citizens living; in the shadow of oppression, in the shadow of others who walk along with a brighter present and future than he may have, in the shadow of trees and buildings that have existed longer than he has, in the shadow of a life that could be better, but isn’t (reasons unknown).

Cropped to 3:4 from the original

1/125s @ f/7.1, 24mm, ISO 200

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

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2014 Deck – Week 33

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Christ Church was doing some fund-raising, a friend of mine asked me to take a few photos of the church to use in the press release.  The only time I had to make a pass by the church was an early morning on the way to work.

I was thinking that it’s only for a press release, so it doesn’t have to be that good, right?

I was in a bit of a hurry, but I snapped a few, then jumped back in the car and headed to work.  There was some nice clouds behind the church from one angle, and kept remembering this as I downloaded the images to process, I knew that my attitude toward the shot was less than optimal and I had deliberately exposed for the building and not the skies (since it was just for the press), as the sun was rising behind the church, all that detail would be blown out.

I thought that this would be a good time to experiment with what I had read about prior to acquiring a full-frame camera, that it can capture a very wide dynamic range in one exposure.

True enough, the entire sky was blown out in the exposure when I downloaded it.

IMG_2724

But remembering what I had just seen in the sky, I worked the sliders to see what sky detail I could retrieve from the RAW file:

IMG_2724-2

And I was amazed, so I decided to process it better than I had originally intended.  I made slight adjustments in Lightroom to bring some detail back in the sky while retaining the detail and brightness of the building.  Then I took the image into Nik HDR Efex with the express intent to use a single exposure black-and-white tone mapping technique on it, and the results were great.  After a few minor adjustments once I took it back to Lightroom, this was the result:

Christ Church, Waterloo St., Georgetown, Guyana

Someone asked me it I “photoshopped” it, well, I didn’t use photoshop, I used no masks, no layers, nothing like that, just what I described above.  Everything I needed was in the RAW file, if I weren’t in such a hurry and treating the action of taking the photo so lacklustrely, then I may have actually taken multiple exposures for a proper HDR  🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.