At the ready

On May 20, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Walking around with a DSLR tends to intimidate people around me, or at the very least make them change the way they were behaving; their attitude, their posture, their general demeanor changes when they see a camera. It might also be my own approach, I am more comfortable dealing with scenes where humans are incidental or just a part of it rather than the main subject.

I’ve talked about my experience with the DXO One before, its just so small and handy that once you get the hang of it, you can get some images that would otherwise be missed. I was out on a walk with some other photogs, big DSLR in hand and saw a couple sitting on the seawall with a motorcycle a bit past them. I slipped the DXO One out of my pocket in case it panned out to be a good shot….

I took about two images on the approach, but as I drew alongside, I saw a man walking in the distance and snapped two more, and was quite pleased with one of them. Having a camera at the ready definitely works out better sometimes 🙂

I guess my point is, as a photographer, we have to be at the ready at all times, because seconds, or fractions of a second makes the difference sometimes.

To see the image along with other images in the Black and White gallery, simply click on the image above.

Men at work

On April 21, 2015April 21, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Psychologists and psychiatrists make big deals out of “association”…

I saw this scene and thought to myself that the reflective safety vests reminded me of the song YMCA by the Village People, then that led me to thinking about Men at Work, the band that sang “Land Down Under”… do you think the pipes being put “under the ground” is an inference as well?

Don’t know what psychologists or psychiatrists would make of me, but for now I’ll avoid seeing any. and I should probably avoid the Canje area for a little while too 😀

This isn’t a great photo, but ever since I took it I’ve been thinking that I still like it for some reason… so I finished the processing and uploaded.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm | Uncomposed moving shot.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 18

On July 18, 2013July 18, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

One of the techniques I like to experiment with is HDR, or High Dynamic Range, especially on landscapes. I don’t mean taking a single exposure and tweaking it or running it through HDR software for the effect, I mean actually taking multiple exposures for recombination in post-processing.

Since the Canon allows me three sequential shots automatically, that’s the amount of frames I usually use, although I would get a better handle on the dynamic range if I used seven or nine exposures. But since most times I do these things without hunting for my tripod, Is tick to hand-holding 3 exposures in those circumstances.

I took the exposures for this photo one morning on the way to work (I think it was a Saturday… had to be), I was driving and noticed the Lotus Flower first, then noticed the sky, and quickly decided that I wanted a photo of the scene rather than the Lotus Flower alone 🙂

Each exposure was taken one stop apart and recombined using Nik HDR Efex Pro (as a plugin for Lightroom)…my hand may have been a touch heavy on the saturation 🙂

Dayclean | Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, max aperture f/4

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 42

On December 1, 2012December 1, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Sometimes, in any art form, you have to break away from the norm, step away from the straight and narrow line that you’ve followed all along, and try something different.

I’ve broken the rule about shooting into the sun before, so this is not new…. but trying to get the palm tree and horse as the focus while doing so was different for me, and even then I was not ecstatic about it, when processing, I went for a duotone processing that I don’t do, and I though that the result was pleasing.

Although the original duotone processing had much more colour to it, I toned it down a bit to bring the focus back to the photo rather than the duotone, and the result; “sunset Liliendaal” 🙂

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

2012 Deck – Week 37

On September 22, 2012September 22, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I have a few rules or guidelines that I try to abide by in my photography, and I’m not referring to the Rule of thirds or Rules of composition, I’m referring to ones that will guide me as a photographer and help me to get those photos that I want.

Rule #2: STOP and take the shot

Many times we regret not stopping, for one reason or another, to take the “shot” that we could see in our mind; we saw it, we thought of how to compose it, maybe even how to process it afterwards, but unless we actually stopped and took the shot, everything else is supposition and a wasted opportunity.

I was driving down the Railway Embankment heading home and saw the colours in the sky developing into what could be a lovely sunset, I saw the clouds low on the horizon and the sun dipping towards them and I knew I had to take a photo of it.

A photo of a sunset, is a photo of a sunset, unless you have something else in the photo that adds interest, then its just a photo of a sunset, and there’s a million of those. As I was driving down, looking for something to use in the foreground, I remembered the Chimney at Chateau Margot, and quickly diverted towards the main Public Road. As chance would have it, I ended up behind some slow moving traffic and could not get to the spot as quickly as I’d have liked, but I got there, didn’t try to change lenses, but grabbed what was there and just shot a few exposures to get it.

Although I could have gotten the sky as I saw it earlier, from the road with houses around and utility wires all over the frame, I spent a few precious minutes to get to a spot I felt better about, and I think I can live with that 🙂

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

Worth Saving

On August 25, 2012August 25, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography, thoughts6 Comments

Some things are worth saving.

A friendship of many years is certainly worth saving, after a while you get to the point where an argument is just an argument, not a reason for “falling out”.

A job is worth saving, especially when there are fewer to find and when you have more to think about than just yourself,

Memories, as in letters and photos, video-clips and newspaper clippings, are worth saving, it is a record of the things we’ve done, things we’ve seen, and it becomes a story to tell our children and grand-children.

In this century (and the end of the last) there’s a great movement to save our forests, certainly worth saving if we intend to continue to breathe.

Endangered species are worth saving, why let a species go extinct because of the actions (or inaction) of another species, especially when we (humans) may be the main cause of their dwindling numbers.

Recently, there’s been a movement (championed by Annette Arjoon-Martins) to save the mangroves that form part of our sea-defence, I certainly don’t want my house washed away because people burn garbage in the mangrove areas, destroying our first line of sea-defence, so that is certainly worth saving.

I think most people may agree with much of what I’ve mentioned, many more will have other things to add to this list, but is a building worth saving? Is a building that is older than any of us, that has seen more mayors than we have fingers, that is one of the few remaining structures of its kind, that is a reminder of our colonial history worth saving?

Should we let the markers of our heritage, the work of the hands of our ancestors, the beauty of a golden age, fall into disrepair,slowly disappear and be forgotten?

Clink on the photo above to see it in the Gallery, along with other photos from around Georgetown, Guyana.

South to North

On July 19, 2012July 23, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

Before departing from the Kingston Area to begin the Family Reunion in Ocho Rios, my dad thought that getting a photograph of everyone who were in the Kingston area would be a good idea, so after everyone had eaten some breakfast, packed their bags and were ready to go, we all got together for the group photo.

I was hoping to do some photography whilst on the drive over, but the high grasses after the recent rains and a few other adverse conditions made that a bit impractical 🙂 I did manage to snag a photo of a vendor’s stand with some of the fruits out front during a brief stop.

One of the areas we drove through was Fern Gulley, but photographs can’t tell that story, you have to take the drive through yourself, but I took one of the curving road and the enclosing ferns to give the general idea, this spot had a nice window in the canopy above for extra light, many other sections did not, the ferns would enclose the road and create a lovely rainforest feel.

Once at the hotel, we checked in, went for lunch, then to find our rooms, We had chosen the mountain view option rather than the ocean view rooms, just to save a few dollars 🙂 This is part of the view from our room, not too bad 🙂

After some afternoon swimming (or more like wading in the pool), we were taking a walk to see the Gazebo at the ocean’s edge and I snagged a few more photos, after that it was dinner and bed 🙂 Not a bad day overall.

A Windowed View

On July 12, 2012July 12, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

When the new owners of the Central Garage building began their renovation works, I asked permission to take a few photographs inside the building and also from the roof. Although I took quite a few, this one always nagged at the back of my mind (I’ve yet to process that set completely).

The front of the building was windowed in sections, and at the time of my visit the windows and their frames had been removed from the eastern wall, this wall has now been remodelled and houses large glass panels, so the view may be similar 🙂

I had originally thought that the new owners would remove the old building and replace it, but they chose to retain the existing steel structure, remove and replace the old wooden and asbestos outer walls. Although they changed more of the facade than I’d have wished, they retained more of the original building than was expected 🙂

This view shows mainly City Hall, which itself is in danger of crumbling, you can also see part of the ACME building, and part of the Victoria Law Courts. I liked the contrast between the darker interior of the building and the brightly lit City, framed by windowless orifices.

Please click on the image for a better view in the Gallery, this Gallery also holds other photos from around Georgetown, Guyana.

2011 Deck – Week 6

On February 12, 2011February 12, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography18 Comments

Strange enough I had a totally different image in mind for this week’s Deck Photo, I hadn’t processed the images as yet, but I had sorted out in my mind the images I had taken and had somewhat settled on a particular image. On importing the photos into Lightroom, I saw one that I had dismissed mentally, it was taken hastily and I did not think that I had captured what I wanted. As I looked at it I realised that it had some merit, and as I processed the image it grew on me to the point that I haven’t bothered to process the rest until I finish this blog post 🙂

It was a nice lazy afternoon at Good Hope on the East Coast of Demerara, and I was probably on my fourth Cuba Libre, and I saw them coming down the street, barely time to put down my glass (carefully), go for my camera bag, take out the camera, frame up and shoot. There was no second take, just the one shot.

On the corner

On February 7, 2011February 9, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography20 Comments

Although Nikhil is no longer pressured on a daily basis for a photograph since he completed his first 365 project, we still manage to go for a photo-walk every now and again. One of those walks took us into Campbelville, and although it was mostly for him to get some Nas-inspried photographs, I came away with a few goodies 🙂

One was also somewhat inspired by an image I once saw from a controversial photographer called Ken, although my photographs may never become as “professional” as Ken’s I learnt a lot from reading his blogs and rants 🙂 So, I titled this one “Ken”, it was taken at the corner of DeAbrue and Duncan Streets (north-west corner)

The second one, I wish I had spent more time on, the scene reminded me of a photograph I once saw from Errol Ross Brewster, and I am ashamed I let the rain chase me away from this spot without getting more out of it, but there you go, the Canon T1i isn’t weather-sealed. This is at the corner of William and Middleton Streets (north-east corner), it is a single image, but I used HDR Efex Pro to recover some detail in the clouds, in the shot it was totally blown out.