Tourist Shoppers

On July 24, 2012July 24, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Most of my photography from this day (18th July) was of a family gathering in the evening (those photos I’ll save for the family rather than subjecting everyone to them) 🙂 Earlier, I had accompanied the ladies (my wife, my cousin and my sister) into a shopping area not far from the hotel where we were staying, I think the Jamaican vendors on this side of the coast are the most persistent and persuasive vendors I’ve come across, and if you’re not careful, you’ll be walking by a stall and suddenly be inside it without knowing what happened 🙂

I didn’t do much photography in the shops/arcades, but I stepped away from the shopping every once in a while to snag a few shots. The first one I’m not too happy with but I couldn’t let that Schwinn bicycle pass 🙂

This one I believe is of the old Fire Station in Ocho Rios.

Here’s a bunch of thinkers 🙂

A Tourist trap (a more appealing shopping area)

And on the way back I tried a photo of the hotel before entering the gates 🙂

2012 Deck – Week 29

On July 23, 2012July 23, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography8 Comments

Being in Jamaica for at least two weeks, I figured I’d have some scenic photo to use for the Deck Project, but I just could not resist this one of my daughter, Miriam. She’d had her hair done in Kingston, plaited in the local style and with beads on the end 🙂

I was trying to get a nice photo of her, but she kept giving me that fake smile she has for cameras, my sister Joan told me to wait and she waded up to Miriam and began ticking her foot, and I got a genuine smile 🙂

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.

Princess Alice, Mona and Papine

On July 17, 2012July 17, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Yesterday we took a drive down the hill to go get some fruits and some tea bags. Our route would carry us to pass by the house where I walked for the first time (not made my first steps, but actually walk), it was in Princess Alice Drive, the house itself had changed, so although I took a photo of it I didn’t bother to post it, I sufficed with a photo of the street sign:

On our way to the market we next made a drive through the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, to see the University Chapel where many of my family who grew up in Jamaica got married (according to my cousin) 🙂

Then we finally made it to the market in Papine, where we wandered around for a bit while Nyuk Lan bought some fruits:

Of course, before we left to head back home Alexis insisted we stop at Tastee to buy Jammie Patties and Coco Bread. I have to admit that I prefer the Jamaican Patties from Tastee over those from Juici, but will eat either 🙂 The Coco Bread is very similar to what we call Butterflaps in Guyana.

Sunday in the Jamaica hillside

On July 16, 2012July 16, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

As befitting a Sunday, we went to the church in Gordon Town, St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church, and all of my photography from that day were from the walk home and then after-dinner with the family, making it a quiet peaceful day.

I think that Jamaica still holds the world record for most churches (places of worship) per square mile, and this was very evident that day with the sounds of worshipful song drifting up the hills all day 🙂

Below are two photos from the morning walk home from church; the first is of a building I originally thought was a store, but from the name it is probably not…

The second is one of my parents standing next to the sign that marks the entrance to Riverside Heights.

Into the Mountains – Part 2

On July 16, 2012July 16, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

After lunch on my second day in Jamaica, we drove up to Cinchona Gardens, what was once a beautiful Botanical Gardens, a destination for families and tourists, an old Colonial house and out buildings, gardens and ponds, and bamboo copses. The road up to it is impassable by regular cars, so Cecil’s Safari enthusiasm came out as he tackled the mountain with gusto.

Before even going towards the Cinchona Gardens proper, the view to the right of us as we drove up was very compelling, so I just had to take a few photos in the hope that one would help express what I saw,the tops of the range were obscured by low-hanging clouds:

The Gardens stand in a spot of the mountains that is five thousand two hundred feet above sea level (5200ft), and there is usually a constant “misting” from the clouds, so most everything is wet. The first steps into the garden proper brings you to some tree stumps of tree cuttings, makes great seats for the weary 🙂

From an upper vantage point, you can see the seating area in the walled section of the garden with a small man-made pond, the sky had begun to clear a bit so that I could get more than just a blanket of gray clouds in the photos 🙂

Alexis stood for quite a while admiring the view of the valley below and the mountains in the distance, he even went as far as shouting out to hear the echo… which he got 🙂

The main building was cordoned off with a “Danger” tape,warning visitors not to go in, I was tempted to venture in, but Cecil wisely told me not to try it, so I satisfied myself with a few photos from the outside.

As the skies were clearing a bit, I took another set of photos of the view into the valley and across at the Blue Mountains, this time I could actually see the tops of the range in some areas.

From the Cinchona Gardens we were to make our way towards the Blue Mountain to visit Whitfield Hall, where people desirous of climbing the peak would start their trek, on the way there as we neared Hagley Gap, we stopped to take photos of and near an old bridge that appears to be out of use.

We stopped along the road to get a few photographs of a beautiful view down another valley, this was probably about 15 minutes outside of Whitfield Hall.

Whitfield Hall is an old House and Coffee farm, it is snuggled beneath some very very tall trees and is such a tranquil spot, we sat and ate the rest of our food before heading back home.

On the way back I couldn’t resist a passing shot of the hills/mountain showing the barbed demarcation of the end of the road, where the cliff drops down to the valley below.

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.

2012 Deck – Week 27

On July 11, 2012July 11, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography7 Comments

Getting out to take photographs seems harder recently, but living on the coast means that there is always the seawall 🙂 I took a drive up to Enterprise to pick up something and thought I’d just drive up to the wall and see what, if anything, there was to photograph. There were a couple boats out there, but it didn’t move me, but there were two bicycles left near/on the wall where two boys had left them to go over the seawall.

This posting is somewhat appropriate as I (that is, my family and I) are about to go to a family reunion. So, while we will be leaving the comforts of our home, the familiarity of other family and friends near to us, we do so knowing that the material things we leave temporarily are being taken care of by people we know, and the people we leave behind have their own family and friends to keep them occupied while we’re away 🙂

Pink

On July 10, 2012July 10, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography8 Comments

Travelling in and around Georgetown, many of the larger Canals / Trenches are populated by the lotus flowers, that comes in really handy for a Jhandi! I wrote a blog post once on the flower, its leaves and some of its uses.

Being accustomed to seeing it (lots of them are seen on my route to and from home) I was somewhat surprised when I saw that some of the ones I saw growing in the “country area” were somewhat “pinker”, or more pink, than those I was accustomed to (it was on a trip to Berbice that I noticed it and then also on a trip to Essequibo).

So for those of you accustomed to seeing the nice pink ones around the Demerara area, don’t be surprised when this image looks more saturated, it really wasn’t my doing 🙂

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery where you can see other floral photos in the album.

2012 Deck – Week 26

On July 9, 2012July 9, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Nikhil does more unusual cropping than I do, often times he’ll use the cropping to help emphasise the subject, and this is something I don’t often do, usually when I crop I try to keep the same proportions as the original image, and I try to crop very little, usually only as a corrective method (to rotate the image correctly of to remove something at the edge(s) that shouldn’t be included). I often forget that I can crop for emphasis and to strengthen the composition.

This week’s image is such an example, I originally thought that it was a good image, but for some reason it wasn’t as strong as I’d originally thought, so after some monochrome work on it I tried an unusual crop, and I think it worked.