Tag: clouds

In the countryside

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

The headline might be misleading….

In Guyana, this photo could have been in the capital city of Georgetown, but it’s actually in the village of Good Hope on the East Coast of Demerara.  In this era of washing machines and dryers, it’s neat to see clothes drying in the afternoon sun on a clothes line near coconut trees  🙂

Something about fresh sun-dried clothes has a crisp clean “feel” to it that transcends the sense of touch, it goes to the sense of smell, straight to your brain and tells you this is fresh, outdoor fresh… it puts a smile on your face and a bounce in your step.  🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from my Out and About Collection

2013 Deck – Week 20

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I was processing this image as a part of another long-term project that I’ve been doing; Seascapes, but I decided that I would also include it into the Deck Project as it turned out so nicely 🙂

The water was lapping around the larger rock seen here, the tide was on it’s way out, and the sand/mud could be seen at the rock’s base when the wave had receded.  The waves seemed fairly predictable, coming in, swirling past the rock and then receding, so I set my self and waited for it, when it came in, it came a little harder and faster, and I involuntarily jerked backwards a bit and the shot actually came out at a bit of an angle, so I had to crop back to straighten the horizon.  I did have others that I could have used, but this one came out nicely, in terms of composition and the way the water was.

The skies were just how I like them recently, fairly dramatic, nice variations and with a fair amount of detail that I knew I could eke out of the RAW file.

Canon EOS 60D  |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/500s, f/14, 10mm  |  Rotational crop

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

The Red House

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

Many years ago I missed the photo-walk that Nikhil, Naseem and André took around Georgetown.  They had termed it the Georgetown Safari, and they covered much of Georgetown over two days.  I have always meant to try to cover as much of historical Georgetown as I could, but never seem to get a good start on it.

I was on my way to work, and driving past the Red House when I noticed the sky beyond it and thought this was as good an opportunity as any to take the photo I wanted of this building, the point of view is not unusual, there are dozens from this vantage point, but I like to think I did the scene some justice.

It is a single exposure, but I did some tone-mapping to draw out some detail from the scene, and I cloned out a short piece of electrical wire that sneaked into the frame in the upper corner.

Canon 60D  |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  14mm, 1/125s, f/5  |  Nik HDR Efex Pro

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from around Georgetown, Guyana.

I always figured that the building got it’s name because it was red, but never knew that it was because it was covered with Red Wallaba Shingles.  It dates back to the days of Colonial Rule, and records indicate that the “Colony of British Guiana” acquired it in 1925, from then until 1953 it served as the place of residence for many Colonial Secretaries.

During his stint as Premier of British Guiana, from 1961 to 1964, Dr. Cheddi Jagan also used it as his Official Residence.  Under subsequent leaders, it was utilized for various government offices.  In 1999, two years after Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s death, while serving as the fourth President of Guyana, the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre was established in the building (a purpose it still serves to this day)

It is apparently also referred to as Kamana Court, a name I had not heard until today, and for which I can find no more information

On the move

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Normally I try to process my images just to get them to that stage that I like, my personal preference… so theoretically, not too much processing, just adjusting the sliders a little here and a little there…  it works for most images.

This particular image I knew that I would most likely process it in monochrome, but while making my Lightroom adjustments I felt that I wanted a little something extra out of the image….  I processed it with one aim in mind after that… to get as much detail out of that stream of clouds as I could… I even carried it into Nik Silver Efex to give it that extra structure that I was looking for…..  It even has a slight selenium tone over it.

Did I overdo it?  Some may say so, but it’s what I was looking for 🙂

Canon Rebel T1i  |  1/400s 18mm f/13

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other Monochrome images.

2013 Deck – Week 18

On 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.

Pegasus on the Shore

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Turn back the clock 5 years and 4 months…  I was doing one of those things that the manual says not to… shooting towards the sun… but in this case I didn’t point directly at the sun.  Since I was pointing towards the late afternoon sun, all the colours in the image became washed out leaving an almost sepia-toned image, so I carried it that extra step further in post-processing and made it a Sepia-toned image.

What had caught my eye was the light glaring off of the water that remained after the tide had receded, it made for a nice high-contrast image.

March 2nd, 2008  |  Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Shot on the lonest end of the camera’s 12x Optical zoom.

Click on the image to see it larger in the Sepia Gallery, along with many of my other Sepia-toned photos

2013 Deck – Week 16

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

Having a full time job that isn’t photography related makes for a hard time finding things to photograph, or more precisely, things that interest me…

I’ve actually been doing some walking with Nikhil recently and as such I’ve been accumulating some “street” photographs.  While it’s not exactly what I like to shoot, every once in a while I find one that I think is worth sharing

With Georgetown being the centre of activity in Guyana, the streets do tend to get congested 🙂

2013 Deck – Week 15

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Every time I see a skeleton or decomposing body of an animal, I think of Avinash Richard who, although known for his Street Photography locally, was also known for his photos of such things, and how he countenances death not with morbidity, but with fascination; fascination not in the death of the creature but in thoughts of the life it lived and what caused it to knock on Hades’ Gates.

Of course, this is how it comes across to me, he would be better equipped to answer for himself 🙂

As with most photos that I render in monochrome, I knew the instant that I composed and pressed the shutter button that this image would be rendered in BW, but this one made me think a little, I even compared the coloured version and the processed monochrome for a few days before asking Nikhil’s opinion.  Thankfully, he reinforced my original thought process.

Most of my new images usually become my current favourite, but I believe that this one is truly one of my favourites of recent images.

I really think it can be seen better on the site, so click on the image above to see it in the Gallery, along with the previous images from this year’s Deck Project.

2013 Deck – Week 14

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, thoughts6 Comments

I remember when…  (I think this line is only used by people who have seen things that may not be current and have to use this line to explain that situation to those younger than themselves… or by a youngster who wants to impress others with their amazing memory – even if some of it is invented)

Where was I?  … oh, yes…  I remember when I rode a bicycle to school, then to lessons, and to visit friends, or to go to church, or just for a joy-ride.  I remember lugging around a heavy chain with a large Union lock to secure the bicycle to a post.

I remember the bicycle I rode to lessons, an old “Big Ben”, or “Steel Donkey”, it was a lady’s frame, so we’d put a wooden bar across to tow others, or just to make it seem more masculine. (Something remarkably similar to the one Nikhil captured here) I remember taking turns with Johnny at towing home Trecia from lessons, even though it was not on my way home.

I remember while courting Maureen (now my wife), I had a “down handle” on a ten-speed bicycle, and we’d ride everywhere… even places I knew I shouldn’t… I remember being beaten with a 2×4 (piece of wood) by a thief try to get that bicycle from me…

I remember riding from home down to South Ruimveldt to visit my friends Andrew, Ian, and then to Durban Backlands to visit Dayal… sometimes just for the ride; and years later I rode to and from UG daily, and I remember leaving UG at 8pm after History lecture and riding down in pitch blackness with Scheme alongside on his bicycle (trying to remember where the potholes were) !

I remember riding to the seawall to work off the buzz of a beer that I drank while (legally) too young, I remember riding from Turkeyen to Bel Air hoping to wear off the buzz of too many beers from a Raymond’s birthday celebration, this was when I was a student at UG, only to stop at Nikhil’s home to ask for coffee before continuing home 🙂

I seldom ride a bicycle now, but I think every child should learn to ride one… it gives a sense of independence, of freedom… of adventure.

The photo that sparked a deluge of memories…

Click on the image to see it on the site, along with the other images from this year’s Deck Project.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 6

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

The Journey Back.

On the way back from Orinduik, the journey usually takes a slightly different path, we bypass some places, particularly Monkey Mountain, and this cuts short the return trip significantly.

As we awoke at Kurukubaru, we noticed that since the previous evening we could feel a soft drizzle and this had not changed, it was then that we were told that it wasn’t really a drizzle, we were simply in a cloud  🙂

The view from so high up is so breath-taking, that it is hard to render that on camera, one direction looks very much like the other, but you can’t help but snap a few anyway 🙂

Be caught up with the main convoy at Kato and continued our journey onward, here are some more photos from the trail…

We stayed at Yarong Paru where I got in some more photos to show  🙂

I even got one at a village further on, I think it was Tiperu, when Frank and a few others took a break and sat aside the trail  🙂

At Karasabai the Safari was pretty much over, at this point the option was given to members to either head back to town or proceed to Lethem for the Annual Rodeo.  We opted for town and overnighted at The Oasis at Annai

As we were crossing the Essequibo River at Kurupukari I noticed Jason washing down his tires from all the mud… presumably making room for more mud as we hit the trail on the other side 🙂

On the other side of the crossing we stopped for Lunch and I took a few moments to get in a couple of shots at the shop  🙂

If I ever make the trip again, I hope I get to spend more time at some of these villages.  Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery along with all the other select images from the Safari!