Tag: East Coast Demerara

Spray

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I like my camera, whatever it happens to be at the time, and I think I care it as I would any piece of equipment I use regularly.  I’m not one of those photographers who treats it like a paper-thin piece of porcelain; its a camera, something I use, but I have to tell you that when it comes to salt water, I get a little nervous.   I like the waves at the seawall, I enjoy the spray on my face, and the sound of the crash upon the rocks.  I really love some of those amazing photos of the waves towering over the wall (I don’t like the resulting flooding though), but I am very hesitant to be anywhere near the actual water with my camera, and since I like my seascape photos to be wide, getting a good photo would mean being right up there in the spray, so for now, I’ll just keep being cautious and get the ones I’m comfortable with 🙂

Spray 14-3416  |  Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm  |  Thomaslands, Georgetown, Guyana  |  2014

Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery

Discovery

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography2 Comments

– 1499 –
Imagine that somewhere on the horizon is a line of three Galleons…
okay, fine, Galleons are more impressive looking, but we’ll revert to the truth;
there’s a line of Caravels, three of them, heading from the north-west, somewhere where the clouds disappear into the distance.

If you grew up as I did, you were taught that many of “our” countries were discovered by that fellow Chris, but the leader of that flotilla on the horizon was not Chris, but Alonso.

If you can see the flotilla, imagine now that one of those caravels has separated and is heading our way, in a more south-easterly direction along the coast, the remaining two are heading further west and stopping at the mouth of the Essequibo;  Alonso is now the first European to be recorded as seeing and touching our shores… and in that south-easterly heading caravel is Amerigo, who is on his first voyage (second, if you believe a disputed letter), and it is after this explorer that the joint continents of “America” are named.

As for that fellow Chris, this voyage by Alonso, his pilot Juan and navigator Amerigo quite displeased his followers, which resulted in quite a fracas in Hispaniola 🙂

If you stand on our shores and stare toward the horizon, you will not now see those caravels, but in the wake of those voyagers, using the trade-winds and ocean currents, are many ships; and I wonder, what are those sailors thinking as they look towards land?  Are they thinking of those days of discovery?  Are they thinking of the journey home?  Do they see the stars as did those long-ago conquistadors did?

I was processing this image when thoughts of the actual “discoverers” came to mind, hence the long messy thought process above 🙂

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.”

Robert Frost – The Road not taken

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

’tis the East

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, Poetry4 Comments

Arise, Oh sun, and pierce the veil,
relinquish unto me
the warm embrace of heaven’s light,
the night, ’tis history.
Light kissed leaves and unveiled paths,
beckons to my feet
the way meanders, ever on,
away from the paved street.

Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105L  |  Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara. October 2015

The trodden path meanders, avoiding obstacles.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

Chimney

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

I’ve taken a few photos of the Chateau Margot chimney over the years, but I’ve always been looking for better ones, something less “touristy”or “documentary” and a little more towards the artistic side.

I think I finally got one, of course, as things happen I took it after the Guyana Visual Arts Competition was already closed to entries, so I just put it aside and left it there… now, a year and three-quarters later, I am sharing it.

This one is special, it is one of those images that I loved as soon as I pressed the shutter button, I even knew how I’d be processing it in the end, which I didn’t for almost a year… It has been one that has always been in the back of my mind to use, but just never found the right time.  I hope you like it.

Chateau Margot – 14-6542  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Chateau Margot, E.C.D, Guyana

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

Joyride

On 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.

The Carpenter’s Daughter

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography9 Comments

When I had taken this photo a year ago, I knew that I would like the final result, not perfect, but it has that bit of “soul” that I always want in a photo.   Originally I had stopped to take a photo of just the shack, then my daughters and niece came along playing around it, as Christine climbed in and sat, I decided that this was going to work even better.

The title came from some random thoughts jumping around my head, originally I wanted there to be a reference to the type of hut; it’s a fisherman’s hut by the ocean, but no title immediately popped to mind.

As I thought about it, the phrase “Fishers of Men” came to mind (a phrase used by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew), but with the girl in the photo, that didn’t work, then her name correlated somewhat with that idea, Christine, from the word Christ (as in Jesus Christ), and then it suddenly dawned on me that Jesus was often referred to as the son of a Carpenter, and Christine’s father is a Carpenter, so voila!

It’s a stretch, but it works for me.

This is also one of the photos that sat on an SD card for a year, to think I almost lost it…

The Carpenter’s Daughter  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana, South America.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

Jump

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

Finding Treasure.  That’s what it feels like when you pop a memory card into your camera and realize that it is full of images from a year ago, it was a 4GB card, but it was full of RAW files.

I don’t recall how it is that I never copied off the images, but given that it was not one of the cards I normally use, but more of a backup or emergency use card, it seems that I forgot that I had used it for a few days of shooting.

As is usual for me, it will take time to get to the images, but here is one that I spotted and wanted to share.

Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20 | Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the collection along with others in the People Gallery

Victoria Dawn

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography9 Comments

I don’t do a lot of sunrise or sunset photos anymore, I guess unless there is something particularly appealing to use with it it’s just another sunrise or sunset to me, and that is probably a sad thing, as they are beautiful moments.

I was on a little impromptu photowalk with Fidal and another photog last year, it was actually Halloween day; we stopped at the seawall at Victoria village before continuing on to Mahaica and I took a few photos there, one of which I’ve come to like.  It really is nothing spectacular, but the composition, the pastel colours and the sunrise moment gives it a nice peaceful vibe 🙂

Canon EOS 60D   |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  Victoria Dawn 15-0355  |  Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara

Of course, those who know my work, will know that to see a landscape in colour (especially along the seawall) is a rarity these days 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the gallery.