Tag: flora

2013 Deck – Week 29

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I was quite disappointed with my photos for this week, but I figured that somewhere in there was a photo that I could use for the Deck Project.  I did a Panorama, but it was somewhat uninspiring (maybe I’ll look back at it with a different vision later), I had lots of Street Photos that were out-of-focus, badly composed, and uninteresting even…

I did have three photos of the Anglican Bishop’s Residence (Bishop of Guyana), and one I rather liked, but decided not to use, this one I liked and I had thought early on in the process (like when I clicked the shutter) that I’d like to see it in Sepia, so here it is…

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

This is one of the very few examples in recent years of someone restoring a Victorian styled building in Georgetown, rather than demolishing it, although it created some controversy, I think that it was a good move in the end, for the City, if not for the Diocese.

Offerings

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

I was out by the seawall hoping to see a nice sky that I could use for a possible seascape when I came across a flag (Jhandi) planted on the beach with the leaf of the Lotus Flower plant at it’s base with the food offerings to Lord Hanuman.

I tried quite a few angles to get the perfect shot, but still don’t think I got the one that would jump out at me…  but this one I liked never-the-less  🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery along with many other images from the Guyana Seawalls.

Also click on the Lotus Flower link in the text above to see a brief post I once did on the plant.

2013 Deck – Week 21

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography3 Comments

I was perusing my takings for the week and I had pre-selected 16 photos that I was thinking of using for the Deck Project, some street photos, some seawall photos a few bird photos… you get the idea…  Maybe it’s the mood I was in or just that most of them seemed “normal” to me, but I ended up choosing one that I knew was not necessarily a great composition, and then in processing I also did some unusual work with the sliders 🙂

All that being said, I don’t expect many to appreciate or like the final result, but to me the entire thing was so off-kilter that I ended up titling the image just that… “Off-Kilter”, and it grew on me.  🙂

Canon Rebel T1i  |  18-55 Kit Lens  |  1/200s, f/11, 30mm, ISO400

Processing notes: Selective desaturation and hue adjustment.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

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

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

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.

2013 Deck – Week 17

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography3 Comments

Sometimes the photo that a photographer chooses is not always the one that a “normal” viewer would choose, that’s just how it is….  I’ve heard many Wedding Photographers lament over the same problems, they would show the couple an array of photos from the big day and then they would choose what the Photographer thought were those that were not the cream of the crop… for him (or her).

This is because we are each looking at the photographs from a different perspective, each photo speaks to us differently, and appeals to each individual differently; so it would be no surprise to me if this week’s photo draws dome curious stares  🙂  I like it, but I don’t expect everyone to like it.

Taken around Vreed-en-hoop at an area referred to as Best Village.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

Yellow

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

I had started processing this photo about two weeks ago, then left it off.  I had cropped, rotated, and dropped the saturation a bit, but wasn’t satisfied.  I pulled it up this morning, tweaked the highlights a bit and decided that it was done… that simple!  Sometimes, all it needs is a little time 🙂

I noticed these at the side of the trench when I parked my vehicle, they were lower than the road, and the side of the trench was slippery, so I couldn’t get a foothold to get down to the level I wanted, so I adjust my settings on the camera and held it down to try to get the composition I wanted… never got the perfect one, and quite  few were unusable, but this one I liked (after rotating to correct my badly angled dangling camera  🙂

Click on the Image to see it in the Flora Gallery in the Collection

2013 Deck – Week 09

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I had never been into the Indian Monument Gardens before, and it seems that the one time I did venture in was when they were doing some new construction on a stage to the western end and had not done any recent cleaning near the monument itself, yet I still think I got a few usable photographs (if you ignore the weeds on growing near the monument and the stains on the base itself)

The monument itself commemorates the arrival of the East Indians to Guyana as indentured labourers, the first arrival being on May 5th, 1838, the first ship being the SS Whitby (symbolically represented in the monument).  The monument was erected in 1988 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of their arrival, a portion of the Merriman’s Mall was appropriated for the Monument Gardens.  (the area bordered by Church Street, Camp Street, North Road and Alexander Street.)

I found very little information in my short research, but it appears that a nationwide competition was held for the design, and after choosing the winning entry the design was made real by an “Builder” from India, the Gardens itself was laid out by two architects, one from India and one from Guyana (Albert Rodrigues).

I chose this angle because it shows some of the supporting structure of the Ship itself.

As always, click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 06

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I was taking some photos out by the seawall at Lusignan, and although I think I came away with some nice ones, there was one that I really wished I had taken a different approach to.  I saw a dramatic sky behind a stand of Jhandi flags, and I took a few photos, then moved on, then the thought struck me that I should have tried multiple exposures for an HDR.  By that time it was a little late since the clouds had changed significantly.

When I downloaded my images I was still struck by that scene so I decided to try an Pseudo HDR Technique on it, and this was the result.

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery