Photography; I shoot what I like, and sometimes people like what I shoot. All photos are copyright to Michael C. Lam unless explicitly stated otherwise.
A look through the doors of the Bottle Restaurant at Cara Lodge.
The original building was built in the 1840s, now it is one of the handsomest (is that a word?) Hotels in Georgetown… I’ve dined at The Bottle Restaurant and I can say without hesitation that the food was always delicious!
2013 | The Bottle Restaurant, Cara Lodge, Georgetown, Guyana.
Landscapes and Seascapes… maybe even Cityscapes… that’s the kind of thing that I like shooting, Yes, I photograph lots of subjects, but this is what drives me really… at least that’s what I feel.
So…. when I see a sky with lots of detail (that apparently most other people don’t see) I almost have a compulsion to grab the camera and seek out a suitable scene.
While this spot might be considered overdone… the changing elements will always make it photogenic for me 🙂
2015 | Kingston Roundhouse
Click on the image to see it in the Black & White Gallery along with many other BW images in the collection.
I don’t normally do abstract photography, actually, even including this photo I’m not sure I’ve ever done abstract photography, I just don’t see the world that way.
This photo I liked, I am not sure why, it just appealed to me, even when taking it.
To me it has an amalgamation of the things that make me “feel” like I am where I feel most comfortable, where I was born, where I was raised, where I belong… I am of Guyana, I am in Guyana, I am Guyana!
Now that I’ve gotten the crazy bits out of the way, here’s the photo 🙂
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/125s, f/10, ISO 100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
…. and yes… that bit in the top right hand corner was knowingly left in the frame 🙂
Georgetown, the Garden City; our fair city, once replete with Victorian and Colonial architecture, dutch built and inspired drainage canals reminiscent of European cities, and tree-lined streets and avenues, now laughingly referred to by it’s denizens as the Garbage City, floods with the slightest rain, governed (I use that word as loosely as is possible) by a city council that was elected two decades ago (although faces have changed, but not through any democratic process that I know of), and, sadly, losing it’s trees through neglect, sabotage, and lack of foresight (or hindsight it seems).
Most of the trees lining our streets predate us, they were planted, nurtured and cared for by colonial masters (and slaves) before our independence, before the Republic came into being, before self-governance and the long road that led to where we are today.
As we have travelled that road through time, our leaders, our people, we ourselves have forgotten or ignored what it was, what it is that makes Georgetown a place we want to live in, to visit, to be proud of… We as people, are not as welcoming as we should be, we as humans are not as caring of our environment as we should be.
Saving or replanting trees is not THE answer, but it’s a small part, one that is likely to go unnoticed or ignored.
Yesterday, Kamal Ramkarran wrote (on his own family’s place in our past and present):
As clichéd as it is, the lives of the six generations who followed them is the history of Guyana (from 1875 anyhow). All of us from here are, in a very real way, part of the history of this country. The history of Guyana is our own story, whether we know that story or not.
Since we are part of the story then, the story happening around us and through us, it ought to follow that we should make ourselves responsible for its present and future, just as we try to make ourselves responsible for the present and future of our own lives.
What part are we playing? Will what we do stand the test of time as those trees still standing attest to the work and acre of our predecessors/ancestors?
2013 | Tree in St Joseph Ursuline Convent compound, Camp and Church Streets.
Technically, the tree is in the portion of the compound now housing the St Angela’s primary school, the Ursuline compound also houses the St Rose’s Secondary School. Schools once run by the Ursuline Sisters, but were “nationalised” under the PNC government.
As soon as I saw this scene, somewhere in my mind I could hear strains of Vangelis’ compositions playing, and that name has stuck since then, even though I have only now processed the image itself 🙂
Unlikely to be anything but a “nice” photo, but I like it 🙂
2013 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm
Last year, I walked a short distance from my office to see what I could snap for International Street Photography Day, I had used one of those images and posted it on my site. Yesterday, Fidal was asking if I had ever used the Canon 40mm pancake lens on the Canon EOS 6D, I knew I had, but couldn’t remember the circumstances… and it turned out that on that short walk I did use that combination, as I was checking the images, I decided to process and share a second one of those… same scene different take on it (much much closer to the subjects)
Canon EOS 6D, Canon 40mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
I think using a particular theme as a guide for a period is a good idea, I am keeping it at the back of my mind while shooting, but not letting it dictate the photos in general, so while I am shooting the things I see and like, I am also on the lookout for the thematic image as well.
This one I had driven past and then reversed quickly to get the shot, luckily it was a Sunday so the traffic was a bit light 🙂
Obviously, the square is the window… but those colours!!! I love the Caribbean for scenes like this 🙂
Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105 | 1/400s, f/8.0, ISO 200 @105mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, along with some other “Odds and Ends”
Although I am keeping an eye out for “square(s)” upon which to base my compositions this month, I didn’t intend to include one in each photo I choose for the Deck Project, but, coincidentally, this one met both criteria (so to speak)
I noticed the square shape of the front of the food cart (or juice cart), and the square doors, I ran upstairs to grab the camera (light conditions not ideal for the phone), when I came down the vendor himself had moved away from the cart (still to be seen wearing a beanie cap or tam and glasses at the back of the group of people), I was lucky enough to catch this “active” scene.
Everyone was trying to stay dry, from the cart-man to the pedestrians to patrons of the fast-food restaurant on the corner.
Staying Dry | Canon EOS6D, Canon 24-105L | 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO 200 (cropped)
I cropped the image for the final composition, because, frankly speaking, I was trying to stay dry too 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the gallery.
Third time.
I have no idea why I keep going back to this particular set of images, I’d shot a few frames of these fishermen on a photowalk in 2013, and I realized yesterday I’d now processed three of them…
one was a cover image for my Facebook page, a second one I had processed as a vignetted sepia image (two years ago):
And yesterday, I clicked on one and felt the need to process it in black and white…
Different but similar images, treated differently, tell different stories.
Click on the images to see them in their respective Galleries.
One of the things I like about the seawall, is that you just never know what’s going to wash up (or out) 🙂
1/100s, f/10, ISO 100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
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