Tag: Georgetown

2012 Deck – Week 19

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography4 Comments

This week almost passed without me having taken any photos.  I had some slim pickings, but I think I got a nice one.

Nikhil has often used the word “Grok” especially as relating to “grokking the scene”.  It has become more important to grok the scene if you want to capture and express through the photograph what it is the scene says to you.

Even though I thought I had heard the word before, no one lese I know has ever used it as often as he does.

I check it up on Wikipedia and then thought to myself, “that’s where it came from!”, apparently coined by the author Robert Heinlein in his novel “Stranger in a Strange Land”.  I love the definition given for it in the novel (keep inmind that it is a Science Fiction novel set on Mars)

Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthling assumptions) as color means to a blind man.

Can we understand a scene so completely that we become as one with it?  That is probably something to aim for, to achieve it would be great,

Here’s a photo of Nikhil, Grokking the scene  🙂

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery, and if you haven’t seen the other entries for the Deck project they’re all over there in the Gallery.

A Civilian’s View

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

When I visited the Guyana Parliament building for some photography, I took a photo of what would probably be the ideal Civilian’s View, that is, from the chairs (benches) available to members of the public.  I tried setting up in the centre (I think I was off by an inch or two)

I did this in HDR, and while I try to avoid too much high saturation images (especially in HDRs) this one showcases the beauty of the room to effect (I think)

I think I should try someday to get in here for an actual session.  Would they allow me to photograph in there during a session, I wonder…

Click on the image to see it better in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 18

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Lunar Perigee and the 2012 Supermoon

In 2011 and 2012 there was much reference to the term Supermoon, which is an astrological term, as opposed to the Astronomical term Perigee.  What was so Super about it? Well, I was out there and it looked like a regular full moon, but we’d all love to believe that we could see it larger and brighter than at other times 🙂

Perigee is the time at which the moon is closest in its orbit to the earth (doesn’t matter what phase it’s in), while the Supermoon refers to a New or Full moon that occurs when the moon is within 90% of its closest approach to the earth in its orbit.  So I suppose that the perfect Supermoon would be a Full moon at Perigee  🙂  (incidentally, the time when the moon is furthest away from the earth in its orbit is called Apogee)

The Perigee varies from around 357,000km to 369,000km (in roundish figures), and while a difference of 12,000km sounds like a lot, the difference to the naked eye is negligible.

On May 5th, the moon was at its fullest at 1 minute to its perigee, so that’s about as perfect a Supermoon as we can get I suppose.

Anyway… on May 5th this year, I was up the coast near Lusignan when this year’s “Supermoon” was supposed to occur, two things happened (well, more than two, but two that are relevant to this post); I had lent out my telephoto lens, so getting a close-up was out of the question, and the clouds were conspiring against me, So I ended up with a wide shot full of clouds  🙂

After playing hide-and-seek with the moon for several minutes I gave up and headed out, one that I took would work, so this is one that worked  🙂

Click on the image to see it better in the Gallery.

Old(er)

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Age is a relative thing, something (or someone) is either younger (or newer) or older than another by a certain amount of time, whether it is by minutes, days, years, decades, centuries, etc.

I’ve grown up knowing the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Building (and others of its time) and they’ve become landmarks to me, that makes them old, or older than the stuff that went up in the last decade anyway.

They may not be of the Victorian era, so their architectural aesthetics may be less appealing, but they are certainly a lot more appealing than many of the concrete boxes that are being erected these days.

The Hand-in-Hand building always reminded me of a concrete and stone attempt to look Victorian, or maybe semi-Greco-Roman, but I’m not an architect and my terms may be far off the mark.

I had always admired its arches, the wrought-iron fence, the wrought-iron “fret-work” that created the arches between the columns, the low-sprawling style of the building.

When I took this photo I never intended to process it in Sepia tone, yet that is what appealed to me when I began processing, and to help the age along a bit, I added a light vignette (hopefully not too noticeable)

So this building is Newer than Victorian, but probably older than I am 🙂

Hand-in-Hand – 7216

2012 Deck – Week 17

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography8 Comments

Fortunately for me, during the 17th Week of the year (or starting it, more precisely) was a mass celebrating the opening of the 56th Plenary Meeting of the Antilles Episcopal Conference in Guyana.  Months prior to it, I was asked to help cover the event photographically, specifically the group photograph of the Bishops attending, while I usually don’t do portrait photos, I finally acquiesced to give it a try, and was permitted to call in some help.

I was fortunate to have helping me, for the mass coverage, four other photographers, who volunteered their time and expertise; Troy Parboo, Fidal Bassier, Derek Rogers and Joseph Lewis.  I was truly glad for their assistance as I don’t do “people” and event photography too well, Troy and Fidal have had much experience in these areas and truly came through for me, and Derek Rogers has covered many events for more years than the rest of us combined, he also did my Wedding 🙂  Joseph came with less experience but much eagerness and a good knowledge of the proceedings that was invaluable.

It was agreed upon beforehand that the clergy of the church would prefer to have very few people “gallivanting” around the upper walkways, so I volunteered to be the one doing the running around (okay, I hogged it!)

This week’s deck photo I chose from that set.  After taking a group photo of the Bishops, I ran across the road, hurried through the church and scampered all the way up to an overhead walkway that allowed a very high vantage point (Bishop Francis had expressed a desire to have a photo from up there after I had mentioned the view).

Although I have a liking for many of the others that I took, I chose this one for the Deck, it shows the High Altar of the Cathedral from above, with all the Bishops, Monsignor, Priests, Deacon and Altar Servers.  It also shows a bit of the “Our Lady” altar behind, the passage (to the left) that I took around the altar and the pipes of the old Pipe Organ on the right.

Click on the photo for a better view in the Gallery, also in the album there are a few others from the event that I chose to share.

Midday Sleeper…

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

…and the Ghostly Kirk.

This building was (at the time of the fire that destroyed it) known as the King Solomon Building, which also housed the offices of Travel Span airlines.  Growing up, I always knew it as Joe Chin Travel Services.  It was the building next to the lot that housed the Sacred Heart Church, also destroyed by fire.

It makes me wonder about the other buildings on the block, maybe I should take some photos of them before something dreadful (and permanent) also happens to them  🙂

I titled this photo the Midday Sleeper and the Ghostly Kirk.  The “Midday Sleeper” part is an homage to a series of photos by a photographer (Simon) that I know as Darkhalide Photography, and the “Ghostly Kirk” is a reference to the ghostly reflection of my friend Kirk in the glass panel to the right of the doorway, I don’t think you can see it unless viewed very large.

2012 Deck – Week 16

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography5 Comments
By The Manatee Pond

I’ve been staring at this photo for weeks, and finding the right words to accompany it in the blog seems to be hard…

It’s a great spot, it has the Kissing Bridge, popular with brides and lovers, photographers and kids who like to run over it back and forth.  The pond has the manatees, where kids come to feed them on afternoons, there are little spots where families picnic and relax, and it’s where budding artists sit and sketch simply because there is so much of interest around.

Does it have too much?  is the photo crowded?  Am I just being hard on myself?  Who knows….  but this is the photo for Week 16  🙂

Click on the photo for a much better view in the Gallery

2012 Deck – Week 12

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography4 Comments

There was a competition in the Guyana Photographers’ Facebook Group on Colonial Architecture, it was getting very close to the deadline and there were very few entries, I “hurriedly” entered one that I took in passing, not a good shot by any standards, and regretted it immediately after.

Even if I am putting up a photo to “fill up space”, I should pay more attention, I have been less focused recently (no pun intended) , I can’t seem to get myself, the camera and the subjects to comply, to align properly.

I was out with Nikhil on a walk to get a photo for his 365 (366) Project and as we were wrapping up I saw this house and thought I should get a few snaps of it, and I knew right then that I had a better photograph than what I had recently dropped into the competition.

It was heavily overcast, and I deliberately composed it with lots of headroom.

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

In the Key of “D”

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography8 Comments

I took a photo almost a month ago with the intention to write a blog-post about two Guyanese musicians who have touched my soul through their music.  I know I can easily come under criticism for picking out just these two, especially when there are many more out there, then and now.  I can even mention some that have made me proud to be Guyanese at one time or another, people like Bill Rogers and Terry Gajraj, EC Connections, Mingles Sound Machine and The Ramblers, Eddy Grant and Natural Black, Concert Pianist Ray Luck and local saxophonist Sweet Sax Kilkenny, and there are more.  The two men I had in mind are Dave Martins of Tradewinds fame and Dennis DeSouza.

I decided last night to limit this post to Dennis DeSouza who died this last weekend, sorry Dave 🙂

As Caribbean people, music is in our bones, it is not something we listen to, it is part of who we are.  I grew up listening to a wide variety of music, at home it was everything from Slim Whitman to ABBA, my father has LPs (vinyl records) from a variety of genres, I listened to reggae from Pluto and Marley, instrumentals from Ace Cannon and Victor Sylvester, and loved music from Ray Conniff and his Orchestra.  On the radio I got my dose of the 80s as I grew older.  Among those records in my father’s collection were albums by Dennis DeSouza.

Dennis was born in Guyana, more specifically Mahaica on the East Coast of Demerara.  He later made his home in Trinidad & Tobago, and in Canada.  I was once told my by mother that while learning to play, Dennis practiced the piano at the house they lived in on Broad Street, Charlestown, Guyana (I wish I had known this when I met him some years ago).

I like instrumental music, especially when they do versions of pop-music, but I also appreciate the classics to some degree and also the individual’s own compositions.  Dennis DeSouza had a style of playing that I could pick out easily from any other pianist, I would always say he had very nimble fingers and you could feel the joy that he felt through his playing.

When I started buying CDs and realised that he had started recording on CDs I quickly bought the first one “Caribbean Paradise” at 3H CD and Video Club (now closed), and on a visit to Trinidad I bought his “Best Of” CD that I saw in the airport shop.

On one visit to Trinidad with my wife, we had heard that he was playing at the Lounge at Cascadia, it was a toss-up between going there or going to see Maxi Priest in town, since I had already been to a Maxi Priest concert I chose to go hear Dennis play (much to my cousin’s dismay, he was practically asleep at the table).  We not only heard Dennis and the band perform, but Maureen and I took to the floor to join other couples to dance, it was a beautiful experience for us.  There was a break for the band and I went over and spoke with Dennis for a minute and, to take pity on my cousin, we left shortly after.

His music really touches my soul, from his rendition of Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” to his own compositions like “Pakaraima”, from his playful key-taps on old Latin pieces on his own albums to lending his skill to accompaniment in Byron Lee’s seventh installment of the Soft Lee Series.

I won’t dwell on the loss of a musician, I will rejoice in the music he has given us in his lifetime.  To Dennis DeSouza; a Guyanese by birth, a Caribbean Man at heart and a Musician to the World.