Tag: grass

A Walk on the Conservancy

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

We recently had a Photowalk  for willing members of the Guyana Photographers’ Facebook Group, it was ostensibly called “Canal #2 Photowalk”, that just meant we met at the western end of Canal #2 on the West Bank of Demerara, right where it meets the Conservancy, from there we chose a direction to walk (by default we headed North).  Each member is initially allowed three images to upload to the album on the group, and Fidal Bassier wanted us to put some emphasis on “Composition” for this PhotoWalk, so there was some discussion about it… and I chose these three photos for certain reasons.

First image:  House  – 14-1649

I was mentioning to someone at the beginning of the walk (or a few someones) that it is important to know what makes a good composition, read as much as you can on things like the Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, and other compositional aids, rules and guides.  Once you know these things it makes composing a decent image all the easier, but it also allows you to realize that some scenes will allow you to “break” those rules.

For this image I pretty much threw the Rule of Thirds away… the main compositional aid being a Leading Line – the bridge leading you to the house, but even this is muted a bit by the shadow across the early portion of the bridge.

Second image:  Sit – 14-1654

Initially the impulse was to zoom in to avoid all the clutter in the photo to simplify the scene down to the man, the boat and the conservancy behind him; but I thought that including the rough woodwork and using the low sun as a backlight would make for a nice silhouette shot or at least a more inclusive rather than exclusive composition.  The low-hanging branch also helped enclose that corner of the frame.  Shooting into the sun naturally desaturates a scene, and I used this to advantage in the colouring of the image.  I also again ignored the Rule of Thirds and relied on the leading lines of the wood and the bright sun to lead you to the subject.

Third image:  Prelude to Sunset – 14-1698

It seemed that although a few of us wanted to stick around to see the sunset, others preferred to get going… so I took a Prelude to Sunset photo.  When I first started taking photos, I would be happy with just a plain nice sunset, but as I began to appreciate some more the images that actually made me look twice at them, I came to realize that some Sunset images (and most landscape ones, come to think of it) needed a foreground object in the composition to hold your attention as well, so I tried to include a portion  of a rusty pontoon.  I exposed for the sky and had already decided that I would be doing some post-process fill-light to regain some detail in the pontoon.

I hope I didn’t bore anyone with all of that… overall, I think it was a good Photowalk.  Click on the images above to see them in the Gallery along with other images in the “Out and About” album.

Singed

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, thoughts2 Comments

Have you ever latched onto a word with unusual fascination?  When I first read or heard certain words, there was an undue fascination that I got for them, one of those was “singed”…  No, it has nothing to do with singing, so no funny quips about that 🙂  Another one was “chaos”, that one was simply because I’d read it in a book and had formed this pronounciation in my head that turned out to be completely wrong.

So… back to “singed”

It was the first week of 2014, and I was walking the seawall looking for a few photographs when I came across the piece of singed wood… it was laying across another piece of wood forming a cruciform shape, the harsh midday sun cast a strong shadow and I decided that it might make a decent photograph 🙂

I also took the opportunity to try out LightZone to process it from start to end… I finally found how to straighten the horizon in it… using the crop tool just like in LightRoom (silly me couldn’t find it the first time I was processing an image in it).  I must say, that while there are some things I miss from this piece of software, it is a very powerful application, and the integration of the changes into the saved file (JPG or TIF) makes it easy to go back and adjust the processing.

LightZone also professes to be able to work as a plugin to LightRoom, so if you just want some of the neat features in LZ, you can try it as a plugin.  For an OpenSource (read that as FREE) software, it is powerful and user-friendly, this is not a stripped down software, but a full fledged product for RAW image processing.

Now… to the image.  It probably won’t rank as a great photograph, but I liked it and it gave me a good opportunity to try out LightZone

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/160s, f/9, 10mm, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the Black and White collection

2013 Deck – Week 49

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

It is almost shameful that I’ve lived all of my life upon these shores (with the few exceptions of travelling abroad), and the majority of my time has been spent in the City, when there are so many beautiful places to see across our land, but that is how life is, and I am thankful that I got to see the little that I have seen.

I’ve seen the Rainforest and the Rupununi Savannahs, the Pakaraima mountains, Orinduik Falls and Kaieteur Falls, but there is so much more to see…

Recently I was fortunate to be among a group of people who had dinner at Fort Island, photographically it wasn’t a great trip, but for me it was almost priceless.

My wife and I joined more than a hundred other patrons who dined outside the Court of Policy on the Island, and were entertained by the legendary Dave Martins and his friends.

I did manage to take some photos of the fort, but finding one without a dozen people in it was tough 🙂

I hope you like this one:

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 46

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

On a midday walk with Nikhil, We had to pass a Hindu family on the Seawall who were conducting a ritual, supposedly to Mother Durga (Goddess Durga), because of the yellow Jhandi flag.

I didn’t want to intrude, so I took a photo from a distance (and subsequently cropped it for composition), I thought it was a scene that should be recorded (even if just for myself)

I’ve always seen the various Jhandi flags along the coast, but only recently decided to ask about the colour, specifically in this instance.  There is so much of the Hindu culture that is  unknown to most of us, and the significance of various rituals and items are lost on us.  I even tried searching the internet for Yellow Jhandi Flag, and got a Trinidadian website telling me that the yellow is for Lord Krishna, while a local hindu woman told me it was for Mother Durga and that it was customary to have it alongside a Red flag.

It’s not a great photo, but it is representative of part of our culture here in Guyana, and it is a period piece, with a modern mode of transportation in evidence 🙂  It is also a scene that I don’t see often enough.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 45

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

Sunrises and Sunsets are considered a cliché type of photograph by many, yet I am still drawn to them, not as often as before, but I still enjoy a good sunrise or sunset, and I enjoy taking photos of them too  🙂

When I take a photo of a sunrise or sunset, I try to include some other object of interest, since a sunrise is just a sunrise and a sunset just a sunset (well, most times, there are possibly exceptions).

I was driving home, when I saw some lovely pastel to darker colours in the late afternoon sky, and thought I should at least stop somewhere to see if I could get a nice photo,  the tide was in, and I spotted someone line-fishing, probably for Cuirass, and quickly snapped off a few shots before walking to the seawall to see what else there may be.

As it turned out, I’m very happy I took those shots, it came out well.  I hope you like it.

Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 43

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, Poetry4 Comments

I got what amounted to somewhat unsatisfactory choices of photos for this week, so I chose one that had some appeal, and then, at a loss for words to accompany it, I then wrote an almost equally unsatisfactory poem 😀

Take a break from the working day
And take a stroll outdoors,
Out where the ocean meets the sea,
where winds blow and birds soar.

Feel the sand between your toes
And the shells under your feet,
Inhale the salty sea breeze
Get away from the streets…

Let the wind blow your hair
Let the sun warm your face
Let’s go to the beach,
Let’s get out of this place.

2013 Deck – Week 41

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I take photos of buildings, but I don’t share many of them, not many people seem to be interested in those types of photos.  Originally this was going to be a photo of a building, and then the warmth of the late afternoon sun lit up the grasses in the area, and also the pontoons around the pump station, and I thought that it would make a better landscape image.

I was originally shooting in landscape (horizontal) orientation, but then I noticed the moon, and tried a portrait oriented version that I came to like.

After a slight crop, I decided that I wanted it for the Deck Project, even though I still think that there are others from this walk that I think are better.  I had shot this with the Sigma Ultra-wide 10-20mm on the Canon 60D.

This is the pump station on the seawall along the Lusignan – Anandale area, I’m sure the fishermen in the area must be getting accustomed to seeing people with cameras in the area by now 🙂

This was one of the few times I approached a scene with a preconceived idea of what I wanted, and as usually happens, I usually never get what was in my mind’s eye, but keeping my mind open to the possibilities around, I came away with good images none-the-less, simply because the scene itself gave to the process.

I hope you like it.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from this Year’s Deck Project.

2013 Deck – Week 36

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I had taken a number of photos this week at the Lusignan seawall area, but this one stood out for me from the moment I chimped and saw the image on the camera’s display screen.

I frequently see Jhandi flags along the seashore, but was never witness to the actual planting of one or seen the ritual taking place at such an event.  Needless to say, I still haven’t; but on my way back to the vehicle that day I did see some people bringing their flags to the wall, they had brought them in the back of a vehicle, and were passing them along to each other to put by the sea.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Click on the image to see it in the Collection, along with other entries for this year’s Deck Project.

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.

From the Bandstand

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Sheltering from a light rainfall, I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of this gentleman walking on the wall… the rain didn’t bother him, and here he’s even taking a drink out of that bottle 🙂

Canon Rebel T1i  |  Sigma 17-50mm  |  1/640s, 17mm, f/11 ISO 400

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with many other images from my journey in Sepia images 🙂