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.
For photographers, or I should say digital photographers, that 0001 number usually means you’ve cycled through the 9,999 actuations on your camera and you’re starting over, or some photographers actually do a reset to 0001 when they start a new year, or whatever period they decide to set for themselves. More commonly, it usually means a new camera, fresh out of the box.
Late last year, someone (or maybe a few someones) broke into the office where I work (photography is not my day-job, or night-job for that matter) and they stole my camera bag with all the gear in it, to date we have not recovered anything from that. So, after several years, I’ve had to acquire a new camera, at least one for now, I can’t quite replace what’s gone, but I’ve started somewhere. Thanks to a little saving and a lot of help from friends I don’t deserve, I got what’s essentially a mid-range mirrorless camera.
I typed the Title line at the top of this post and could not help thinking about the Insurrection in America almost a year ago. I was looking at the photo I am sharing and saw the footprints in the sand/mud that led away from the boat in the distance and headed towards shore using the Jhandi flag as a point of reference and a mark to aim for and pass, without disturbing it, and I think of some of the scenes I saw on television of that insurrection, of the trampling of people, ideals, decency and the flag. I didn’t intend to mention anything that political, but it came to mind, so I put it into words.
This scene is from an area on the East Coast of Demerara, past the large Koker at Hope, its referred to as Hope Lowlands, in the early morning the sandflies and mosquitoes eat you alive (or at least the morning we had visited, later in the morning its better, at least it was this time that I took this photo, I was out there with Fidal from 55 Photography, always good to have a photo-buddy, and the diversity in images from other folks on a walk are always great to see.
Hope Lowlands, East Coast Demerara, Guyana, South America
Hoping I get out more this year to get some photos in, my finger has been itching 😉 Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with others from my Black and White album
For me, the Photographic Process encompasses several stages, some think of it as simply taking a photograph with a device such as a camera or a phone, but I’d like to just mention the stages that I consider part and parcel of the Photographic Process, all of this just to speak specifically about one part that has to do with some of my black and white images.
The photographic process begins with the Photographer’s Eye, seeing that which is intended to be captured, since we all see things differently, this first part starts the differentiation of one image from the next and “my image” from “your image”. Secondly, our camera adjustments, for many this is done using the automatic settings, but for others it may entail making several adjustments to modes and setting values for shutter speed, aperture and ISO; these settings are usually determined by the lighting conditions and the desired “look” of the resulting image. Next comes the composition, determining what to include in the frame, what to exclude, and a variety of other compositional techniques. Then we click the shutter button.
In our current digital age, this is usually the end of the process, it gets shared on social media, etc., some may pass the image through a simple software for preset filters etc before sharing. For photographers, this has only been half the work, the next stage is to process the image, depending upon the ultimate use of the image this can be done in a myriad of ways; for me, I seldom do weddings or portraits, so generally the image is intended as ”art”, yes, it sounds pretentious, but that’s what I usually intend, so I would often process the image through Adobe Lightroom, and for many of my black and white images, I also use DXO Nik Silver Efex for the black and white processing. Once the image is processed to my satisfaction, it is then shared to my site or to social media. For me, however, the process ends at another stage, when I actually have the image printed.
Out There – 14-5265 | Oniabo Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana | 2014
The size of the printed image is usually limited by a few factors, including the size (usually in megapixels) of the original capture, the content of the frame (composition) and the type of processing done to the image. Some of my black and white processing can result in things that would not look well if printed large, such as today’s image. I used a high contrast process and worked to heighten the structure and clarity of the image, in so doing there is a resultant “haloing” in existing high contrast areas of the image, when enlarged this can lend the impression that the image was “edited” that portions were spliced in, when in fact they were not. So, in short, I most likely would not print this image large, possibly 16” x 24”’ as the largest print, this would retain the integrity of the image for me.
This is not a new photograph, it lay unprocessed in my files since 2014, I went scanning through the archives again this morning and spotted it, wondering why I never processed it (as usual). It is not the latest addition to the Oniabo Collection.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the Black and White album.
Anyone who knows me, or has followed my blog or Facebook posts know that I have a particular fondness for the seawalls. Although I haven’t been shooting much in the last few years, I do manage to get in one or two seawall visits and a few images. Many people don’t realise that the artistic process is not simple and certainly not infallible, over the years, I’ve accumulated many images, and I can often go back through images I’ve taken and overlooked to find a gem or two.
These two images were never overlooked, but I simply didn’t quite get the feel I wanted at the time, I suspect my mindset was different and I didn’t see what was right in front of my eyes. I’ve often looked at images I’ve taken and know that I have “something”, but can’t seem to process is the way my mind or my inner eye was seeing it, so its often a limitation of the mind, or the knowledge to get the image from the raw image into what it was that I was intending to capture and to share.
Lusignan Seawall – 19-6437
One of the things I’ve learned over time is not to force my way to achieve something “artistic”, it either comes or it doesn’t. What I can do, and what I often do, is to experiment, to play with the software, try various settings and adjust the sliders without thinking too much about it, just adjust on a visual level rather than intellectually anticipate a particular outcome. What this does if expose my mind to more of what the software is capable of, and also to see changes in the tonality and look of the image that I would not have otherwise seen with my usual predetermined mindset.
This does not necessarily mean that at the end of experimenting that I get a pleasing image, often that’s not that case, and I put the image aside and move on, but I would have learnt a thing or two, which I can apply to other images. It is also just as likely that I would return to that image at a later date, with some more clarity, possibly because I’ve since learnt something new, or simply gotten a different outlook on the image and what it could be.
Mast – 19-6434
What I have described is one of my approaches to this “art”, and there are many photographers out there who don’t approach it as art but as a profession. The beauty of Photography is that each of us can approach it differently, and come out of it at the end with unique images, because we are all unique, and what works for me may not work for others, and vice versa. Don’t be afraid to experiment, it is how we learn.
Once in a while, I’m fortunate to be on a PhotoWalk with some fellow photographers, last Sunday was one of those days, and while I think my total take in terms of absolute exposures for the afternoon was about 30, I think I came away with about three photos that I liked, and more that are usable, and that’s a good percentage for me.
This one I chose to share as a blog post rather than in the group album, in which I have shared two others 🙂
Boats at Better Hope – 17-3100 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 2017
Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery in the Collection.
Being on the northern coast of South America… I suppose that’s what we have… an Exposed Coast… facing the mighty Atlantic Ocean. Luckily for us, hurricanes never seem to come close to shore here…
Possibly the last post of the year. It seems that there will often be Jhanda (or Jhandi flags) in many of my compositions, that’s because they’re like Kiskadees on Guyana’s coast, everywhere!
Every time I say something about the Sea, I have to wonder how many people think about the fact that what we see beyond our shores is not a sea, but an ocean… but it would sound really silly calling the barrier the Ocean-wall.
Anyway, back to my fascination with the sea (or ocean) and our coastline, here’s a photo 🙂
Often, I can just sit on the edge of the rising or ebbing tide, and marvel at the forces at work, to keep in constant motion this massive amount of water that must weigh an unimaginable but calculable amount, the Pacific Ocean alone takes up almost half the Earth’s surface…
Pull and Push – 16-1777 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 2016
The Michael Lam Collection's Blog 