The Carpenter’s Daughter

When I had taken this photo a year ago, I knew that I would like the final result, not perfect, but it has that bit of “soul” that I always want in a photo.   Originally I had stopped to take a photo of just the shack, then my daughters and niece came along playing around it, as Christine climbed in and sat, I decided that this was going to work even better.

The title came from some random thoughts jumping around my head, originally I wanted there to be a reference to the type of hut; it’s a fisherman’s hut by the ocean, but no title immediately popped to mind.

As I thought about it, the phrase “Fishers of Men” came to mind (a phrase used by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew), but with the girl in the photo, that didn’t work, then her name correlated somewhat with that idea, Christine, from the word Christ (as in Jesus Christ), and then it suddenly dawned on me that Jesus was often referred to as the son of a Carpenter, and Christine’s father is a Carpenter, so voila!

It’s a stretch, but it works for me.

This is also one of the photos that sat on an SD card for a year, to think I almost lost it…


The Carpenter’s Daughter  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana, South America.


Click on the image to see it in the Gallery


Jump

Finding Treasure.  That’s what it feels like when you pop a memory card into your camera and realize that it is full of images from a year ago, it was a 4GB card, but it was full of RAW files.

I don’t recall how it is that I never copied off the images, but given that it was not one of the cards I normally use, but more of a backup or emergency use card, it seems that I forgot that I had used it for a few days of shooting.

As is usual for me, it will take time to get to the images, but here is one that I spotted and wanted to share.


Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20 | Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana


Click on the image to see it in the collection along with others in the People Gallery


2015 Deck – Week 28

I’m about to mention some things of which I am quite ignorant about, so anyone wishing to clarify, extrapolate, correct or otherwise educate me on it are welcome to do so.

I usually like to say something about the photo I am presenting, so here goes:

On the coast of Guyana, we see large shipping vessels (trawlers) heading out to sea for fishing, some smaller boats do so closer to shore (but often out of sight us of land), we see men (and women) cast-net fishing, we see some fishermen using rods and lines, and there are likely more methods than I know of, but one type was explained briefly to me because of a photo I took in which I was trying to identify the craft/vessel/device being used by the fisherman, this was the pin seine method.

Pin Seines are usually about 6 feet high and vary in width, the seine or fishing net usually carries a mesh size of three and a half inches or less; the seines are usually pinned to vertical stakes/poles, they are set up at high tide in the intertidal zone (between the tide lines/marks).  When the tide ebbs, fish are trapped in the nets and retrieved by fishermen.

One method of retrieval is by using what is locally called a catamarang, not to be confused with the more stylish catamaran.  The catamaran is a double hulled boat, while the only resemblance to the “double” part that I’ve seen on catamarangs has been the two long boards lashed/secured together forming the base of the vessel.  The catamarang basically consists of the wooden base which is about  14 to 18 inches wide by about 7 to 9 feet long (I haven’t measured one as yet), with a central wooden box the width of the base by about 2 feet long and about 12 to 18 inches deep (high).  It is operated by the fisherman kneeling or standing with one leg upon the base and pushing across the mud with the other leg, the central box is used to store the catch.

Seeing them skim across the top of the water/mud is usually impressive to me, probably because I’d be afraid to try it myself.

All that just to show you a photo of a fisherman returning to shore with his catamarang (and a few fish that are unseen) under a dappled sky.


Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/160s, f/9, ISO100


Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

Serenity of the Shore

Whether it is the soft roar of the waves as they rush to shore, the melodic crash as they break upon the rocks along the seawall or the almost deafening calm that engulfs you when the tide is at its lowest, there is a serenity that reaches deep within and soothes like a herbal balm, and sets your mind, your soul, your very being at ease.

I remember the afternoon I took this, there was a girl walking a dog along the seawall, a few boats were moored at the usual spot near the Lusignan/Anandale outflow canal, my daughter and her cousin were playing among the rocks, then later they played on a swing (old tyre on a rope), the tide was so far out that it would take quite some time to walk to the tideline, I was out there hoping for a nice sunset or interesting clouds to make a good scene…  I took quite a few photos, this one being among the earliest, not because it jumped out and screamed “take me”, but just because I was there, the scene was there and I felt like shooting something… it happens sometimes.

Revisiting the image after two years, I saw the potential that my subconscious saw… or I only now have a different detached perspective on it, whichever excuse works for you, I think I finally got what the scene was saying to me.  🙂


Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270  |  84mm, 1/160s, f/5.0, ISO 160


Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery, that gallery now holds quite a number of my monochromatic images that I am very fond of..

Stand

So, words almost failed me when it came to describing this photo for you (not that I need to describe it… you have eyes), maybe the few I could muster will suffice:

Stand to stretch your legs,
Stand to rise above,
Stand to show respect,
Stand to see beyond,
Stand and face the future,
Stand and feel the breeze,
Stand and show defiance,
Stand for who you are.


2015  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana


Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery in the Collection

Liza and Henry

For some reason, I’m going through my photos from Week two of this year…  in processing this one I had originally intended to leave it in the original colour, but then I opted for a slightly desaturated and warmer image…  I think it works…

I was tagging the image with keywords and was tagging it with “bucket” when the title sprang to mind  –  “Liza and Henry”  🙂


1/200s, f/9.0, ISO 200


Click on the image to see it in the “”Up East” Gallery, along with other eclectic images from that side 😀

The title is a reference to an old song… I remember singing it around a campfire… and no, the song isn’t title Liza and Henry… go ahead google it 😉


2014 Deck – Week 52

Another year, another 52 images for the project.  Almost thought I wouldn’t make it this year…  My fascination with Jhandi flags on the shore as well as my focus on seascapes has spurred some thoughts to the cohesion of images into proper collections…  My Oniabo collection is still taking shape and I hope that the new year will bear fruit in similar manner.

The last photo of the year exhibits the theme nicely, in colour, so it would not be a part of my Oniabo Collection, but it is a seascape with Jhandi flags at Lusignan.

After taking a series of images here, with both the Canon 60D and the Canon 6D, I then used my phone to snap one for Instagram, and I rather like that one!


Canon 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/250s, f/11, ISO 100  |  Lusignan ECD.


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


2014 Deck – Week 38

This photo was included as part of my extended Oniabo collection  which I presented at Moray House in a slide-show presentation in October.

The Oniabo collection started as a collection of 6 images, but when I was offered the opportunity to present something at Moray House, I revisited the idea and extended the collection to 16 Images.

I now have a better grasp of the collection and what I want it to be, and by early next year I hope to have concluded the set, omitting some that are there now and including others that are still in the making 🙂

Compositionally I was going for the three layers that I saw; the cloudy sky beyond the horizon, the mud-flats and the receded sea, and the rocky foreground,  it was fairly dark already, but I knew that the some-what even lighting would make a good shot.  A couple being there helped to make this shot even better.


“couple”  –  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara


Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, also the visit the Oniabo collection as presented at Moray House.


2014 Deck – Week 37

I’ve never been one to do a lot of “dodging and burning” in images, but this image I liked and I wanted to recover some detail in the shadow of the rock, and I didn’t want to tone-map the entire image, that would have been overkill I think.

So I used the brush tool in Lightroom to lighten just that area to get that detail I wanted.  the rest of the scene worked to my satisfaction.

This is a stretch of the seawall at Lusignan, and at High tide that rock, which seems to be pointing North, is normally covered.



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