2015

On January 2, 2015January 2, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I began using Instagram when I got my hands on a phone using the Android OS, and I like how it challenges the way I look at a scene; after composing images in wider (or taller) formats thinking “square” had it’s challenges, but it’s fun.

And it is almost too easy to use… makes you want to put down your larger cameras and just use the phone… which is exactly what I did on New Year’s Day.

Many of you may not use Instagram, so I’m posting images and the Instagram links here for these select images.

There is a thread running through these images, but I don’t expect anyone to get it, and that’s fine, they are simply photos that I wanted to share.

Chef Vishal

Bush Construction

Welcome

Respect

Here’s wishing you a Happy 2015, one filled with surprises, great expectations, few regrets, fewer disappointments and lots of Love!!

2014 Deck – Week 46

On December 19, 2014December 19, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I could have just kept on walking, but while I visit the seawall fairly often, scenes like this don’t occur with much frequency while I am there, and the juxtaposition that I noticed in walking could not be ignored, so I shot it, a few times…

In a small print or viewed small this won’t look like much, I really do have to set this one aside for a large print.

And yes, I did keep it in colour, shocking, isn’t it? 🙂

The Open Temple – Kingston, Georgetown. Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 41

On December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

People write all sorts of things in the sands at the seawalls… and beaches worldwide, from Love Letters (Pat Boone sang about this), to drawings, to directions to the nearest Qik Serv, to Hearts with cupid’s arrows through it and the Lovers’ names inscribed, all to be washed away with the next high tide.

Those messages are as transient to us as we are to the timeless sea; and yet, we keep making those markings and the sea wipes them out again.

I snapped a photo in passing this fellow as he used quite a long stick to mark out something in the sand, I have no idea what it was he was drawing, maybe it was a message to an extra-terrestrial ship 🙂

Midday Markings – Kingston Foreshore, Georgetown.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 38

On December 9, 2014December 9, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

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

On December 6, 2014December 6, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

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.

2014 Deck – Week 35

On November 29, 2014November 29, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2010 Deck, Photography5 Comments

Exploitative or Journalistic?

The question with regards certain street photographs is usually whether the resultant image and its use are exploitative or journalistic; this is not a question for viewers or critics, it is a question for the photographer; anyone says otherwise is trying to be self-important; yes, a fallacy, I don’t care. 🙂

I saw this chap sitting in what seemed a dejected and sad position, and I “had” to take a photograph, but carefully, surreptitiously, so as not to make him too aware of my intentions; wanted the scene as I saw it to be portrayed as I remembered it…

In the shadows cast by the trees along the avenue, in the bright midday sun, one man, sitting, alone, almost overlooked, in the heart of Georgetown.

I titled this one “In the Shadows”, because that is how I see many of our fellow citizens living; in the shadow of oppression, in the shadow of others who walk along with a brighter present and future than he may have, in the shadow of trees and buildings that have existed longer than he has, in the shadow of a life that could be better, but isn’t (reasons unknown).

Cropped to 3:4 from the original

1/125s @ f/7.1, 24mm, ISO 200

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 30

On November 20, 2014November 20, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Street photography (next to event photography) is probably the least predictive sub-genre in Photography, and that’s one of the things that draw a certain type of photographer to it.

I was on Sussex Street one Sunday and this car parked in front of an old vine-covered shed/shack caught my eye. Behind that scene was the old Gafoor’s warehouse (not sure if it is still occupied by them). I had taken a landscape oriented shot, then thought that I’d prefer more of the building in the background and recomposed a portrait oriented shot when this cyclist pedalled into the frame 🙂

1/400s @ f/5.6, 58mm, ISO200

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2014 Deck – Week 29

On November 19, 2014November 19, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Sometimes, subjects are so imposing that you just have to use them, you walk past them and they just beg to be photographed.

Take this truck, for example; we had walked past it and I noticed it’s unusual form, you just don’t see a truck like this around Georgetown every day, I kept thinking that there’s a photo there somewhere… On the way back I kept glancing at it, then noticed it’s swivel up windows and it’s snorkel-like exhaust system, and all the other rough-and-tough parts at the front, all of this set against a comparatively delicate victorian/colonial styled wooden building in the background.

Of course, including the policeman in the frame was deliberate 🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2014 Deck – Week 23

On November 1, 2014November 1, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

On the face of it, I look Chinese, that plus the camera in hand usually sets people in Georgetown to thinking that I’m a tourist; this means I’m either a target for criminal elements or people think I’m harmless and do things in front the camera that they wouldn’t normally do for most other local male photographers (I distinguish the gender because I’ve also seen that most people are more comfortable and open in front of female photographers).

This street photo is one that I liked, it’s not the perfect composition as I was on the back of a moving truck (no shocks to speak of, Georgetown roads, and a driver who used his accelerator, breaks and clutch as if they were piano keys).

I just wanted the horse-cart in the foreground of the Shell Service Station, and the man on the horse-cart suddenly posed 🙂