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.
Following on the previous post, I just wanted to share a few more images from that day. The market is a place rich in colour, activity, people, culture, and so much more.
Some times I feel that I get too many similar shots, so many go unshared, often unprocessed, but here’s a few that made it past the processing and into the sharing category 🙂
Click on the images to see them in the Gallery “In the Streets” along with other images. Keep Shooting.
Practicing Street Photography in a market is good way to get into it, especially if your choice of street photography is candid and geared toward images with lots of “life” in them. I have found that it has its setbacks as well as its advantages, as does everything.
If you are not a regular visitor to the market, you will likely stand out, making it more difficult to take those candid shots, more difficult to remain unobtrusive, and less likely to get those shots that you see; you and your camera will stand out. Its important to remember that, while taking photographs in public is legally permissible, its important to respect others, especially if they look you in the eye and say “don’t take my photo”, simply smile and say “no problem”, a smile will often defuse most situations.
In the haste to get some shots, I may come away with a less than desirable image, it may be crooked (sometimes fixable by rotating), it may be that feet get chopped off, or it may be a little soft, not quite as sharp as I’d like, but sometimes, the content of the image is enough that some of these are forgivable or that they may even add interest to the image; sometimes, very rarely, a bad image is sometimes just a bad image.
On the plus side, most market goers are busy checking the produce and looking at what’s on display, and may not notice that camera in your hands; market vendors, as well as regular patrons may be busily engaged in passing conversation, or discussions on the produce and price, and your camera may pass by unmentioned.
After walking a few times through these busy markets, you will likely get the hang of it, and may even come out with a few images that you’ll like. I sometimes come away with some I love, with more than a few that are acceptable, and lots of ones that never see the light of day.
Street Photography isn’t the sub-genre for everyone, and even in that sub-genre there are different styles and techniques, approaches and processing methods that help each photographer stand out. Stepping into the streets to take photographs was very daunting to me, but over the years its gotten a tad bit easier. I always thought of myself as more of a seascape, cityscape, landscape type photographer, those scenes tended to be devoid of people; in taking photographs during the Mashramani celebrations over the years steered me to the vibrance and life-filled frames that are possible – and although I prefer black and white street photographs, some scene will lend themselves to colour better.
Keep shooting and sharing folks! Click on the images to see them in the gallery along with other Street Photography Images.
A couple weekends back, I ventured out of my vehicle to try and get a few shots on the outskirts of Mon Repos market, by the time I arrived at the road junction it had begun raining, not knowing the weather resistance of the DXO, I didn’t linger too long, but I did manage to snap a few shots, and one stood out for me.
Hope you like it.
By the time I arrived back at the vehicle I was almost soaked through, I don’t think the camera would have survived much longer in that weather, luckily I managed to protect it for much of the way back to the car. 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the gallery.
Sundays are well known Market Days for various markets within and outside of Georgetown. Within the city limits two notable markets that abound with activity on a Sunday morning would be Bourda Market and the La Penitence Market.
With Friday’s announcement of COVID-19 Emergency Measures, I heard that the Markets would be closed on a Sunday morning (5th April 2020). My friend Shola mentioned that she passed Bourda and that she ” never thought there would be the sound of silence at Bourda” – as tempting as it was to pounce upon the cricket reference, I knew what she meant.
At La Penitence, traffic along Saffon Street and along Sussex Street are usually very slow moving on a Sunday mornings, this morning there was little traffic to speak of, and Bourda is ever a hive of activity, any day of any week of any year.. except now.
I was parked just before the old Yong’s Bakery building and across from the Kaieteur News building. This gent on the bicycle was approaching from the other side of the road, and he casually angled across the lanes and came towards me, there was no traffic to interfere with his maneuvers.
The La Penitence market off to the centre-right of the image above is almost never seen in such a quiet state. On a Sunday morning I’d be lucky to see the market itself from this vantage point, actually, on a Sunday morning I’d never be able to stand in that vantage point, it being in the middle of the road.
Bourda Market consists of the main Market Building that is surrounded by Orange Walk, Regent, Robb and Bourda Streets, to the north of the main structure, over Robb Street is the extended market area with stalls filling that block up to North Road. This was further extended onto Merriman’s Mall that lies between North Road and Church Street, the main section between Orange Walk and Alexander Street having enclosed stall structures, the additional section with open stall structures lies between Orange Walk and Cummings Street (pictured above).
Above you can see the market area along North Road (approaching Orange Walk) this junction is usually quite busy, noted for the Coconut Vendors on the corner there.
Above you can see a view of the Market area along North Road, I had originally hoped to catch a scene with some clear skies, but the accompanying clouds added to the mood.
A view of one of the north-south entraceways, looking into the market area between two stalls tat face onto North Road.
Not a street I make a habit of traversing, but I have gone through here on a couple of photo walks, and even at it’s more quiet times it is usually bubbling with life and activity
There are essentially two street in Georgetown that are usually described as the busiest, Sheriff Street and Regent Street. Regent Street outside of Bourda has probably not been this quiet since Good Friday 2019, and even that I’m not sure of.
Robb Street between Alexander Street and Orange Walk is usually known for being a section of street that you don’t ever try to rive through, unless you have the patience of Job. Here it is today, you could roller-skate (blade) own it and probably try a few stunts while you’re at it.
COVID-19 and the precautions we need to take will change things, are changing things, and will change us, but it will also help point out the things we take for granted.
Be Safe, practice social distancing as much as practical, please don’t spread fear with all those inaccurate social media posts, try to think for yourself.
Please click on the images to see them in the Gallery
In my previous post, I showed what would have been my “select 5” images from a walk in Mon Repos Market, select as in those I’d choose to enter into the VISIONS Exhibition 2020 (were I to submit). Today I’d like to share another five images from that walk.
Any place where people are involved with activities of interaction or even just on the move, are places where you can find a treasure trove of Street Photographs 🙂
Some people make shopping look fun, getting a smile on the face of someone fetching several bags, priceless 🙂
These guys are using a blow-torch to sear the outsides of the poultry, never saw this before.
One of the few that I felt should be left in colour.
The dynamics around this stall caught my eye, not sure I got what I wanted but I got a decent one either way 🙂
This lone young girl at this stall right at one of the exits also caught my eye, another angle that I took was better, but the image quality was not, so this one works 🙂
Click on the images to see them in the gallery along with other images “In the Streets”
With unrest in town since the General and Regional Elections as well as less people in town due to the COVID-19 arrival on our shores, I had a Saturday morning off, and went into the Mon Repos market for a short walk.
Mon Repos is a village on the East Coast of Demerara, not too far before the large Lusignan Village. Saturday is Market Day at Mon Repos, and while I’ve walked in there a few times, this time I think I came away with a few good shots. whilst processing them, I couldn’t help but think that if I were submitting images for this year’s intended VISIONS Exhibition 2020, I might actually choose from these. In that spirit, I went through the ones I had earmarked as keepers and chose five to share,
VISIONS allows photographers of Guyanese descent or even non-Guyanese who live and work in Guyana, to submit three to five photographs; the photographs should be chosen with a theme in mind, a theme of the photographer’s own choosing. The submitted photographs are then collected by the curator (or curatorial panel) and viewed together as an entire collection of images from a variety of photographers, and naturally, there will be a variety of genres as well as themes. From this collection a narrative (or narratives) emerge, and it is this narrative that the curator works towards telling with the images chosen for the purpose.
Since it isn’t a competition, many excellent images are not included, but be assured that all those that are used are not only well suited to the narrative, but are also exemplary works by the photographers who submitted them.
I’m not much of a Street Tog (photographer), but these would be my picks for VISIONS is I were submitting. Quite a switch from my usual seascapes 🙂
To see them in the Gallery “ In the Streets”, click on the images, you’ll see them there along with other images in that Gallery.
The Art of Photography and Photography as Art
2015 – Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm
This blog post is a milestone of sorts, it marks my five hundredth blog post. It began on a sad note, with a photo from my maternal grandmother’s funeral, it has been more of a photo journey rather than a photo blog, more about myself and the photos than about the photos themselves I suppose, so it’s rather like a journal…almost… of sorts.
On this journey I’ve learnt a lot, with still much more to learn, I’ve met many other people with a passion for photography, and many who love to look at beautiful imagery.
I have learnt that there is a difference between the Art of Photography and Photography as Art, and I believe that it is a realization that comes to most of us who pursue it with an aim for creating “art”.
2010 – Canon T1i, Sigma 18-270mm
It sounds presumptuous even to my own ears to refer to anything that I produce with the camera as “art”, but people like my friend Nikhil would thump me behind the head for even saying that. Not everything I take can be considered as art, so I humbly submit that I have a few that may be taken into consideration by those who are more knowledgeable than myself and more in-tune with the art world to be judged and pronounced as art.
Nikhil would also tell me that I have had work exhibited once at the National Gallery of Art (Castellani House) and have also been among the finalists in two of the recent Guyana Visual Arts Competitions, so I can’t get away with trying to play modest about being called an “artist”.
2011 – Canon Rebel T1i – Tamron 18-270mm
I began as most of us probably did with learning to use the camera and just snapping away at anything and everything that caught my eye.
After a while it began to be more important to learn and understand the art of photography, to understand how light plays an important part, where paying attention to composition results in a much better photo of the same subject. The art of photography is to know your camera (whether it’s a mobile device such as cellphones or a larger DSLR) to learn what it can and cannot do, and to know how to use it to accomplish what you want. Like any craftsman worth his salt, the art of the craft is the union of the person and the tools at hand.
It is good to learn different techniques, different approaches, different styles; that can be part of your arsenal, but it need not define the photograph you take.
2012 – Canon T1i, Tamron 18-270mm
The photograph is an extension of your self, it is a product of your own thoughts and skills, when the photograph stops being just a snapshot and becomes an expression of an idea, a concept, more than just a moment frozen in time, then it is possible that you have created a piece of art.
Photography as Art has to be more than just a pretty photo of a pretty scene or even a technically perfect photo of a dilapidated house, for a photograph to be Art it should have soul, it should convey an idea, elicit a reaction from the viewer, it has to be seen, talked about, appreciated or ridiculed even.
2013 – Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270mm
Not many of us in Guyana can successfully claim to be original in our photographs, most of it has been done before and by better artists than ourselves, Photography as an Art has to overcome the fact that everyone now has access to a device that captures images, and in the maelstrom of images swirling around the internet we have to produce a piece that stands out, that makes people stop and look, but also to have them remember it afterwards, to recall it and speak about it.
Art is subjective, that’s basically saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is not enough for the creator of the piece to want it to be art, the viewer has to appreciate the piece, not necessarily from the perspective of the creator but from how it affects them.
2014 – Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm
All the images in this post are “new to you”, they are from the six years than span this blog, 2010 to 2015, one from each calendar year. I went through the files looking for images that I have overlooked, or just not processed, not looking for any subject in particular, but for images I think worth processing, worth sharing and reflect what I would like to show others.
I hope that at least one strikes your fancy.
Click on each one to see them in their respective galleries in the Collection. Thank you for being a part of my journey so far.
Yesterday we took a drive down the hill to go get some fruits and some tea bags. Our route would carry us to pass by the house where I walked for the first time (not made my first steps, but actually walk), it was in Princess Alice Drive, the house itself had changed, so although I took a photo of it I didn’t bother to post it, I sufficed with a photo of the street sign:
On our way to the market we next made a drive through the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, to see the University Chapel where many of my family who grew up in Jamaica got married (according to my cousin) 🙂
Then we finally made it to the market in Papine, where we wandered around for a bit while Nyuk Lan bought some fruits:
Of course, before we left to head back home Alexis insisted we stop at Tastee to buy Jammie Patties and Coco Bread. I have to admit that I prefer the Jamaican Patties from Tastee over those from Juici, but will eat either 🙂 The Coco Bread is very similar to what we call Butterflaps in Guyana.
Something has changed… although I am not sure what it is, it has affected my photography, or maybe it has affected how I see my photographs. I was very disappointed with this last week’s photographs, either I have lost the zeal or I am more critical of the images, or I have simply taken bad images this last week. Of the one hundred and five images taken over the last week, there was one that I was somewhat pleased with, a location that I had photographed before, but never posted an image of it for The 2010 Deck.
We revisited the Kitty Market Square, and I took this image, I liked it in colour, but I also liked it in monochrome… after some consultation, the monochrome edged out the colour 🙂
You can call this an introduction to a new album I decided to start. Part of Nikhil’s fascination with Street Photography led us into the market area at Bourda, and since I am less of a street photographer and more of a non-human subject type person, I took more of the items being sold than the persons selling them 🙂 So, I decided to start a Market album, it may not go far, or if Nik drags me screaming and kicking into the markets again, it might grow 🙂
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