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.
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
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
In 2012 I had written a blog post titled “Airwolf”, that featured a photo of the Harpy Eagle, this year I was asked if I had any images of the Harpy, as the people responsible for the Explore Guyana magazine were looking for one. I had only taken photos of the Harpy on two occasions, and I told them as much; I even told them that I’m not a birding or wildlife photographer, so the images I have would likely not be ideal for their use. With people like Kester Alves, Victor Sarabo, Meshach Pierre, John Persaud, Andrew Snyder (to name a few) and others out there taking some gorgeous bird and other wildlife photos, nothing I had taken could compare with the quality of images I’ve seen out there, except that I couldn’t remember seeing any of the Harpy, so couldn’t point them in any specific direction other than to tell them to please look around for something better than mine.
The long and short of it… I had sent them three images, and they chose to use one. I can now proudly say that one of my images was a Cover image for Explore Guyana.
Here is the Original Image (click on it to see it in the Gallery)
And here is a small image of the cover as designed by Advertising & Marketing Services (AMS)
Click on the cover image to go to the Explore Guyana Magazine’s Homepage
Just a photo 🙂
Liliendaal, Georgetown, Guyana, South America.
Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery.
This was one of those times when you’re kicking yourself after for a very silly mistake.
I don’t recall the reason now, but at some point I had set the camera’s ISO high… and then forgot. So my first large batch of photos with the camera the next morning were all grainy because of a higher ISO.
I almost didn’t process any, but this one caught my eye and I decided to process it through as if nothing was wrong 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
Sometimes, it’s just a photo…
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
I took this photo 5 years ago. (November 03, 2011, 5:06pm)
It’s one of those photos you take at the time, then just put aside; at the time it was just part of several images I took while walking along the northern and then the western side of City Hall, none of which were ever processed or shown to anyone.
I found a few dates about the building to be interesting; proposals for the construction of a Town Hall were endorsed in 1886, a design was chosen in 1887, and works completed in 1889, yet in the wrought iron fretwork design above this northern doorway is the year “1888”.
1888 – 11-6453 | City Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | 2011
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
I don’t want to be the one telling you a story in words, I want to be the one telling you a story in a photo, but who’s story is it?
Are you seeing and interpreting the scene in the same way I do? Does it matter?
The photograph as it was taken tells one story, what that story is may be entirely up to the viewer, after I have processed it, there are some subtle and some not so subtle changes to the finished image (not edited, nothing has been taken out or added), in this manner, I hope to direct the line of thinking in a certain way, whether it works or not is another matter, but in this way I am interpreting the scene my way, and lending to it my feelings; how the viewer sees it is still up to the viewer.
Many people take scenes literally, others concoct long tales based on the elements in the frame, others may just have an emotional reaction but not know precisely why; if it affects you, then I am happy.
At Day’s End – 14-3289 | Lusignan, East Coast Demerara | 2014
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the Black and White Collection.
I like my camera, whatever it happens to be at the time, and I think I care it as I would any piece of equipment I use regularly. I’m not one of those photographers who treats it like a paper-thin piece of porcelain; its a camera, something I use, but I have to tell you that when it comes to salt water, I get a little nervous. I like the waves at the seawall, I enjoy the spray on my face, and the sound of the crash upon the rocks. I really love some of those amazing photos of the waves towering over the wall (I don’t like the resulting flooding though), but I am very hesitant to be anywhere near the actual water with my camera, and since I like my seascape photos to be wide, getting a good photo would mean being right up there in the spray, so for now, I’ll just keep being cautious and get the ones I’m comfortable with 🙂
Spray 14-3416 | Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm | Thomaslands, Georgetown, Guyana | 2014
Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery
Some photos have a way of leaving you feeling unsettled, or just not quite right…
Awry 15-9930 | Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana | 2015
Click on the image to see it along with others in the Black and White Gallery.
Robb Street begins in Robbstown, down on the “waterfront” by the John Fernandes’ wharf area, both the ward and the street got their names from the man who designed the area in terms of the building lots and landscape, it ends at the famous Bourda Cricket Ground (Georgetown Cricket Club), on what is now Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, renamed to honour the achievements of one of Guyana’s great cricketers of the 1990s into the first decade and a half of the new millennia. The original name of Shiv Chanderpaul Drive was New Garden Street, because Robb Street was to originally end at the new Botanical Gardens, but that was pushed back a further block (an area that is home to the Georgetown Cricket Club, Georgetown Football Club, Ministry of Agriculture, and Office of the President.)
At the end of Robb Street, on the northern corner, is the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church (if you’re a Portuguese language speaker, you may want to check out their Portuguese language mass that caters to our growing latin/spanish/Brazillian population), in the southern corner is (or, in a few days/weeks, was) Unity House, a three story wooden house.
I don’t know enough of it’s history, but it once housed the chapel in which Holy Mass was celebrated while the church across the road was being built (on the middle floor), and for many years it was the headquarters of the United Force, a political party which has held parliamentary seats in Guyana up until two elections ago. Prior to the last elections, also, there was some in-fighting among the executives, primarily as to who would lead the party, but that’s just politics. As I write this the building is being torn down, let’s hope the party can last a bit longer 🙂
I was processing a photo that I had taken near the gate, but that would not enlighten anyone as to the structure of the building, so I went on to process a wider photo for elucidation 🙂
Closed – 15-9996 | 2015 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm
Unity House – 15-9986 | 2015 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm
Click on the images to see them in their respective Galleries.
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