Mother and Child

On January 4, 2014January 4, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

This photo has been a favoured one since I took it, but I’ve never shared it because I had always thought that the focus was soft and might be detracting to some viewers, but the composition, the light and the processing were all just right for me.

This was taken on Chinese New Year’s day 2013, it is my sister-in-law, Romina, and her son (my nephew) Nathan.

I don’t normally do portraits, but I usually make exceptions for family, this, on the other hand, was more of a candid photo rather than a posed portrait.

2013 Deck – Week 52

On December 31, 2013January 7, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, Poetry5 Comments

Skies above and oceans below,
Soar above the tethered boats
Down winding creeks and rivers brown,
Past piers, docks and abandoned forts.

Wind beneath my outstretched wings
Sun upon my feathered spans
Gliding, soaring, questing far
Over seas and distant lands.

See upon a curved horizon
Tree-lined coasts, and wave-swept beach
Flying high above ocean’s blue
Soaring forward, to sometime reach

A land with trees laden with fruit
Ponds and lakes with fish aplenty,
Seeking always rich lands afar
Always knowing, there will be many.

Returning home, back to my shore,
To mangrove clumps and fishing boats,
To fly along the creeks that wind
And from its waters, slake my throat.

Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery along with the entire collection for this Year’s Deck Project!

Pirai

On December 20, 2013December 23, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

On the way to Fort Island recently, the ferry we were on (the M.B. Sandaka) was accompanied by a Coast Guard cutter (I’ll assume it was a cutter, I don’t know one boat type from another really).

At one point there were some nice God Rays over the river which I noticed my friend Ryan taking photos of (he got a nice one the he posted to Facebook), so instead of trying to get pretty much the same photo, I tried to get one of the Coast Guard vessel with a few of the rays, it didn’t come out too bad 🙂

The cutter was marked PIRAI at the back (I think in boat lingo that would be the stern), Pirai is the local name for the fish Piranha.

Sepia conversion and processing done in Lightroom, also did some dodging on the cutter for effect.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the Sepia Collection

2013 Deck – Week 48

On December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Many times, I just want to sit upon the seawall and not think… to just forget that there is a world where I have to work, where there is anything of purpose to be done… to just sit and stare out to sea.

The problem with me going and sitting and relaxing, is that it is at just those times, when my mind is almost blank that all the thoughts that I’ve been avoiding or maybe not even thinking about come rushing to the fore and I cannot block them out.

When I sit upon the shore and stare out to see, when I enjoy the sea-breeze, the open-ness of the ocean before me, I think, and my thoughts are somewhat clearer, less muddled…

This was one of those brief moments… and I took a photo to remind me to try once in a while to leave the world behind, and breathe.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 47

On December 17, 2013December 17, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

Every once in a while I will look at a scene and I would be moved to try to photograph it using the technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR), and on even fewer occasions, I would look at the scene and think that it would make a good Black and White HDR.

I had just picked up my daughter from her “After-Classes” and we took a drive by the seawall, as soon as we pulled up and parked I saw the way the tide was out, and how the sky was over-cast with some low hanging clouds, I knew I wanted to try a few photos near the metal piling that’s been there for ages, and I thought it would render nice in HDR.

I tried to keep her from running ahead and getting footprints all over the area, but it wouldn’t have mattered, her footprints didn’t last too long in that mud 🙂

I tried a few angles around the sheet of metal, and decided after on this portrait oriented one, The way the shape of the puddle, the arc of the wet and dry sands (mud), the curve of the receding water-line and the straight horizon all clashed, made the scene seem more fluid to me.

I hope you like it. (Three exposures blended for an HDR image)

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 43

On December 10, 2013December 10, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, Poetry4 Comments

I got what amounted to somewhat unsatisfactory choices of photos for this week, so I chose one that had some appeal, and then, at a loss for words to accompany it, I then wrote an almost equally unsatisfactory poem 😀

Take a break from the working day
And take a stroll outdoors,
Out where the ocean meets the sea,
where winds blow and birds soar.

Feel the sand between your toes
And the shells under your feet,
Inhale the salty sea breeze
Get away from the streets…

Let the wind blow your hair
Let the sun warm your face
Let’s go to the beach,
Let’s get out of this place.

2013 Deck – Week 40

On December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography1 Comment

This year, I think most of my photos come from the Seawall areas along the coast of Demerara, simply because I’ve had little opportunity to go elsewhere… but the amazing thing about the seawalls, is that I think you can take a photo there every week and still come away with something interesting

This one I was tempted to call “Low T”, but knowing the western mind-set it would probably be a bad idea 😀

Took this using a low perspective, with the Sigma Ultra-wide 10-20mm, even at 1/200s the bird in the sky shows motion blur 🙂 (Probably added a bit to that with the wide-angle distortion at the edges of the lens)

I hope you like it.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 31

On October 9, 2013October 9, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I’d hate for a week to go by and not take a photo, not only would it halt the Deck Project, but I’d personally feel empty, but some weeks, the ones I do manage to take still leave me feeling that I should have tried to find more time to go further afield looking for something “extra”

That being said, there’s always something in the few that were taken, if I look at them with “fresh eyes” or just forget about what isn’t there and concentrate on what is… This was one of those photos that at first glance I discarded, yet when scrolling through I thought I saw something that wasn’t there before.. not sure what it is, but I felt it differently… and processed it right away with that feeling…

I hope you like it.

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 29

On September 18, 2013September 18, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I was quite disappointed with my photos for this week, but I figured that somewhere in there was a photo that I could use for the Deck Project. I did a Panorama, but it was somewhat uninspiring (maybe I’ll look back at it with a different vision later), I had lots of Street Photos that were out-of-focus, badly composed, and uninteresting even…

I did have three photos of the Anglican Bishop’s Residence (Bishop of Guyana), and one I rather liked, but decided not to use, this one I liked and I had thought early on in the process (like when I clicked the shutter) that I’d like to see it in Sepia, so here it is…

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

This is one of the very few examples in recent years of someone restoring a Victorian styled building in Georgetown, rather than demolishing it, although it created some controversy, I think that it was a good move in the end, for the City, if not for the Diocese.

From the Bandstand

On September 13, 2013September 13, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Sheltering from a light rainfall, I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of this gentleman walking on the wall… the rain didn’t bother him, and here he’s even taking a drink out of that bottle 🙂