One Year

On May 21, 2011May 21, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography18 Comments

One year ago, I wrote and posted my first official post on this blog, I am not counting the “Hello World” that Word press starts me off with. It might seem morbid to some that the first post was about the death of my maternal grandmother, and a photo of the same, but to me it’s not only the scenes that capture our eyes as photographers that may appeal to viewers, but the feelings and emotions that we can convey or arouse from others viewing our work.

One year has passed, and I have had “ups and downs” in blogging, recently a lot of “downs”, time seems to be an elusive creature, and I have not put as much into the blogging or reading blogs as I think I should. But I think that I have kept up pretty well, and The Deck project certainly gives it some impetus.

Recently there have been other deaths as well, not a good way to celebrate one year of blogging, but it is what it is. My daughter recently lost one of her teachers from last year, Teacher Gillian, and only this week we lost “Mr. Terrific”, Flavio Commacho, who was very instrumental in the conversion of our system of measurements in Guyana from Imperial to Metric, I remember from when I was a little boy listening to “Swing to Metric” on the radio (yes, radio. Televisions weren’t quite the thing as yet)

Also this month we lost Sister Rose Magdalene, there is so much to be said for her, and there is a lovely Tribute page on Facebook. What I remember of Sr Rose is her love for music and pageantry. She wrote, she sang, she danced, she lived and loved with music in her heart. I always will remember the special Christmas mass at the old Sacred Heart Church (now burnt down), the traditional readings were replaced by a pageant telling the story of the birth of the Christ child, and at the heart of it all was Sr Rose. This photo in today’s blog was taken at the memorial mass held in Guyana at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Brickdam Cathedral) for her, the people in it are a few of the members of the Marigold Children’s Choir that she formed many years ago.

This was meant to be a simple (hopefully artistic) photograph, but for me, it has a depth of emotion also.

2011 Deck – Week 20

On May 20, 2011May 20, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography6 Comments

I thought to myself this week that maybe I should just put up as good a photo as I could get up to today before I let another week pass by and then I would be behind again in this project… and since I went with Nikhil to the Kingston Promenade yesterday photo-hunting, I came back with a few decent shots, so here’s to the twentieth week of the year.

It was one of those uninspiring afternoons, nothing seemed to leap out at you, at least not photographically. I did get a shot of a crab before he scampered back into his “hole” (is there a name for those?), but he isn’t super-sharp, I may yet post it up. The beach was littered as usual, and the sun was shining so brightly I almost couldn’t look eastwards, and the glare off the water and sand wasn’t helping any either.

Fortunately I did manage to see through the glare enough to spot a youngster playing near the waves, as it turned out I got more than I thought 🙂

2011 Deck – Week 16

On April 23, 2011April 23, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography12 Comments

In keeping with the season of Easter (and just being lazy) I used a photo from Palm Sunday for this week’s Deck photo, I “reserved” two from that day just in case I didn’t get anything else I liked for the week, as it is I haven’t even downloaded what little else I did take, so it’s a good thing I did keep back two.

This one is more in keeping with the period, and is somewhat symbolic. The photograph was taken early in the proceedings, the lay-ministers had just brought up all the ciboria before the altar, and I took a few snaps of them, this one happened to use as the central ciborium the one from the Sacred Heart parish. The Church of the Sacred Heart was destroyed by fire on Christmas day in 2004, the building was then 135 years old. The parishioners long to see the church rebuilt and like Christ, rise to new glory.

Happy Easter folks.

2011 Deck – Week 15

On April 16, 2011April 16, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography16 Comments

I had a set of photos from Sunday that I had placed confidence in to choose a Deck photo from, I had already “decided” what the post would look like and that the image would be in colour… then I went to accompany Nikhil on a photo-walk yesterday and came away with a photograph I just couldn’t put aside.

At the time that I took it, I was not wholly satisfied, I saw too many things in the scene that I thought would be distracting or intrusive in the shot, but then I downloaded them all and started sorting through them, and although I probably gave Nikhil the idea that I wasn’t getting what I felt I should from the scene (which at the time was true), I think I got what the scene offered rather than what I wanted.

There are still elements in the photograph that annoy me (but only if I look at it very large, if I ever have to print it large I may have to “edit” further.)

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

This is a view of a portion of the Seven Ponds monument in the Botanical Gardens, as seen from the Mausoleum. Laziness played a large part in the choice of lens, I had the “kit lens” on the camera at the time, 18-55mm Canon lens, which most “professionals” would shudder at the thought of using, but I was too lazy to dive into the bag and use anything else 🙂

Award

On April 4, 2011April 6, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography26 Comments

Last week, Bob Zeller, was kind enough to pass along an award that he received, and although it is very reminiscent of a chain letter (which I dislike very much) I thought it different enough that I would “pass it along” myself, It is a recognition of our peers, of the people who we enjoy reading, who influence us, or simply blog about something that interests us enough to keep going back.

I’ve linked to Bob’s site at least once that I can remember, but if you’ve never checked his stuff out, you should. He mostly has bird photographs and writings about them, but who doesn’t like birds, and Bird Photography is hard!!! He has some amazing captures and sometimes even more interesting stories about the birds. Bob is an amazing fellow, a musician, a photographer, a bird watcher who lives with a very serious illness, but his blogs make me feel like just going out there, and enjoy life, as free as a bird. Thanks Bob.

Although the award says “Versatile Blogger”, I don’t read enough blogs with that much versatility, in the content, my blog is about my photography (mainly) and I read blogs mainly about photography, or photography related… well, mostly. So don’t expect a lot of Versatile bloggers being mentioned, but know that every one that I do mention will be ones I read and appreciate for various reasons, and they will be in no particular order.

Apparently there are rules, so here they are:

1) Thank the person who honored you and give a link to their blog.

2) Tell 7 random facts about yourself.

3) Pass the award to 15 new-found bloggers.

4) Contact each blogger onto whom you pass the award and let them know.

5) Let the giver of the award know you accept it or not.

Random Facts:

(1) Because of my spectacles I got the nickname “Professor” as an altarboy, although I hated it at the time, I eventually adopted it into my online moniker ProfessorMC,

(2) Last year marked ten years of marriage for me, our courtship before marriage also lasted ten years.

(3) I love to play the musical keyboard, I’m terrible at it, but I still like to do it, and I have absolutely no musical training or knowledge

(4) I think I sing better than I play, I do a mean version of “La Bamba” at Karaoke

(5) I like Rum, I think it has a great flavour, so of course, I prefer the best, El Dorado! But that doesn’t mean I snob the rest, after all, how else can I do a comparison?

(6) I work in Computer Graphics at a Sign Company, for which I have no academic qualifications whatsoever

(7) What are my qualifications? I have a degree in Biology, seriously!

Now for those I want to pass this along to (many of whom may simply ignore it as they have better things to do, like actually taking photographs) 🙂 And if you have received one of these before, just consider it a double award.

(1) Nikhil Ramkarran – Yes, I mention him all the time in my blog, he’s my photo-buddy and a great friend, but the reason he’s here is that he IS a versatile blogger, if it matters to him, he’ll blog about it, and he’s even blogged some of his published articles from Apsara magazine. The one problem with his blog… he doesn’t blog enough. He has over a hundred images in the Petax Gallery which is Pentax’s showcase (and I don’t think it’s that easy to get images in there)

(2) Steve Thomas – from photographyfree4all, a gifted photographer whom I’ve followed for the last seven months, and see his photography go from good to great, and from simple photography to artistic expression and even Photoshop Art from his photography. Keep an eye on this one!

(3) Journey Photographic – JP has almost covered the globe it seems, has been to places I could only dream about, and has an astounding collection of Travel photographs (and recently Travel Photography Tips!) It’s sad that I only know them as JP.

(4) Sasi Suruli – his blog My 3rd Eye has some truly amazing photos, he excels at food photography, makes me hungry every single time, it’s a wonder he isn’t working for some magazine or even the Food network.

(5) Tracy Zhang – has a blog called Just In Time, not only is she travelling and sharing some amazing photos, but she has a unique perspective on the places she visits and her photographic style is unusual bit immensely captivating

(6) Simon – aka Dark Halide, although I am not a Street Photographer, there is something about his photos that has kept me intrigued, I just keep going back to see what he has next.

(7) Michael Bonocore – an amazing diversity in his photography, but what I really liked was what he said: “If my clothes, camera and tripod aren’t dirty, then I’m not trying hard enough”, I’m obviously not trying hard enough, but this guy is inspirational.

(8) Roberto Vega Peralta – a combination of photos and thoughts that really works on my very imaginative brain

(9) Sheila Creighton – A persistence in photography that is admirable, Sheila sees things that I would miss, and makes art out of it 🙂

(10) David Sobik – Hands down, some of the best wedding photography I’ve seen, innovative and unusual, don’t even begin to cover it, but even forgetting the wedding stuff, his perspective on photography begs you to look twice.

(11) Brian Stevenson – Funky Slug, a photographer with a great sense of humour, but his images are awesome, sometimes inspiring, sometimes daunting, but always captivating!

(12) David Williams – Quite an impressive array of images, everything from studio type images to outdoor HDRs (which I really like, I have a weakness there), and now even his daughter is into it with her own blog, aptly titled Cait’s POV

(13) Mike – Tau Zero. If I ever wanted proof that I need to get out more, this was it, other than the amazing scenery, he has a habit of getting birds to do exactly what he wants.

(14) Laura Tinker – Tinkerbelle. Light-hearted and usually nothing to do with photography, but all about putting a smile on your face. I only recently started following, but enjoying all of it so far.

(15) Sarah and James Broscombe – I’m sorry to group them but I only have 15 slots, Sarah currently writes the “Six Word Story” telling a story in 6 words, difficult, but Sarah has a way with words, although I must admit I preferred when she wrote 600 (almost) in her blog “Sarah in South America”. James is an amazing photographer who makes it look so very easy, he currently writes (if he gets a chance) in “Making Pictures Pay”, but I was introduced to him through hi older blog (when he and Sarah were in South America) A picture each day 2009 – 2010, an amazing look at Guyana and it’s remote areas.

(16) Cindy – Like Bob, I can’t just stick to the 15, I had to add one more and then some… Cindy is last but certainly not least… her photos and writings have to be experienced, I can’t even begin to describe them please check her out.

Although I only had 15 spots, I hope that others won’t feel left out, I have found that each blog I follow and comment on has something to show me, something to teach me, and something that makes me think to myself “that’s interesting, now I wonder…” There are those who I am new to, those who don’t blog as often, and those who didn’t make the list simply because I’d need to go for another 15 people 🙂 I think that if you check some of these out you’ll see others popping up as commentors, who should have been mentioned, like Nigel, Cheryl, Martina, Christos, Kim, Jolene, Sandra, Jonathon and many others. I’d have loved to include Tricia in that list of 15, since her blog inspired me to start my own, but she is one who is very guilty of not posting 🙂

Now since this is my blog and since it’s about my photography I can’t conclude without including a photograph 🙂 Enjoy, and I hope you continue to appreciate the other bloggers and readers who make all of this fun!

This one was taken with the Sigma 10-20 Ultra-wide lens, processed to monochrome using Nik HDR Efex to retain that trunk detail, it’s a single image, so not what I truly consider an HDR, just tone-mapped slightly.

Raiment for the Rains

On March 30, 2011March 30, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography16 Comments

During our recent spate of rainy weather, I chanced to be on the sidewalks waiting with my camera in hand and I grabbed a few photographs, of the set two stood out, but I only like one enough to use, so I chose here first before I post to Flickr.

Many of our pavements/sidewalks and streets in Georgetown flood as soon as the place gets cloudy, but the recent rains put a lot of pressure on our poor (excuse for a ) drainage system. 🙂

At least this fellow was prepared for the weather, not only with an umbrella, but with long boots as well. 🙂

Ships at Sea

On March 16, 2011March 16, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography18 Comments

Well, I had to title it something and this sounded apt enough. Both photos have a sea-vessel and the water they traverse upon, so “Ships at Sea” it is, even though I am not sure they would call it the Sea… I’ve always been confused by that.

Growing up it was always the Sea, and protecting us from it was the Seawall, made sense…. now technically, the water to the horizon northwards from our shores is the Atlantic Ocean, I don’t think it is still the Caribbean Sea, and since I am being technical, both photos are not pointing Northwards but more West by North West, making that particular area of water the mouth of the Demerara River.

Aye, my head hurts from trying to sort that one out, so Sea or Ocean or River, its got a boat on the water. They’ve both been done in monochrome to emphasise the clouds and the water, taken on different days but in generally the same location, on the stretch of beach along the Kingston shore.

Click on them for a better view in the Gallery.

2011 Deck – Week 10

On March 12, 2011March 12, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography15 Comments

Only one day of shooting photos this week, terrible! But I did get a very nice one (at least one), and it is somewhat in keeping with my last post “A fascination with skies”.

Both Nik and I needed to get out and get something, as the week had progressed without much photography being done, it was raining and we thought that we might have to abandon the idea (at least for me, since the camera wasn’t going to handle the rain too well), but as we drove the rain eased for a bit and we decided to stop at the Koker at Ogle and see what was there for the offering.

A good thing we decided to stop, I got a few and I am sure Nik got more than I did :-), and as we headed back to “town” the rains decided that we’d had enough of a break and continued its work.

I hope you like this one, it’s another “seawall” shot, and another monochrome 🙂

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery.

2011 Deck – Week 9

On March 4, 2011March 4, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2011 Deck, Photography22 Comments

This week I almost didn’t have anything to upload, and I almost went for Sasi’s idea of using the eggs 🙂 Fortunately, Nikhil had a desire to go check out the Kingston Promenade again, so we took a few minutes and went.

I started out with my Tamron telephoto lens but quickly switched to the ultra-wide Sigma 10-20, I had noticed the skies were nice, some clouds, some patches of blue showing, some streaky areas, and some heavily clouded areas, so I thought something good can come of that.

I got a few keepers from the shoot, but this one stands out, somehow a coconut got wedged or nestled into the hollow of a tree trunk on the beach… Nature’s “hole-in-one” 🙂

Click on the image for a larger viewing in the Gallery.

Cricket, lovely Cricket!

On March 1, 2011March 1, 2011 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography14 Comments

In the Caribbean and Guyana, this is our game, Cricket! Played by more countries than baseball, but less recognised by the “west”, the only thing played more and enjoyed by more around the world is probably football, NO, not that thing played by Americans, where they hardly use their feet except to run (with amazing speed actually), I’m referring to the real football, also called Soccer worldwide.

In cricket there’s variations of the game,there’s the one called Test Cricket, where everything is tested from the players endurance to the spectators’ patience over several days, usually five but it could be seven, then there’s the One-day Cricket, or standard 50-over matches, the World Cup for which is actually being played now. The newest forms of the game have been Twenty 20, or a twenty over form of the game, shorter and more exciting, and adopted by the governing cricket body, the ICC, as a new standard form, and here in Guyana, we have the yearly 10/10 games now sponsored by local telecommunications company GT&T. But those are the structured forms, as children growing up, other than the usual school-yard cricket we knew of three types of cricket, Cricket-in-the-street, Cricket-in-the-rain and the one that none of us could play but loved through the Dave Martins and the Tradewinds song, Cricket-in-the-Jungle!

As much as I’d love to catch a photograph of Monkey batting, the Elephant bowling, the umpire Parrot and the rest, I have to settle for the ones I can find, and I was fortunate to recently see a group of youngsters playing Cricket in the Street, in the Rain! Can’t beat that combination! I would have gone down to get closer photographs, but two things held me back, the camera isn’t weather-sealer and I hadn’t walked with the zip-lock bag as suggested by others, and if they saw me taking photos, it would lose some of the natural feel to it.