Tag: mud

Perception

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, thoughts1 Comment

Lately, I’ve been very busy, although depending on your point-of-view I might also have been giving priorities to the “wrong” things; for my myself, I say I’ve been busy.

I tell people that I’ve been busy, so I haven’t updated this blog, and updated the Deck Project, they look at me askance and think I’m either lying or stretching the truth, but it’s a matter of perception I suppose.

Often, what we see in a photograph is also a matter of perception, this image is one I overlooked when choosing my photo for week 9 of the Deck Project this year; when I say “overlooked”, I mean that I did not see then the potential that I saw when going back through the images the second time.

I was looking at a photograph recently of what appeared to be a woman holding a young girl lying limp across her arms, I later realized that it was a young man in her arms, but the combination of dark hair and a dark material near the head gave the long hair I usually associate (firstly) with girls, the features of the youth were very smooth and “pretty”, and he was attired in a hospital gown, all adding together to skew my perception.

I’ve also been trying to look at scenes differently and change my perspective, also altering my perception of the scene itself.  Anyway, all of this preamble is just to introduce you tot he image that I had also titled “Perception” 🙂

12:55 pm  |  Red filter  |  Canon 60D, Sigma 10-20mm lens

1/320s, f/11, ISO 100, 10mm  –  Processed in Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex

Click on the image to see it larger in the Black and White Gallery of the Collection.

Black Flag

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

When I saw this flag, I knew I wanted a good photo of it, but never really processed it until now.  This was taken on a photowalk that the Guyana Photographer’s Facebook group did in January of 2013.

I think I agree with Nikhil that my definitive photograph involving Jhandi flags was this one from last year’s Deck Project, but if you’re going to photograph along the coastlands of Guyana, you most likely will end up with Jhandi flags in some images.

I don’t see the Black ones as often as I see the Red, Yellow and White ones.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/200s, f/10, 10mm, ISO100

Click on the image to see it in the Collection, along with others from the “Out and About” album

Fly

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

Something from last year 🙂  2013 was a good year, but then I think upon reflection, every year is a good year, there are always rough patches, but we live, we learn, we love, we laugh, we lose some hair, we leave behind the things we prefer not to follow us into the new year.

Where my photographs are concerned, I think I got a few good ones, a few great ones, but overall, I think I just got less time to go out and get photos from farther afield.  But I think that I did a fair job of the Deck Project.

For the new year, I encourage anyone reading this to “Fly”, spread your wings and soar above the troubles of the world and find peace within yourself, I will be trying to do this myself.

Canon T1i, Tamron 18-270mm  |  65mm, ISO 200, 1/320s, f/10

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with a few other Avian (Bird) Photos

2013 Deck – Week 47

On 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 34

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography1 Comment

There’s a certain satisfaction in getting the “feel” of a photo correct.  I don’t go out with pre-conceived ideas in my mind of what I want to shoot or how I want it to look, I’ve seen this lead to disappointment too many times, but I’ve seen other photogs do it; they have a vision of what they want and the set about to get it no matter how long it takes them or what they have to do to get it.  I admire that, but it’s not my current approach.

When I do come across some scenes that have a certain impact on me, I try my best to capture what it is that I see, what I want to convey through this medium to someone else who may look at it, and that takes a combination of not only getting the composition right but of processing it the right way as well, and I think I got it right on this one. 🙂

Canon EOS 60D |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  10mm, 1/200s, f/10, ISO100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 27

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

Getting the subtle colours out of a sky opposite the now setting sun isn’t easy…. but I think I caught this one at the right time…

In the distance is a Koker and boat offsetting the foreground rock, the rock shows some of the warm light of the setting sun coming through the clouds to the back of me.

I often think to myself that if I keep revisiting the same spots then I’ll not find new photos to add to my collection, but although I do come away with many similar photos that often never see the light of day, I do get one or two that are different and worth sharing 🙂

Canon 60D  |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  10mm, 1/60s, f/5.6  |  Lusignan, E.C.D, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery with the other images from this year’s Deck Project.

Pegasus on the Shore

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Turn back the clock 5 years and 4 months…  I was doing one of those things that the manual says not to… shooting towards the sun… but in this case I didn’t point directly at the sun.  Since I was pointing towards the late afternoon sun, all the colours in the image became washed out leaving an almost sepia-toned image, so I carried it that extra step further in post-processing and made it a Sepia-toned image.

What had caught my eye was the light glaring off of the water that remained after the tide had receded, it made for a nice high-contrast image.

March 2nd, 2008  |  Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Shot on the lonest end of the camera’s 12x Optical zoom.

Click on the image to see it larger in the Sepia Gallery, along with many of my other Sepia-toned photos

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 4

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Monkey Mountain:  We started the day as per normal, early  🙂

I even managed to get in a few snaps before departing, which is a lot more than I managed in 2009.

A view from the benab, our collapsible bucket in the entrance

A cross on the hill, right nearby is the Catholic Church in the village

Our next stop would be in Tuseneng, below you can see some of the terrain that we traversed on the way there  🙂

At Tuseneng, I was fascinated by the “tools of the trade” that could be seen outside the huts / buildings around the village centre.

After Tuseneng we’d be headed towards Paramakatoi passing through Bamboo Creek on the way, this segment of the drive proved more challenging than originally expected as you can see from the photos below:
Frank Singh

By the time we arrived at Paramakatoi it was nigh on twilight, and Frank sought permission for us to stay there for the nigh, even though our original destination for the day would have been Kato.

Travellers at Sunset

Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery, especially the trail ones 🙂

2013 Deck – Week 01

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography8 Comments

As an exercise to keep my photography going, I’m continuing my Deck Project, hopefully in 2013 I will be able to expand more on my photography.

I almost started off with a photo of the inside of a tent, then I changed my mind and began on a seascape, but for some reason neither felt right; although I prefer to start with a coloured image, I think that this image felt better to me, it’s a Black and White processed in Lightroom and Nik Silver Efex, those of you who have followed me know that when I say processed I don’t mean “Edit”, nothing has been added or taken away from this image.

Let the New Year of Photography continue!

2012 Deck – Week 41

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography6 Comments

On a recent photo-walk with Nikhil and Sharon on the seawalls up the East Coast of Demerara, I found myself looking at the scenes around me and shooting without really thinking too much about it, almost on automatic.  I saw things to photograph, they caught my eye and I took a few snaps.

I wasn’t inspired, and I thought to myself that I’d be coming away with something “normal”, something that I would be happy with but not overjoyed.

On the walk back to the vehicle, I happened to walk under a fisherman’s shed, and the scene that caught my eye was different in a few ways from all that I had seen, nothing spectacular, but just different enough for me, and I stopped, took the time to set up the camera for a few bracketed exposures, and took two sets of exposures for later HDR-processing.

This was the result: At Rest.

At Rest

Click on the image above to see it better in the Gallery.