2015 Deck – Week 32

On December 18, 2015December 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Georgetown, Guyana.

The French called it Longchamps, the Dutch called it Stabroek, the British named it after King George III, Georgetown. Each generation always seem to wish for the “good old days”, but as I’ve aged and seen this edifice that I pass daily age as well, I think that City Hall has indeed seen its Glory Days, unless something radical is done quickly.

I look at the photo and the phrase that comes to mind is “everything looks better in the morning light”

City Hall, Georgetown, Guyana. Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20 Lens

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from the 2015 Deck Project

2015 Deck – Week 24

On December 2, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

In today’s world, it often seems that the old tradition of “family” has fallen by the wayside. The divorces are common, marriages not worth fighting for, child abuse seems more commonplace than before, parents and children yelling at each other; it even seems sometimes that some people care more for their pet than for their own flesh and blood relatives, so when I saw a father and son working together on a motorcycle, I just had to sneak a photo of it.

It may not always be this way, but like much of our lives, its these moments that matter most.

Rodrigues and Rodrigues | Instagram | Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Duos

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

2015 Deck – Week 16

On July 18, 2015July 18, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography1 Comment

I was wondering why I found this particular photo appealing… not great, just appealing… then realized my eyes kept following the branches all over the place like a maze, or one of those optical illusion drawings that keep looping back impossibly onto itself.

It’s just a tree, one that was uprooted on the seawalls, and even though the roots are above ground, it just refuses to die 🙂

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, 1/160s, f/8.0, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2015 Deck – Week 15

On July 14, 2015July 14, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Other than being in the Guyana Photographers’ Facebook Group, I’m also a member of a few other Facebook photography groups… one of them is the Guyana Mobile Photographers, which focuses on photographs taken with mobile devices, such as my phone. There was a suggestion of there being “challenges” for the members to push themselves, I had just walked out of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on a Sunday morning when Avinash suggested to the group to use “worship” as the theme, I quickly ran back inside with the phone in hand to see what I could snap… I couldn’t believe my luck at this scene.

From the time I uploaded it I knew that I’d be using it as the Deck Photo for that week…

Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Duos | Instagram

Click the image to see it in the Gallery, you can also check out how my experiment with mobile photography is going over on Instagram.

Charlestown

On July 11, 2015July 13, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

I lived in Charlestown (Georgetown, Guyana) for a short while after we got married, if I crossed the street, I’d then be in Albouystown. Back then I had my first access to a digital camera, an Agfa ePhoto 1280 (Megapixel? what’s that?). It was mainly for work purposes, but through it I learnt a few things about digital photography, and it probably rekindled my interest in photography at the time.

I had read somewhere that Charlestown (and Charles Street) was named after the Duke of Brunswick, Charles William Ferdinand (or Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, his original German name), but why a Ward of Georgetown, Guyana is named after a German Duke is a question I can’t answer.

Charlestown, at the time I lived there, was still quite “quaint”, in respect to the type of buildings, but even then things had begun to change, with one or two square concrete building being erected where once stood more aesthetic wooden structures, but times change, and change is inevitable. Fortunately, change is also slow, comparatively, and some of the older buildings are still standing. I walked, rode or drove past an old wooden building on the corner of Broad Street and Charles Street for many years, when I took up photography a bit more seriously, I kept an eye on it and kept putting off taking a photo, one day I decided that the “For Sale” sign meant that it may be bought and torn down, so I made the extra effort to stop and spend a few minutes grokking the scene seeking out a nice photo, waiting for the “perfect” photo was out of the question, so I just wanted a “nice” one.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-500 | 1/400s, f/10, ISO 400

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the “Georgetown, Guyana” album.

500

On June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

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.

We own

On June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

There is much of our country Guyana that I have never seen, and, quite likely, may never see; but I was reminded recently that it is something that is inherently ours, it was not bequeathed to us by God nor are we the only ones who think that we have a right to it.

Venezuela has always laid claim to a significant portion of our country, namely the Essequibo region, and they always rattle their sabres when investors come knocking (or, as they seem to think, snooping). Suriname also disputes the ownership of a smaller portion, the New River Triangle. I guess that Brazil has enough land that they don’t bother claiming any from our southern regions, but they are invading us with their people and culture, so that might be a far easier path for us… less painful at any rate – come to think of it, I already prefer a caipirinha to a beer. Everyone knows that the coastal areas suffer frequently from flooding, that’s just the Atlantic Ocean’s way of saying, it wants it’s piece too.

The great Dave Martins, who founded and lead the Caribbean band “The Tradewinds”, has probably expressed it best in his two songs that point out our pride and possessiveness of what we consider rightfully ours, “Not a Blade of Grass” and “Is we own”. I can’t express in words enough how much I admire Dave, I grew up listening to his music, I’ve met him several times, and he is still bigger than life to me. Just in case Maduro didn’t know, Dave Martins is we own!

I’ve seen Guyana from Moleson Creek to Charity, From Georgetown to Lethem, but that is just travelling the main road or trail; there is so much out there to see, rivers, waterfalls, mountains, villages, creeks, animals, towns… to walk through the markets of far-off villages, travel the rivers that wind throughout the length and breadth of Guyana, to listen to the dialects and cadence of chatter in the country, to hear the insects as day turns to night in little-known villages.

OK, enough babbling… I’ve visited the Essequibo coast only twice so far, the first time was in 2008, at which time I visited Tiger Island in the Essequibo River, which I was told is also referred to as the Hamburg, I had a Canon PowerShot S5 IS point-and-shoot camera at the time, but I took photos pretending I was a photographer anyway 🙂 It was overcast and I was never very satisfied with any of the photos, but I was looking for a few for someone today and came across this one which I never really looked back on.

From our sandy brown water beaches to the Rupununi plains… Is we own! From the minister in government to the vaquero herding cows… Is we own. From the rivers, great and small, to the mountains wide and tall… is we own! From the tops of the rainforest canopy the the roots of the mangrove tree… Is we own! Guyana is we own!

Canon PowerShot S5 IS, 2008

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with many other Black and White photos.

In the Garden

On February 11, 2015February 11, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

In Georgetown, once called the Garden City, there were once many tree-lined avenues, it was once adorned by colonial and Victorian styled buildings throughout the length and breadth of the city, and the canals were bridged, and those bridges adorned by concrete railings or balustrades that were pleasing to the eye.

With the current rate of demolition of those railings by errant (more accurately worded would be “criminal”) drivers of minibuses and taxis, there will soon be no more of them around, and the powers that be do not seem to want to extricate from these culprits the requisite price to replace the damage with suitable aesthetically pleasing railings, when they do replace them, it is with crudely welded utilitarian structures, more suitable to a prison cell.

There… I’ve vented enough 🙂

I photographed this one on the portion of road that bridges upper High Street with Main Street, this would have once seen the trains that serviced the coast of Demerara, would have been covered in soot from the engine stack, not it is occasionally white-washed, and more often left to have mildew and vines grow upon it. 🙂

Why did I photograph it? it was there… it seemed like a good idea at the time 🙂

2015 | Canon 60D, Canon 40mm | Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the “Odds and Ends” Gallery in the Collection

The Carpenter’s Tools

On February 5, 2015February 5, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Every so often, I take photos, then never get around to looking at them until long after… I think I still owe someone some wedding photos… oops! Good thing I don’t do this as a paying job.

Anyway, I took about ten shots of this during the third week of 2012, a few before Vishal put the level next to the tape and a few after. I felt that there was something there, but don’t think I got what it was… yet, I went back to this today and processed this one… three years later, I’m regretting not trying a few other angles and perspectives that occur to me now… I’ve learnt a bit since then, hopefully I get to put what I’ve learnt into practice 🙂 Going back to these images, reminds me of what I did, what I didn’t do, what I could do, and keeps me thinking about the next time I come across a similar scene and what I might do 🙂

Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270

Click on the image to see it in the “Odds and Ends” Gallery in the Collection

Welcome

On January 31, 2015January 31, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

The driveway to the Cara Lodge hotel definitely says “welcome” to me.

I find this place to be warm and welcoming, and while many visitors to Guyana always mention the warmth of the people, I’ve found that the staff I’ve encountered here is that way with everyone, locals and visitors, and that’s refreshing.