Coastal Sunrise

On January 27, 2022 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

One of those so-called “Rules” about using your camera correctly is that you should not point your camera directly towards the sun. Other than the obvious effect of probably blinding you, its also to protect your gear, but sometimes, you have to just ignore that. In order to get a decent Sundog photo, you have no choice.

Likewise with Sunrises and even sunsets, sometimes you compose with the sun off-centre, other times you may think the centrally placed sun works better.

A rising sun on a reasonable clear morning can be very bright when seen through the viewfinder of a DSLR 🙂

The tide was out that morning, so I was able to get down to the seashore level.

Most areas where there’s a Koker (Sluice), even at an early morning hour, you’ll find some people at various tasks, whether they be fishermen, devotees come to do a Puja, someone washing articles of clothing, or just folks out to enjoy the sunrise.

Of course, there’s always the nutcases like us who were out there to take photographs, sometimes we come away with just good memories, and other times we come away with a few images we’d like to share.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other images that I dropped into an Album called “Up East”.

Checkout

On January 7, 2022 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Sometimes even images I select in a seemingly random way often tend to have a theme of sorts running through them. I was processing these and uploading, when I noticed a theme of sorts, or maybe I was just stretching it 🙂

I took these in 2020, for us that would have been considered first wave COVID-19 I suppose.

Vendor – 20-0836 – Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown, Guyana.
Shot with DXO ONE

Purple Power Defence – 20-0838, Water Street, Georgetown.
Shot with DXO ONE

Brazo’s – 20-0840 – Water Street, Georgetown
Shot with DXO ONE

Checkout – 20-0832 – Wonderful Shopping Mall, Good Hope, ECD.
Shot with DXO ONE

Time to checkout, click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other Street Photography

Supermarket

On March 31, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Supermarkets are usually very busy places, especially during the hours I can shop in them. During this time when people are trying to practice social distancing, its probably not surprising that I can actually get shots that are not too “busy” 🙂

Cleaning (and hopefully sanitizing) the shopping environment.

What caught my attention here was the slight distortion that the cold frosted door caused to the image of the man there as opposed to the clarity of the man beyond the door.

Tilted images are not my thing, but sometimes they are necessary and sometimes they work.

Some people can’t leave their children at home, so it becomes necessary to take them into potentially dangerous areas. Who would have thought that we would ever describe a supermarket as a potentially dangerous area…

Inside supermarkets are not easy to shoot, at least not for me, the lighting is not optimal, being relatively low light, especially in narrow aisles, the diversity of images may not be as ideal as out on the streets, and the space tends to be cramped, luckily, these allowed for some space due to a sparsity of people. 🙂

As you might notice, there is no prevalence of masks, not because Guyanese are conscious of the actual dangers of that, or the possible benefits, but because its not part of our preventative measure, just like staying at home isn’t….

The WHO recently reiterated its position on who should wear masks and when, as always, its about educating ourselves on these things.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other photographs “In the Streets”.

Around the Block

On March 25, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Yesterday I decided to literally take a walk around the block, just to see how the COVID-19 and its repercussions might be affecting the neighbourhood (my work neighbourhood, that is). So as not to waste the opportunity, I walked with my DXO camera as well.

As street photography goes, nothing great, but a few decent ones 🙂

You probably can’t see it, but in that vendor’s section is some Nenwah Husk, used my many a Guyanese as a body scrub.

Being the lone Chinese walking around I kinda attract unnecessary attention, this lady kept a close eye as I walked by; good thing I didn’t sneeze or cough.

This rastafarian on crutches carefully made his way along the pavement, but was very observant of all the stalls he passed, might have been looking for Nenwa. 🙂

In her hand is a bag of sliced green Mango, I can only assume that maybe it also had “loud pepper and salt”

Almost as if COVID-19 were not on our shores, these gentlemen were busy “gyaffing” and the topic as I passed was all politics, aka GECOM-20

Less people than normal during midday, but still enough, and as you can see, not much social distancing occurring.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery along with other images “In the Streets”

The Mask

On March 24, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Depending on where you source your information from, some places are saying that wearing masks will help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 disease, some are saying the masks won’t help prevent you getting it, but if you have symptoms, then you should wear a mask in public… regardless, in some places in Guyana, masks are starting to appear with more frequency.

Before I myself am sent into lockdown, I think I’ll keep trying to capture street scenes.

Many supermarkets, staying open to supply us with our necessities, are mandating that their staff be masked, some are assisting with sanitisers as you enter, one I went into even gave me a mask to wear while in their store.

Taking no chances, this Chinese man masks up in the market, probably getting some fresh produce for his restaurant. Some Chinese restaurants have taken to doing Take-Away only, through a window, helping to limit exposure while still serving their customers

At a shopping “mall” – even though this isn’t the sharpest image, I’ve always found that for Street Photography, the story matters more than the technical perfection of the image.

Take every precaution possible. Be informed, beware of fake “cures and remedies”.

Tech giant Google has created a COVID-19 Information and Resource page.

And the World Health Organisation (WHO) is a trusted source of anything health related, including COVID-19, Keep checking their page for Updated information and guidance; here’s a link to their COVID-19 Advice page.

Please desist from spreading via social media (especially WhatsApp, unconfirmed data or things you’ve heard; be informed, be safe, be responsible.

Click on the images to see them in the Gallery, along with other images “In the Streets”

More from Mon repos

On March 21, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

In my previous post, I showed what would have been my “select 5” images from a walk in Mon Repos Market, select as in those I’d choose to enter into the VISIONS Exhibition 2020 (were I to submit). Today I’d like to share another five images from that walk.

Any place where people are involved with activities of interaction or even just on the move, are places where you can find a treasure trove of Street Photographs 🙂

Some people make shopping look fun, getting a smile on the face of someone fetching several bags, priceless 🙂

These guys are using a blow-torch to sear the outsides of the poultry, never saw this before.

One of the few that I felt should be left in colour.

The dynamics around this stall caught my eye, not sure I got what I wanted but I got a decent one either way 🙂

This lone young girl at this stall right at one of the exits also caught my eye, another angle that I took was better, but the image quality was not, so this one works 🙂

Click on the images to see them in the gallery along with other images “In the Streets”

My Rest

On March 19, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

With unrest in town since the General and Regional Elections as well as less people in town due to the COVID-19 arrival on our shores, I had a Saturday morning off, and went into the Mon Repos market for a short walk.

Mon Repos is a village on the East Coast of Demerara, not too far before the large Lusignan Village. Saturday is Market Day at Mon Repos, and while I’ve walked in there a few times, this time I think I came away with a few good shots. whilst processing them, I couldn’t help but think that if I were submitting images for this year’s intended VISIONS Exhibition 2020, I might actually choose from these. In that spirit, I went through the ones I had earmarked as keepers and chose five to share,

VISIONS allows photographers of Guyanese descent or even non-Guyanese who live and work in Guyana, to submit three to five photographs; the photographs should be chosen with a theme in mind, a theme of the photographer’s own choosing. The submitted photographs are then collected by the curator (or curatorial panel) and viewed together as an entire collection of images from a variety of photographers, and naturally, there will be a variety of genres as well as themes. From this collection a narrative (or narratives) emerge, and it is this narrative that the curator works towards telling with the images chosen for the purpose.

Since it isn’t a competition, many excellent images are not included, but be assured that all those that are used are not only well suited to the narrative, but are also exemplary works by the photographers who submitted them.

I’m not much of a Street Tog (photographer), but these would be my picks for VISIONS is I were submitting. Quite a switch from my usual seascapes 🙂

To see them in the Gallery “ In the Streets”, click on the images, you’ll see them there along with other images in that Gallery.

Five for the weekend

On February 29, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

The powers that be decided to declare Elections Day in Guyana a national holiday, so we have a long weekend.

I decided to share five photos from my last month’s walking about, whether you see anything in them that appeals, or shows diversity, I can say that these show people, the quintessential “man in the street”, or if we’re going to be politically correct, “person in the street”, the people who will be affected by the outcome of Monday’s vote, and any events that may occur because of the elections, the parties and the electorate’s response. These are the people for whom “life goes on”, regardless of what happens.

Babies Day Out - 20-0528 — Babies Day Out – 20-0528

20-0551 | Coconut Vendor on Main Street, Georgetown, Guyana

20-0557 | Robb Street, Georgetown, Guyana

20-0558 | Robb Street and Avenue of the Republic, Georgetown, Guyana

Hope you like one or two of those. Click on them to see them in the Collection along with many more images from my album “In The Streets”

Back in the Streets

On February 10, 2020February 10, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I’ve been out of circulation for a while, many things have happened and life has moved on. I’m trying to get back to some sort of “normal”, and one way was to start back my midday walking, so I went out for a short walk (much shorter than usual) to dip my toes in the water 🙂

Over the years, I’ve gotten used to walking with come device to capture images while I walk, whether its a full DSLR camera, a mobile phone or the DXO One that I have for such walks. There are times I walk and never take a photo, and there are times that I take many but never use any, then there are the other times that I take some and get a few keepers.

The thing about Street Photography, and something many still don’t understand, is that its not about photographs in the streets, its about people. It’s about people and the environment, whether they are identifiable or not is unimportant, its their way of dress, or their way of walking, their antics or the way they “pose” as in lean on a post or sit on a chair, its about their behaviour in a crowd, or among others, or by themselves – its about life, the life that they show, the life that is implied, the life that we see as a photographer,and the life that you see as a viewer.

For my part in taking street photography, I try to be outside of the events, not interacting with the subjects,but inevitably there will be some interaction, being of mixed ancestry with an outwardly predominant asian visage, I tend to get noticed on the streets 🙂 Using a discrete device to capture images does help minimise the likelihood of the subjects being aware that they are being photographed, and thereby preserving the scene. There are many times when I’ve watched Nikhil interact with people, then take their photos, and the results are usually quite amazing, but that’s just not me, so what works for him and others, don’t work for me, and vice versa.

I don’t consider myself a good street photographer, I do have an understanding of the genre, but I definitely place my images way below those of many other local “street togs”, but sometimes I have a few that I think are worth sharing 🙂

Hope you like them, click on them to see them in the Gallery along with other images “In the Streets”.

In the beginning…

On July 13, 2017 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Well, maybe not “the” beginning, just “a” beginning.

It was probably around 2007 that I began to pay more attention to what went into the frame, to what it was I was taking photographs of. Prior to that it was mostly point, click, “look, isn’t that pretty??” Most probably weren’t pretty at all, but family and friends always say “yes, it is” – In 2007, somewhere amidst the generic photos, there began to emerge a few that stood out, and I think that I was seeing things, the things around me, differently, and in so doing I was capturing them differently, light was beginning to take on lifelike characteristics that would change how everything looked, and how everything could be captured on a few thousand pixels.

It was now not so important to capture every detail, but just the ones that would help tell the story, using light and dark, contrast and brightness to illustrate an idea, a concept, a feeling… It was time to pay more attention to the composition rather than just the subject.

I decided to take a look back at the photos I took ten years ago, to see what, if anything, was worth sharing. Most of the images I took were family oriented, so those didn’t count, but I was experimenting, looking around me and trying to capture something out of the ordinary (ordinary being the family photos, nothing captured can compare to even the ordinary of professional photographers, much less fine-art photographers).

I even tried my hand at pointing the camera at strange people, out in public, although I was still much more comfortable pointing at non-human subjects, those that might not complain or make a fuss.

And its also the year, I did my first Photo-Walk, not what would really be considered a photo walk, but myself, my brother, Andre, and two friends, Nikhil and Naseem. We went for a drive “over the river” up to Wales estate on the West Bank of Demerara and I think up to Windsor Forest on the West Coast of Demerara, stopping every now and again to take some photos.

That photo-walk was somewhat of an eye-opener as well, in a relatively short distance, there was quite a lot to see, and a good variety of subjects and scenes to photograph as a result.

This isn’t a retrospective of any kind really, just taking a look at some photos with an eye that has had a decade of shooting, and processing them anew. They were all shot on a bridge camera, or an advanced point-and-shoot camera, the Canon PowerShot S3 IS, a 6 Megapixel camera with a 1/2.5” CCD sensor, so there’s not a lot of post processing I could do without delving into the realm of editing.

Back then I was mostly all about colour, vivid vibrant popping colour, so the monochromatic versions (BW) you see are how I see them today, not then.

I chose ten images to illustrate what I had accomplished that year, I don’t think I would have found very many, if any, more that are worth sharing. I hope you enjoy a few.