Tag: photograph

Chiung Falls – 16-1563

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

This was one of those times when you’re kicking yourself after for a very silly mistake.

I don’t recall the reason now, but at some point I had set the camera’s ISO high… and then forgot.  So my first large batch of photos with the camera the next morning were all grainy because of a higher ISO.

I almost didn’t process any, but this one caught my eye and I decided to process it through as if nothing was wrong  🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

1888

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

I took this photo 5 years ago. (November 03, 2011, 5:06pm)

It’s one of those photos you take at the time, then just put aside; at the time it was just part of several images I took while walking along the northern and then the western side of City Hall, none of which were ever processed or shown to anyone.

I found a few dates about the building to be interesting; proposals for the construction of a Town Hall were endorsed in 1886, a design was chosen in 1887, and works completed in 1889, yet in the wrought iron fretwork design above this northern doorway is the year “1888”.

1888 – 11-6453  |  City Hall, Georgetown, Guyana  |  2011

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

At Day’s End

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography8 Comments

I don’t want to be the one telling you a story in words, I want to be the one telling you a story in a photo, but who’s story is it?

Are you seeing and interpreting the scene in the same way I do?  Does it matter?

The photograph as it was taken tells one story, what that story is may be entirely up to the viewer, after I have processed it, there are some subtle and some not so subtle changes to the finished image (not edited, nothing has been taken out or added), in this manner, I hope to direct the line of thinking in a certain way, whether it works or not is another matter, but in this way I am interpreting the scene my way, and lending to it my feelings; how the viewer sees it is still up to the viewer.

Many people take scenes literally, others concoct long tales based on the elements in the frame,  others may just have an emotional reaction but not know precisely why;  if it affects you, then I am happy.

At Day’s End – 14-3289  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara  |  2014

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

Spray

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

I like my camera, whatever it happens to be at the time, and I think I care it as I would any piece of equipment I use regularly.  I’m not one of those photographers who treats it like a paper-thin piece of porcelain; its a camera, something I use, but I have to tell you that when it comes to salt water, I get a little nervous.   I like the waves at the seawall, I enjoy the spray on my face, and the sound of the crash upon the rocks.  I really love some of those amazing photos of the waves towering over the wall (I don’t like the resulting flooding though), but I am very hesitant to be anywhere near the actual water with my camera, and since I like my seascape photos to be wide, getting a good photo would mean being right up there in the spray, so for now, I’ll just keep being cautious and get the ones I’m comfortable with 🙂

Spray 14-3416  |  Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm  |  Thomaslands, Georgetown, Guyana  |  2014

Click on the image to see it in the Seawall Gallery

Goodbye Unity

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography8 Comments

Robb Street begins in Robbstown, down on the “waterfront” by the John Fernandes’ wharf area, both the ward and the street got their names from the man who designed the area in terms of the building lots and landscape, it ends at the famous Bourda Cricket Ground (Georgetown Cricket Club), on what is now Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, renamed to honour the achievements of one of Guyana’s great cricketers of the 1990s into the first decade and a half of the new millennia.  The original name of Shiv Chanderpaul Drive was New Garden Street, because Robb Street was to originally end at the new Botanical Gardens, but that was pushed back a further block (an area that is home to the Georgetown Cricket Club, Georgetown Football Club, Ministry of Agriculture, and Office of the President.)

At the end of Robb Street, on the northern corner, is the Our Lady of Fatima Roman Catholic Church (if you’re a Portuguese language speaker, you may want to check out their Portuguese language mass that caters to our growing latin/spanish/Brazillian population), in the southern corner is (or, in a few days/weeks, was) Unity House, a three story wooden house.

I don’t know enough of it’s history, but it once housed the chapel in which Holy Mass was celebrated while the church across the road was being built (on the middle floor), and for many years it was the headquarters of the United Force, a political party which has held parliamentary seats in Guyana up until two elections ago.   Prior to the last elections, also, there was some in-fighting among the executives, primarily as to who would lead the party, but that’s just politics.  As I write this the building is being torn down, let’s hope the party can last a bit longer 🙂

I was processing a photo that I had taken near the gate, but that would not enlighten anyone as to the structure of the building, so I went on to process a wider photo for elucidation 🙂

 

Closed – 15-9996  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Unity House – 15-9986  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the images to see them in their respective Galleries.

Soft

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

In the initial stages of trying my hand at photography, while looking at the images offered online and in books, ones by recognised photographers in their respective fields, I always had it in mind that a good photograph had to be perfect, technically perfect and sharp as a tack.  Of course, the images I was admiring were landscapes, portraits, architectural images and the like.

I later discovered (much much later) that what was more important was capturing the scene, with whatever you have, and however you can; if you can get it perfect, good for you, but it was more important to not lose the moment.

This image I had taken back in 2011, but because of the slight motion blur, I relegated it to the unprocessed pile; and since Street Photography was not my calling, but a way to experiment and even capture moments, it didn’t seem too important at the time.   I was hunting through an old catalog for some images that a friend wanted, and I came across the image and realised I liked it, I can live with the blur caused by a low shutter speed and a hastily snapped image, because that moment is now gone, but I have something to show for it; while it may not be a technically perfect shot, I realise that I don’t really need anyone but me to like it.  🙂

Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270  |  Georgetown, Guyana, 2011

This was taken during the renovation works to the old Central Garage building on Avenue of the Republic, which is now a series of smaller retail stores.  In Guyana, we call those carbonated beverages “soft drinks”, the ones Americans fondly call Soda.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

Discovery

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography2 Comments

– 1499 –
Imagine that somewhere on the horizon is a line of three Galleons…
okay, fine, Galleons are more impressive looking, but we’ll revert to the truth;
there’s a line of Caravels, three of them, heading from the north-west, somewhere where the clouds disappear into the distance.

If you grew up as I did, you were taught that many of “our” countries were discovered by that fellow Chris, but the leader of that flotilla on the horizon was not Chris, but Alonso.

If you can see the flotilla, imagine now that one of those caravels has separated and is heading our way, in a more south-easterly direction along the coast, the remaining two are heading further west and stopping at the mouth of the Essequibo;  Alonso is now the first European to be recorded as seeing and touching our shores… and in that south-easterly heading caravel is Amerigo, who is on his first voyage (second, if you believe a disputed letter), and it is after this explorer that the joint continents of “America” are named.

As for that fellow Chris, this voyage by Alonso, his pilot Juan and navigator Amerigo quite displeased his followers, which resulted in quite a fracas in Hispaniola 🙂

If you stand on our shores and stare toward the horizon, you will not now see those caravels, but in the wake of those voyagers, using the trade-winds and ocean currents, are many ships; and I wonder, what are those sailors thinking as they look towards land?  Are they thinking of those days of discovery?  Are they thinking of the journey home?  Do they see the stars as did those long-ago conquistadors did?

I was processing this image when thoughts of the actual “discoverers” came to mind, hence the long messy thought process above 🙂

“And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.”

Robert Frost – The Road not taken

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm  |  Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery