2013 Deck – Week 46

On December 14, 2013December 14, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

On a midday walk with Nikhil, We had to pass a Hindu family on the Seawall who were conducting a ritual, supposedly to Mother Durga (Goddess Durga), because of the yellow Jhandi flag.

I didn’t want to intrude, so I took a photo from a distance (and subsequently cropped it for composition), I thought it was a scene that should be recorded (even if just for myself)

I’ve always seen the various Jhandi flags along the coast, but only recently decided to ask about the colour, specifically in this instance. There is so much of the Hindu culture that is unknown to most of us, and the significance of various rituals and items are lost on us. I even tried searching the internet for Yellow Jhandi Flag, and got a Trinidadian website telling me that the yellow is for Lord Krishna, while a local hindu woman told me it was for Mother Durga and that it was customary to have it alongside a Red flag.

It’s not a great photo, but it is representative of part of our culture here in Guyana, and it is a period piece, with a modern mode of transportation in evidence 🙂 It is also a scene that I don’t see often enough.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 42

On December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography3 Comments

This week, there was a photo-walk to Hope Beach to see the sunrise, then onto the Mahaica River. I knew from the outset, once I had seen the sunrise, that most likely my choice for this week would be a Sunrise photo.

I had already uploaded a landscape oriented one to the group, but I had taken a few portrait oriented ones as well, and it was one of these that I had already made up my mind to use for the Deck Project.

I had tried to get low, for a low perspective, and I was using the Sigma Ultra-wide again, I liked the texture in the rock I was using as a foreground object, but because I was hand-holding the shots, I knew that I wouldn’t do an HDR, not while balancing and trying not to fall into the water 🙂 But since I knew that I wanted that texture to come through, I had already decided on my post-processing… some shadow reduction and some dodging on the rock’s surface to bring out those textures.

I hope you like it

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 27

On September 9, 2013September 9, 2013 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.

2013 Deck – Week 20

On August 2, 2013August 2, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I was processing this image as a part of another long-term project that I’ve been doing; Seascapes, but I decided that I would also include it into the Deck Project as it turned out so nicely 🙂

The water was lapping around the larger rock seen here, the tide was on it’s way out, and the sand/mud could be seen at the rock’s base when the wave had receded. The waves seemed fairly predictable, coming in, swirling past the rock and then receding, so I set my self and waited for it, when it came in, it came a little harder and faster, and I involuntarily jerked backwards a bit and the shot actually came out at a bit of an angle, so I had to crop back to straighten the horizon. I did have others that I could have used, but this one came out nicely, in terms of composition and the way the water was.

The skies were just how I like them recently, fairly dramatic, nice variations and with a fair amount of detail that I knew I could eke out of the RAW file.

Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 1/500s, f/14, 10mm | Rotational crop

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 05

On February 8, 2013February 9, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Maybe it’s because I am a coast-lander that I feel the draw of the sea, but I keep going to the seawalls, if not for a photograph then just to feel the breeze, and hear the sounds of the waves.

This photo was taken at Ebb Tide, when the tide was beginning to recede from the shores, and as I stood there I could feel the wind around me, hear the sound of the waves as the crashed upon this rock and smell the salt in the air (which was probably not good for the camera)

As always, click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 02

On January 16, 2013January 16, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography6 Comments

During week two of this year, I actually used at least three of my lenses, including the ultra-wide Sigma 10-20mm. On Friday, Fidal had arranged that we meet for a drink near Ogle, but before we went, he and Rosh suggested we go to the seawall nearby to get in a few shots 🙂 (we were joined by Savita and TJ, if you must know)

As it turned out, that was a pretty good idea, there was a lovely sky above and some unusual streaming clouds (probably from the jets passing), and I got down into the grass to get a low perspective shot.

While processing it I remembered a song that I probably hadn’t heard since I was much younger, I had come across it on an LP my father had, it was called “Grazing in the Grass” by Friends of Distinction; it was one of those 70s songs, and I didn’t understand the lyrics then, and I don’t quite understand them now (yes I went and listened to it again), but then, I probably need to be high on something for those lyrics to make sense to me. You can check the song out for yourself 🙂

As always, click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 40

On November 24, 2012November 26, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography, Poetry5 Comments

Thoughts…

A song in the wind,
a whisper in the leaves,
force of an ocean
carry me please,

On a thermal current
to soar far and wide,
On a wave of the sea
to drift with the tide,
on a wave of emotion
tossed this way and that
on ideals thought true
to someday fall flat

A rock on the shore
steadfast and firm,
The sands of time
In an hourglass overturned.

2012 Deck – Week 26

On July 9, 2012July 9, 2012 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Nikhil does more unusual cropping than I do, often times he’ll use the cropping to help emphasise the subject, and this is something I don’t often do, usually when I crop I try to keep the same proportions as the original image, and I try to crop very little, usually only as a corrective method (to rotate the image correctly of to remove something at the edge(s) that shouldn’t be included). I often forget that I can crop for emphasis and to strengthen the composition.

This week’s image is such an example, I originally thought that it was a good image, but for some reason it wasn’t as strong as I’d originally thought, so after some monochrome work on it I tried an unusual crop, and I think it worked.

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

The Rock and The Church

On August 13, 2010 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

I had just finished processing two photographs from my recent trip to Sint Maarten, and as I processed them I knew that I would be including both in one blog-post, then as soon as I put the title into the post I was reminded of a bible quote:

And I say to you: That you are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (From the Gospel according to Matthew, 16:18)

Now the post, nor this blog-post has nothing to do with that quotation, it merely sprang to mind as I gave the post it’s title. Some portions of Back Street (and Front Street), Philipsburg have nicely rendered cast-iron stump columns that mark the end of the pedestrian pavement and the beginning of the vehicular roadway, but there are a few spots along the street where these do not exist, at some of these spots, they have put large (maybe medium is a better description) rocks to keep the vehicles off the pedestrian walkway. One of these intrigued me and that’s the photograph that I want to share first:

As a pedestrian on these streets, I was very hopeful that this rock, like Peter, would prevail against an errant vehicle if not the Gates of Hell.

Farther down Front Street, Philipsburg, past the Jewelery Shops and Casinos, there lies the Roman Catholic church of Saint Martin of Tours, it extends from Front Street onto the Boardwalk facing the Great Bay. I have to assume that either the hurricanes don’t hit too hard here or this church was built to prevail. I took the opportunity to take some multiple exposures with the intent to try an HDR image. The pews are stained a deep reddish wood colour and this is very evident in the photograph. The few people who go to pray during the day must be accustomed to crazy tourists snapping photographs since it didn’t seem to bother them as I took my time getting this shot, of course, I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, but that quite hard for a man of Chinese descent with a rather large camera in hand.