Photography; I shoot what I like, and sometimes people like what I shoot. All photos are copyright to Michael C. Lam unless explicitly stated otherwise.
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.
Recently, Dwayne Hackett posted a question on Facebook, looking to garner from others what they thought, “What is a picture worth?”, and of course at least one person used the old adage of “a thousand words”. I am sot certain of Dwayne was trying to get at philosophical or monetary answers 🙂
For more than a century we’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, usually meaning that a complex idea can be expressed in a single image, but what is a photo actually worth? My answer was “A photo’s worth is weighed differently by each viewer, it depends on how the photo affects them.” For me this answer works for both the philosophical and monetary.
The most expensive Photograph on record (as of today) is the Rhein II by Andreas Gursky, which sold at auction last year for $4.3 Million, the cheapest may be that passport sized one you recently got for your American Visa Application 🙂 Which one is worth more? To the Visa applicant, it is certainly the passport sized one, without which they can’t submit the forms, to an artist, the Rhein II certainly surpasses the “mug-shot” 🙂
While the simplicity and boldness of the Rhein II appeals to my artistic senses, a photo that sold for one-seventh of its value appealed to me much more, that would be Ansel Adams’ “Moonrise”, but that is because of how that photo affects me, and so I find more “worth” in that image.
Last year I dealt with this similarly in my post for the 23rd Week of the Deck Project, you can check it there for reference 🙂
I had taken this photo while on a walk with Nikhil and Sharon, hen I had downloaded the images, I had decided that this one was not going to make the cut, and left it aside, but after Dwayne’s question, something sparked an interest in the image. I had used ISO500, I had shot into the sun, and I had done this dangling the camera downward simply because I was too lazy to get down in the rocks to properly compose the image, so I wasn’t enthusiastic about it 🙂
I didn’t think the resulting image was worth my time and effort to process, but I went back and while it is grainy from the high ISO and from the subsequent processing, I like it. It may not have the same impact on a Christian as it would on a Hindu, it would not have the same effect on a North American as it would on someone from the Caribbean, each would decide it’s worth, it’s value as a photograph differently. For many this may be worthless, for me, it was worth saving, worth the time and effort in processing, and if anyone reading this blog-post realizes the worth in their own photos, then this blog-post was worth writing.
In June of this year Imran Khan had done an article on the new insurgence of young (and not so young) Photographers in Guyana in the form of the Facebook Group Guyana Photographers, this was recently re-blogged on the GuyanaPhotographers.com site. In it he mentioned that the Seawalls seem to be a favourite or default location for their “treks”, this is very true.
With most of the population of Guyana living on the Atlantic coast, this is inevitable; with the majority of (accessible) roads meandering along the coast, this is inevitable; with the majority of the coastland given over to farming (and now housing) leaving the only scenic areas being the seawalls stretching from east to west along the coast, this is inevitable.
I’m not saying that there aren’t more places that would make nice photographs, there are, they are just not as “easy” to get to. You can read “easy” as being “not too expensive to get to”, “not too arduous to get to”, “not needing to plan a trip weeks in advance” and ‘not requiring a four wheel drive vehicle with a winch and hi-lift” to get there. 🙂
So, for someone who has a full-time job but would still like to get a nice photograph, as Imran so accurately pointed out, the Seawall becomes the “default” location 🙂
With that said… here’s a pair of Jhandi Flags… on the sea shore, just in front of the Seawall
Click on the image to see it better in the Gallery, along with all the other entries for this year’s Deck Project.
This was one of those weeks where I had not taken a photo at all until I was forced to take something on the last day or abandon the Deck Project. To be on the safe side, I stopped on the seawall to take a few photos for another “Seascape”, this would have been around the Bel Air / Sophia area.
As things turned out, I took the family out to the seawall near Lusignan, as it was nearing sunset, I took some photos in general, then settled down amidst some rocks and waited for the sun to drop to just the right height. This was one of the few times that I had “planned” a shot (or rather the general concept of what I was looking for). I took several at different times in different orientations, but this one was the one that appealed to me the most.
As always, click on the image for a better view in the Gallery.
Under clouds of gloom, tread lightly in fear,
unknown dangers may lurk quite near
Yet onward walk, for we must see
what lies upon yonder sea
It is our goal, our sole intent
today to capture the coming rent
in clouds that cover, yet soon shall show
upon the sea a hopeful glow
for but a moment shall it be
a fleeting time, then it too shall flee
as the sun continues its descent
we try to capture the fleeting rent.
At the close of the thirtieth week of the year, I was in Barbados, and my sister and her husband had decided to carry us on a whirlwind of a tour of Barbados’ scenic points, I’m surprised I could remember where I took this one.
I think we almost circled the entire island that day, starting from almost the southernmost point of the island and going eastwards around the coastline.
If my memory serves me correctly, this one was taken at North Point, from the name it’s likely the northernmost part of Barbados, and I was very engrossed with the view, but I managed to get some photographs in while admiring it.
This is an HDR from three exposures, I hope you like it.
By the fourth day of the reunion I had gotten so far into the Family mode that as I was hunting through the photos from that day I noticed that I had only taken three photos that were not of the family at the reunion 🙂 So that’s what you’ll see today, those three photographs.
There’s a bridge that crosses a pool area between the “entertainment” section of the hotel and the “dining “ area of the hotel, it’s a Genuine Rope bridge, but with wide wooden planks for the base to walk on, many of the children (yes, and some adults too) quite enjoyed bouncing across the bridge to have it sway a bit 🙂
For some reason I took a photograph of a portion of a Palm Tree’s trunk, with the rock formations in the background, I blame Nikhil, he does this kind of stuff all the time, juxtaposing one thing in front of the other!
That evening we were sitting near the poolside and I took a photo just “to take a photo”, This area photographed is the general area where we sat and ate most of our meals, it is part of the buffet dining area, where every meal was a spread!
Before departing from the Kingston Area to begin the Family Reunion in Ocho Rios, my dad thought that getting a photograph of everyone who were in the Kingston area would be a good idea, so after everyone had eaten some breakfast, packed their bags and were ready to go, we all got together for the group photo.
I was hoping to do some photography whilst on the drive over, but the high grasses after the recent rains and a few other adverse conditions made that a bit impractical 🙂 I did manage to snag a photo of a vendor’s stand with some of the fruits out front during a brief stop.
One of the areas we drove through was Fern Gulley, but photographs can’t tell that story, you have to take the drive through yourself, but I took one of the curving road and the enclosing ferns to give the general idea, this spot had a nice window in the canopy above for extra light, many other sections did not, the ferns would enclose the road and create a lovely rainforest feel.
Once at the hotel, we checked in, went for lunch, then to find our rooms, We had chosen the mountain view option rather than the ocean view rooms, just to save a few dollars 🙂 This is part of the view from our room, not too bad 🙂
After some afternoon swimming (or more like wading in the pool), we were taking a walk to see the Gazebo at the ocean’s edge and I snagged a few more photos, after that it was dinner and bed 🙂 Not a bad day overall.
For many students in the trimester system, it is now the end of the school year, the end of projects and assignments, the end of homework, the last of the tests and exams until the next academic year begins.
I find it fitting that the image I chose reflects some of this; hands raised in joy as the sun sets on another day. The end of one thing usually marks the beginning of another, soon we begin the “August” or summer holidays, although those in the semester system have already begun theirs 🙂
Easter Week. I suppose that the easiest thing to try to get photographs of for Easter Week is of children flying their kites (at least in Guyana, anyway). On Easter Monday we went to the seashore near Annandale (someone referred to the spot as “Friendship”), on the Easy Coast of Demerara.
I was taking a photo of a spot where an old Koker (sluice) once stood, and my daughter and her cousin came over to play/annoy/get in the way and so I made good use of them as they were already in the scene 🙂
For a better view of the photo, please click on the image above to see it in the Gallery.
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