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.
I returned once again to the seawall and the seashore for photographic inspiration, my daughter was quite happily using a cellular (mobile) phone to take photos of the same or similar scenes as I was, I was about to take a photo of a shell near a pool of water when I noticed it move, so after some patience and angling to get a better shot I got this one 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
It is almost shameful that I’ve lived all of my life upon these shores (with the few exceptions of travelling abroad), and the majority of my time has been spent in the City, when there are so many beautiful places to see across our land, but that is how life is, and I am thankful that I got to see the little that I have seen.
I’ve seen the Rainforest and the Rupununi Savannahs, the Pakaraima mountains, Orinduik Falls and Kaieteur Falls, but there is so much more to see…
Recently I was fortunate to be among a group of people who had dinner at Fort Island, photographically it wasn’t a great trip, but for me it was almost priceless.
My wife and I joined more than a hundred other patrons who dined outside the Court of Policy on the Island, and were entertained by the legendary Dave Martins and his friends.
I did manage to take some photos of the fort, but finding one without a dozen people in it was tough 🙂
I hope you like this one:
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
Many times, I just want to sit upon the seawall and not think… to just forget that there is a world where I have to work, where there is anything of purpose to be done… to just sit and stare out to sea.
The problem with me going and sitting and relaxing, is that it is at just those times, when my mind is almost blank that all the thoughts that I’ve been avoiding or maybe not even thinking about come rushing to the fore and I cannot block them out.
When I sit upon the shore and stare out to see, when I enjoy the sea-breeze, the open-ness of the ocean before me, I think, and my thoughts are somewhat clearer, less muddled…
This was one of those brief moments… and I took a photo to remind me to try once in a while to leave the world behind, and breathe.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
Every once in a while I will look at a scene and I would be moved to try to photograph it using the technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR), and on even fewer occasions, I would look at the scene and think that it would make a good Black and White HDR.
I had just picked up my daughter from her “After-Classes” and we took a drive by the seawall, as soon as we pulled up and parked I saw the way the tide was out, and how the sky was over-cast with some low hanging clouds, I knew I wanted to try a few photos near the metal piling that’s been there for ages, and I thought it would render nice in HDR.
I tried to keep her from running ahead and getting footprints all over the area, but it wouldn’t have mattered, her footprints didn’t last too long in that mud 🙂
I tried a few angles around the sheet of metal, and decided after on this portrait oriented one, The way the shape of the puddle, the arc of the wet and dry sands (mud), the curve of the receding water-line and the straight horizon all clashed, made the scene seem more fluid to me.
I hope you like it. (Three exposures blended for an HDR image)
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
Sunrises and Sunsets are considered a cliché type of photograph by many, yet I am still drawn to them, not as often as before, but I still enjoy a good sunrise or sunset, and I enjoy taking photos of them too 🙂
When I take a photo of a sunrise or sunset, I try to include some other object of interest, since a sunrise is just a sunrise and a sunset just a sunset (well, most times, there are possibly exceptions).
I was driving home, when I saw some lovely pastel to darker colours in the late afternoon sky, and thought I should at least stop somewhere to see if I could get a nice photo, the tide was in, and I spotted someone line-fishing, probably for Cuirass, and quickly snapped off a few shots before walking to the seawall to see what else there may be.
As it turned out, I’m very happy I took those shots, it came out well. I hope you like it.
Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery
I got what amounted to somewhat unsatisfactory choices of photos for this week, so I chose one that had some appeal, and then, at a loss for words to accompany it, I then wrote an almost equally unsatisfactory poem 😀
Take a break from the working day
And take a stroll outdoors,
Out where the ocean meets the sea,
where winds blow and birds soar.
Feel the sand between your toes
And the shells under your feet,
Inhale the salty sea breeze
Get away from the streets…
Let the wind blow your hair
Let the sun warm your face
Let’s go to the beach,
Let’s get out of this place.
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
This year, I think most of my photos come from the Seawall areas along the coast of Demerara, simply because I’ve had little opportunity to go elsewhere… but the amazing thing about the seawalls, is that I think you can take a photo there every week and still come away with something interesting
This one I was tempted to call “Low T”, but knowing the western mind-set it would probably be a bad idea 😀
Took this using a low perspective, with the Sigma Ultra-wide 10-20mm, even at 1/200s the bird in the sky shows motion blur 🙂 (Probably added a bit to that with the wide-angle distortion at the edges of the lens)
I hope you like it.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
This photo appealed to me as soon as I took it. Even on the camera display I thought that this may very well be the photo I choose for the Deck Project. And even now, looking at the takings for the week, I haven’t changed my mind.
It was a simple log, driftwood (a sizeable one), that sat upon the seashore, this was under a bright midday sun, and I used a Red filter in post-process to give me the drama I was looking for.
I called it “Between the Groynes”, of course we’ve called them Jetties since I was young 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the collection
There’s a certain satisfaction in getting the “feel” of a photo correct. I don’t go out with pre-conceived ideas in my mind of what I want to shoot or how I want it to look, I’ve seen this lead to disappointment too many times, but I’ve seen other photogs do it; they have a vision of what they want and the set about to get it no matter how long it takes them or what they have to do to get it. I admire that, but it’s not my current approach.
When I do come across some scenes that have a certain impact on me, I try my best to capture what it is that I see, what I want to convey through this medium to someone else who may look at it, and that takes a combination of not only getting the composition right but of processing it the right way as well, and I think I got it right on this one. 🙂
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, 1/200s, f/10, ISO100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
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