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 had a few images that I rendered in monochrome this month, these were the results of three walks I did with Nikhil, I got a few nice coloured images, but more that I processed in monochrome, which is unusual for me. I have a few friends who always love my monochromatic work, so I think that they will like these images 🙂
I know that the title “monochromes” cover more than just black & white and sepia images, but I have not quite gotten around to expressing myself in the other formats as yet, although some of my black & white images are actually more of a selenium tone rather than pure black & white. I tend to lean towards the idea that if it is close to black & white, then that’s where I will categorize it, even if it does have a slight tinge of another colour. If the effect is more obvious, then I will rethink its category.
To start it off I have two Sepia images, one from the shore at the Kingston Promenade seawall and the second from the Manatee Pond at the Botanical Gardens, Georgetown.
Lonely CoconutFeeding Time
And now for the Black and Whites, I have four new added to the album; and they go like this:
End of the WallClouds over the BandstandWading OutPlaisance Palaver
I have found a fondness for monochromatic images, now all I have to do is learn how to represent them better and better, each time I try one I find something new, sometimes I want lots of detail and other times I want high contrast with starkness, sometime I want a bit of both. Hopefully I am learning all the time 🙂
I was going to title this post “Two from the Seawall” but since the seawall itself does not feature prominently in either of the photos, I changed my mind.
I had taken these since the 20th of this month, but never moved them to the Seawall album, nor blogged it until now, my Deck photo that week took precedence and these fell by the wayside (so to speak).
Of course, I prefer one over the other, and I suppose everyone will have a preference, but I have found that when it comes to photography, there is never a time when everyone can agree on which photograph is the “better” one. When I first started taking photographs, I had often tried to upload photographs that I thought others would like, then quickly realized that this didn’t work for me. Now, I upload what I think are good photos, even if there are two or three that look similar, if I like them enough, up they will go. By doing this, I have found that there is a great diversity in the “likes” and “dislikes” of those viewing my images, some that one group will like another will dislike and so forth.
Looking EastAfternoon Cardio
I wanted to try out a poll on my blog and this seemed as good a time to try it as any, so take a second and just let me know, which do you prefer?
Leaving Sint Maarten (St Martin actually, since that's the French side you're seeing)
Couldn’t help the James Bond reference in the title, it just sounded better than “We went to Anguilla”. I suppose, like most Caribbean islands, it is a nice place to visit, the people are nice and friendly, the weather is a mix of sunshine (Boom Boom) and some rain, the beers are cold and the beaches are gorgeous. You walk off the ferry and you feel you’ve stepped out of the current century and back into the latter half of the last one. That’s not to say that they are backwards, far from it, it’s just the “feel” of the place, with some of the older type architecture, the local accent that has a lyrical beauty to it, and the sun and palms trees do carry you back to when most movies used tropical settings for their “exotic” feel. If I had stepped off of the ferry in a white shirt, fedora and rugged briefcase, I might have expected to be met by Felix Lighter.
The dock/pier at Blowing Point, Anguilla
We went across by “ferry”, not the normal name I would use for a boat the size we went in. A nice small twelve passenger boat that I would more call a Water Taxi than a ferry, especially with 450 horse power pushing it. The captain and crew (well only one on board, but also those at the ports) of the GB Express were the epitome of island friendliness, making the trip across the small stretch of sea very enjoyable.
In true island fashion, when you reach port and ask about a car to rent, you are not reffered to an agency, just simply “go ask for Andy” 🙂 And Andy delivers, a nice enough car (with a few dings and dents for character) and a map of the island, and some advice, like – remember to drive on the Left. If you are in town, the capital being called The Valley, and you ask someone about an establishment for eating, they tell you “go to Lisa’s”, well, we didn’t get the opportunity to go to Lisa’s but I am sure that the advice would have paid off.
At the Golf Club
We took a little drive around the Golf Course, and admired all the nice work being done there, it is still being developed,but you can still book your Tee time and play a round of 18 🙂
A Bridge in the Golf Course
After the Golf Course, we drove on around the western tip of the island, or the West End and along the norther coast, where we stopped to take a photo of the Road Bay and Sandy Ground from Back Street.
Road Bay, as seen from Back Street
From there we drove into the, capital “The Valley”, it has some nice quaint places. The whole island has a laid back feel to it, no hustle, no bustle, no major traffic, just nice and relaxing.
Wall Blake House, The Valley, Anguilla
Even though there were many places I would have loved to have seen, there is no way you can really see and enjoy an island in one day, no matter what anyone says, and I just had to see and experience the beach at Shoal Bay East, my brother-in-law swears it’s the best beach in the world, and it was so good, we really didn’t want to leave.
Shoal Bay East
Shoal Bay Beach
And a brief stop at Scilly Cay to allow me to snap this photograph…
Scilly Cay with Scrub Island in the b ackground
I took some more photos along the way back to the ferry, but it was time to go home and enjoy another day’s end. Click on the photos to get all 36 images from this day.
Sunday, we were taken on a “crash” tour across some of the island… It was quite comprehensive, but everything was so amazing, I was left dazzled half the time 🙂 The capital of Sint Maarten is Philipsburg, and I want to see how much more of it I can see while I am here, very interesting place!
A view down to the beach from in front of the Philipsburg Courthouse
It would have been nice to get a reverse view of this, but some people parked their hideous cars in front of the courthouse 🙂 Click on the photo and you’ll see some more of the photos, including the courthouse,and a view down one of the picturesque streets of Philipsburg.
And there is just something about these “clocks” that begs to be photographed. I saw at least two of them in the streets of Philipsburg so far…
Clock on a post, in Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
And the Bays!!! Who knew there were so many? I still haven’t tagged the images properly simply because I can’t identify them myself (don’t worry, I’m on the case! they’ll be tagged shortly). The have Simpson Bay, Mullet Bay, Cole Bay, Oyster Bay (I think), and I do believe the list goes on further.
Click on the photos to go to the site and see a few others.
And of course, we have the obligatory seaside people photos… I tried a few things different for these two, so they ended up in my sepia and black & white collections.
One of my daughter Miriam and her Uncle Darren, that is more of a warm tone photo than a sepia, but I put it in the Sepia album just the same.
And the other is the black and white, of my wife Maureen and daughter Miriam, I rather like this one, not big on details, but it captures the “feel” rather nicely.
And there ends the second day of my stay in Sint Maarten. Don’t forget to click on the Bay or Philipsburg photos to see other photos from the trip.
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