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.
After posting Week 22’s photo, I did go back and look at the other photo from the week that had caught my eye…
Asleep under what little shade is offered by the tree so wanting of leaves, a man is kept cool by the sea-breeze in the hot midday sun.
I did some dodging/burning in the area where the sleeper was 🙂
50mm, 1/2000s, f/4.0, ISO100
Click on the image to see it in the Black & White Gallery along with many other black and white images.
I don’t always get a week that’s full of photographs, so on some weeks, like Week 22, there are slim pickings, and I have to choose either the more appealing photo, or one that no one would get…
I have the flu, so processing one that’s appealing is easier 😀
Maybe some time later, I’ll do the other one that I was considering 😉
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
This week I got access to my third DSLR Camera, I now have access to a full frame Canon EOS 6D, and as with both my previous Cameras, I wanted the first exposure to be a good one, not necessarily great or extra-special, but a good one.
I decided this time that instead of just finding a nice scene to capture that I know would come out well, I wanted to do an experiment… I know that I would get a vignette if I used a lens made for a crop sensor camera on a full-frame camera, so I thought I’d try to use it creatively… not sure what others would think, but I think it came out rather well…
So, now I’ve tried it, and probably won’t be doing it again 😀
Canon EOS 6D, Sigma 10-20mm Lens
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
I am scheduled to do a presentation of some of my select works on October 9th at Moray House (part of the Moray House Trust’s foray into encouraging local photographer to express their vision of their art), and I am very nervous about the whole thing, I am not sure what to say.
I often don’t mind sharing my work, but to talk about it makes me feel queasy; I’m usually afraid I’ll either come off as not knowing what it is I’m talking about, or as being pretentious, trying to pass off what I do as “art”…
But, I’ve committed to it and I’ll either make a complete mess of the whole thing or come out the other end, not much worse for wear 🙂
The title I chose for my Seascape collection is “Oniabo”, an Arawak word meaning water, I’ve decided to use an extended version of this title for this presentation at Moray House, which will include most or all of the 6 photos in the Oniabo series as well as other images at the seawall.
That being said, the photo I offer for this week was one under consideration to be part of that presentation, but was subsequently side-lined. Although it in no way resembles Hiroshi Sugimoto’s work, it reminded me that Sugimoto’s Seascapes collection is the reason I had decided to begin a Seascape project in the first place,
Sugimoto begins his description of his series like this:
Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention―and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.
My seascapes invariably often include some “land” or earth (a third element?), but this one I titled “Born of Air and Water” as a reminder to myself of Sugimoto’s words.
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm | 10mm, f/4.0, ISO100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from this year’s Deck Project
When film (or plate) was the way to capture photographs, there were many many debates, just like there are now. They didn’t debate sensor sizes, they debated film sizes (and that had so many I won’t even start on that), and just like many enthusiasts and professionals now debate colour vs monochrome, so it also went back then.
While there were specific films developed for both types back then, in the digital age we are pretty much guaranteed that the camera you buy, whether the one in your mobile phone, compact camera, mirrorless or DSLR camera, it will in all likelihood take the photos in colour, which you can then convert to monochrome (black and white, sepia, etc) in post-process, whether in-camera or in software on the PC. This changed when Leica developed their Leica M Monochrom, it was the first major brand to produce a high-end digital camera that produced only black and white photographs, and rumor has it Sony is working on a black and white version of their RX 1. I don’t want to get into a debate myself over the need or desire to have a camera that only shoots monochrome, I can only say that it is unlikely I would ever buy one myself, but that is probably only my wallet talking.
In the genre of Street Photography, there is usually a preference for black and white images, but there are many many great coloured Street Photographs out there, more than you’d think. Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work in street photography was very definitive for the genre, and all his work was in black and white, he also experimented with coloured film but was never satisfied with the results; of course, he only had access to the types of film available then (the 1950s) and if you look back at coloured prints from those days you’d see the limitations of the coloured film of the time. I dare say that if he had lived in a later era, he may have at least given the coloured films a chance.
When I first started taking photographs on a slightly more serious basis than just snapshots, I didn’t do much black and white processing, and even when I did, it was more for the novelty than because I knew why it should be done and to which photographs. Now I do a lot more processing in black and white…
What have I learnt that changed my views?
I’ve learnt that not all photos look good in monochrome, the tonal range and subject matter is very important for an image to look good in monochrome. Monochrome images tend to showcase textures, shapes and form better, and by removing colour from the image you are left with just the elements that make up the composition, and if those elements are not functioning correctly in the overall composition, it will feel off, or look cluttered.
When used correctly, colour will catch the eye and hold it, this works for some compositions, but for others, that same thing tends to shift the focus of the viewer from the overall composition and have them concentrate almost solely on one portion of the image.
I’m no expert, but this is how I see it; recently I took a few photographs of some Jhandi flags on the Kingston seashore, and I chose two that I liked, and I processed them quite differently, and primarily for the reasons stated above.
This one I chose colour, because the main subject and the focus of the image is the Jhandi flags themselves, the various colours chosen as they contrast with each other, the browns of the sand and the blues of the sky.
The second image I processed in black and white to articulate the relationship between the clouds in the sky with the sands on the ground, the change from dark to light in both the sky and the land as they meet at the horizon, the sharpness of the shadow from the midday sun, and the contrast between the flags on the pole so close to the viewer against what seems to be a smaller post in the distance to the left of the frame.
These are my decisions, they may quite well not be anyone else’s choice.
In the end, these are choices I make in how I express myself artistically now, it is not how I did it a few years ago, it may not be how I do it five years from now.
Click on the images to see them in their respective galleries.
In going over older photographs, I usually have an easy time of picking out the ones I want to keep and those that I either will never use or would come back to later (eventually).
This one sort of nagged me. I don’t think it’s a particularly great shot, but I kept going back to it, I decided yesterday to process it and see what developed, and although I still think it’s just a photo of a rock on the seashore, I’m partial to it.
Click on the photo to see it in the gallery along with others in the Black and White Collection.
Bask
Battered by the pounding waves
at times of high water,
stood upon as a refuge
from the swirling foam…
pinched by crabs as an anchor
from the pull of the receding waters,
Covered by shifting sands,
and uncovered by the waves,
ebb tide is past and
the waters are gone
basking in the warmth
of the sun, this fine dawn.
This week’s photo is about Implied Motion. OK, I lied, it’s a photo of a Jhandi flag at the Kingston seashore, but as it turns out it is one of those images that displays implied motion (at least for me)
Whenever we try to convey the idea of motion in a still photograph we usually do one of two things, we either have the main subject show motion blur with the background or rest of the scene in focus (such as light trails at night on the street, or a speeding cyclist, slightly blurred with the track sharply in focus) or we do the reverse, with the main subject in focus but the background blurred (such as in panning shots, or a pedestrian in front of a speeding minibus – by “in front of” I mean with respect to the camera, not the business end of the minibus – although that would make a dramatic photo of a different sort). 🙂
Another method might be to blur everything, such as taking a photo from inside a moving vehicle, creating that “vortex” look (on a side note, using the zoom on the camera while standing still produces neat effects too)
Chrono Photography is also a neat trick used to convey motion, by capturing multiple instances of a moving subject and then layering them in your favourite photo software creates a good sense of the subjects path through the frame.
After babbling about all these ways to create a sense of motion in a still photo, I will just say that I used none of the above for this photo.
This photo is either serendipitous or pure photographer’s luck (hmm, maybe one has something to do with the other). I had stepped out of my office intending to walk around a few blocks, upon looking up at the sky I notices the clouds in a lovely “blown” pattern, I decided to walk to the seawall instead. I have taken many photos of the roundhouse before (and will probably take many more), I have also taken many photos of Jhandi flags before (and will likely take many many more), but that day I saw the clouds in a dispersed pattern, a Jhandi flag blowing in the wind with the roundhouse as a backdrop, and I decided to compose and shoot it, I took a few exposures, then saw five birds flying from the roundhouse towards me… Serendipity!
I was also shooting with the Sigma 10-20 Ultra-wide lens on the camera, so I also got a bit of lens distortion at the edges that helped with the appearance of motion in the clouds toward the edges even more.
That’s a lot of preamble for one photo, but I hope I bored you enough that the photo is now more pleasing 🙂
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm
1/250s, f/11, ISO 100 | 6°49’34” N 58°9’45” W
Click on the image to see it in the gallery along with other images from this year’s Deck Project
The fascination with all things coastal continues! Of course, it’s more like searching for images that I like and since most of my time seems spent on the coast, that’s what you’ll get 🙂
The fishing boats at Lusignan, always seem to compel me to take a few photos, even if I never use them, but this one worked well for me, I think my processing went a tad overboard (no pun intended) but at the end of it all I still liked the final image.
I was considering a Dutch title for the image since the word Moored comes from the Dutch word Meren (according to some dictionary I was reading), but then the name Lusignan was from France, so I went with a French title instead (not that anyone really cares) 😀
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/250s, f/10, ISO 100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with the other images for this year’s Deck Project
I was walking along the seawall last year when I spotted these three birds on the rocks near the waterline, I was fortunate enough to get off one photo of them together before they separated further (in no small part to my approach)
Whenever I see three birds together I always think of Brother Bob, Bob Marley, simply because of those words in the song… “Three little birds, Pitch by my doorstep”
The song was actually called “Three Little Birds”, but most everyone I know refers to it as “Don’t Worry” or “Every Little thing’s Gonna be alright”
So these aren’t exactly little birds, and they certainly weren’t singing sweet songs, but they still reminded me of the song.
Hope you like it:
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-55mm | 1/500s, f/8, 50mm, ISO 100
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other Bird photos
Welcome back to my Deck Project, a photography project of one photo for every week of the year, giving me 52 photos for the year. (and there are 52 cards in a Deck of normal standard cards, not counting Jokers, hence the name Deck Project)
I start the year at a very familiar place, the seawalls, living on the coastland of Guyana gives us easy access to the sea and the extensive shoreline.
Recently there was a discussion about how Guyanese (among many others) prefer to use pirated software instead of paying. This has primarily to do with a difference in income levels and the cost of many software can easily exceed the salaries of the average or even above-average Guyanese. The cost of such popular photo-processing software as Adobe Lightroom and Corel AfterShot Pro has declined in recent years making it more affordable, but the habit of acquiring pirated copies persists. After this discussion I remembered Nikhil posting about an Open Source photo-processing software called LightZone, and I decided to give it a good try (even though I do own and use Adobe Lightroom)
This photo for the first week of the 2014 Deck Project was processed primarily in LightZone (but since I use Lightroom to interface with my website, I used Lightroom to tag/keyword and upload the image) LightZone is surprisingly versatile and powerful, I think I’ll be using it a bit more to experiment with some features as well as to encourage those who can’t afford Lightroom or AfterShot to try something that’s Free but also pretty powerful.
Canon 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/125s, f/8, ISO100, 10mm
Seawalls near Thomaslands, Georgetown
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
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