Black Flag

On January 3, 2014January 3, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

When I saw this flag, I knew I wanted a good photo of it, but never really processed it until now. This was taken on a photowalk that the Guyana Photographer’s Facebook group did in January of 2013.

I think I agree with Nikhil that my definitive photograph involving Jhandi flags was this one from last year’s Deck Project, but if you’re going to photograph along the coastlands of Guyana, you most likely will end up with Jhandi flags in some images.

I don’t see the Black ones as often as I see the Red, Yellow and White ones.

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/200s, f/10, 10mm, ISO100

Click on the image to see it in the Collection, along with others from the “Out and About” album

Fly

On January 2, 2014January 2, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

Something from last year 🙂 2013 was a good year, but then I think upon reflection, every year is a good year, there are always rough patches, but we live, we learn, we love, we laugh, we lose some hair, we leave behind the things we prefer not to follow us into the new year.

Where my photographs are concerned, I think I got a few good ones, a few great ones, but overall, I think I just got less time to go out and get photos from farther afield. But I think that I did a fair job of the Deck Project.

For the new year, I encourage anyone reading this to “Fly”, spread your wings and soar above the troubles of the world and find peace within yourself, I will be trying to do this myself.

Canon T1i, Tamron 18-270mm | 65mm, ISO 200, 1/320s, f/10

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with a few other Avian (Bird) Photos

2013 Deck – Week 52

On December 31, 2013January 7, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, Poetry5 Comments

Skies above and oceans below,
Soar above the tethered boats
Down winding creeks and rivers brown,
Past piers, docks and abandoned forts.

Wind beneath my outstretched wings
Sun upon my feathered spans
Gliding, soaring, questing far
Over seas and distant lands.

See upon a curved horizon
Tree-lined coasts, and wave-swept beach
Flying high above ocean’s blue
Soaring forward, to sometime reach

A land with trees laden with fruit
Ponds and lakes with fish aplenty,
Seeking always rich lands afar
Always knowing, there will be many.

Returning home, back to my shore,
To mangrove clumps and fishing boats,
To fly along the creeks that wind
And from its waters, slake my throat.

Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery along with the entire collection for this Year’s Deck Project!

2013 Deck – Week 51

On December 27, 2013December 27, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

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

2013 Deck – Week 49

On December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

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

2013 Deck – Week 48

On December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

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

2013 Deck – Week 47

On December 17, 2013December 17, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

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

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 45

On December 13, 2013December 13, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

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

2013 Deck – Week 43

On December 10, 2013December 10, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography, Poetry4 Comments

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 😀