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 42

On December 6, 2013December 6, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography3 Comments

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

2013 Deck – Week 41

On December 5, 2013December 5, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I take photos of buildings, but I don’t share many of them, not many people seem to be interested in those types of photos. Originally this was going to be a photo of a building, and then the warmth of the late afternoon sun lit up the grasses in the area, and also the pontoons around the pump station, and I thought that it would make a better landscape image.

I was originally shooting in landscape (horizontal) orientation, but then I noticed the moon, and tried a portrait oriented version that I came to like.

After a slight crop, I decided that I wanted it for the Deck Project, even though I still think that there are others from this walk that I think are better. I had shot this with the Sigma Ultra-wide 10-20mm on the Canon 60D.

This is the pump station on the seawall along the Lusignan – Anandale area, I’m sure the fishermen in the area must be getting accustomed to seeing people with cameras in the area by now 🙂

This was one of the few times I approached a scene with a preconceived idea of what I wanted, and as usually happens, I usually never get what was in my mind’s eye, but keeping my mind open to the possibilities around, I came away with good images none-the-less, simply because the scene itself gave to the process.

I hope you like it.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from this Year’s Deck Project.

2013 Deck – Week 40

On December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography1 Comment

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

2013 Deck – Week 39

On December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

The Main Street Avenue is one of the few tree-lined avenues left in Georgetown, offices like the GRA and others believe that parking is more important than trees, shade, cooling and the beauty of the avenues, I believe that the “parking preparations that they have done to Waterloo street will result in those trees that remain there dying sooner rather than later.

Often, when walking down the avenue, I’d glance up at the lacy canopy and admire the shapes and patterns, and a few of those times, I’d even take a photo; this is one of those photos.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 36

On November 14, 2013November 14, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I had taken a number of photos this week at the Lusignan seawall area, but this one stood out for me from the moment I chimped and saw the image on the camera’s display screen.

I frequently see Jhandi flags along the seashore, but was never witness to the actual planting of one or seen the ritual taking place at such an event. Needless to say, I still haven’t; but on my way back to the vehicle that day I did see some people bringing their flags to the wall, they had brought them in the back of a vehicle, and were passing them along to each other to put by the sea.

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Click on the image to see it in the Collection, along with other entries for this year’s Deck Project.

2013 Deck – Week 34

On November 2, 2013November 2, 2013 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography1 Comment

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. 🙂