Tag: sign

Tower

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Back when it was still called Hotel Tower.

There has been a Hotel with the word “Tower” in its name on this spot for more than a century.  I can’t find enough online historical evidence, but before the current name “Tower Suites”, it was the Hotel Tower for many years, and prior to that it was the Tower Hotel.  I saw an 1909 Ad that claimed that “The Tower is the oldest and Best Hostelry on the Northern Coast of South America”.  🙂

Hotel Tower  |  2009  |  Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2015 Deck – Week 34

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I realise that this one might need some context…  which, in the eyes of some, makes it a less successful photograph that it could have been.  Of course, I could just as easily not give context and it could probably be a better photograph for it…

But, I will put in my few words anyway 😀

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm.

Main Street/ High Street, Georgetown.

Basically, I wanted a photo of the pedestrian in the distance with the recently knocked down / destroyed sign in the foreground; the sign that once indicated to drivers and pedestrians that there was a pedestrian crossing ahead.  🙂

But this photo got me to also thinking about the street upon which I took the photo; this portion you see is called High Street, the portion behind me (which is obviously not in the photo) is called Main Street, as you proceed further south it then changes to Avenue of the Republic and then back to High Street.  Why would what is effectively one street have four different named sections?  From what I’ve read, it was possibly once called simply “High Street”; the portion running through Cummingsburg was then named Main Street, and then when Guyana attained Republic status the portion running through Lacytown was renamed to Avenue of the Republic.  Interestingly, after a slight detour around St Saviour’s Church, it becomes Saffon Street, this, however, never seems to be considered as part of the “High Street” issue.

Stretches of streets within Georgetown which have multiple names is normally attributed to the fact that Georgetown was originally built as a number of different wards, and the streets were never meant to be contiguous, then the wards were joined together, the multiple names resulted, along with some streets having a slight turn to continue since the original ones were not in-line.  The wards involved in the High Street issue are Kingston (High Street), Cummingsburg (Main Street), Lacytown (Avenue of the Republic) and Stabroek / Werk-en-Rust – and part of Charlestown (High Street).

Click on the image to see it in the gallery.

2013 Deck – Week 24

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography6 Comments

There are some scenes you come across that just beg to be recorded, and having a camera (or a device with camera capabilities) on hand makes it so much easier.  My number one rule in photography is to always have a camera with me (not always practical).

It’s occasions like these that make it so worthwhile to actually have a camera… and the more I think about it the less words I can find to express/explain anything about this image 🙂

Canon Rebel T1i  |  Sigma 17-50mm  |  1/1000s, f/11, 50mm, ISO400

You really should click on the image to check it out in the Gallery

A bit of the background on the image:  It was midday, and we were not allowed onto the seawall as some ranks of the Guyana Police Force (and maybe a few civilians) were shooting live rounds out to sea), so we had stopped and were about to turn back, when this one officer approached the one sitting on the bench, could not help but try to capture it  🙂

P.S.  You may be able to read the sign on the larger version in the Gallery (it says DANGER – LIVE FIRING IN PROGRESS)

On the Street

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

OK, maybe the title isn’t accurate, the photo I will use was taken a little distance from the street, but it’s also about a point I made recently.

On the Guyana Photographers Facebook page, we had a Challenge for “Street Photography”, and one of the points we made was that it did not have to be literally on the street; the genre encompasses images that capture aspects of “Life”, it will always have a human figure in it, because that’s what the genre is about, human’s and their actions .  It can be a shot of a vendor on the street, or a vendor in a market stall; a woman riding a cycle down the road, or hanging out her laundry in the yard; a man on the corner reading the morning newspaper, or at his desk writing a memo.  The best street photographers usually manage to tell quite a story in one image, there is often irony, or action; discourse or solitude and regardless of what story you get from it, it’s a story that you the viewer can understand whether or not its the story being told.

I am NOT a Street Photographer, I fail dismally at my attempts, but mostly because I am not into taking those types of images, except by happenstance.  If you want to see good Street Photography by Guyanese photographers, check out the works of Nikhil Ramkarran and Avinash Richard, while neither do the genre exclusively, they both capture moments of time in the life of Guyanese that can be spellbinding.

This one is one of my better ones to date… but only because of the irony  🙂

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

My Tamron 18-275 lens has some dust inside it, by pointing towards the sun two spots showed up in the image which were later emphasized by the BW processing, those were cloned out  🙂

Expression

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

During this season when many people wish for World Peace, Goodwill among Men, we also see many young lovers finding new ways to express their love for each other.

Many novels and movies have lines like “I’ll shout it to the Heavens”, but it seems that in Guyana, we have a new method… “I’ll paint it on the Seawall!”

Some man (or woman, we are living in a new age) seriously meant for the subject of their amorous intent to see the writing on the wall  🙂

Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery along with other images done using the HDR (High Dynamic Range) multiple exposure method.

This image is an HDR composite of three exposures, I stood there waiting for the traffic to clear long enough for the three exposures  🙂

Princess Alice, Mona and Papine

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

Yesterday we took a drive down the hill to go get some fruits and some tea bags.  Our route would carry us to pass by the house where I walked for the first time (not made my first steps, but actually walk), it was in Princess Alice Drive, the house itself had changed, so although I took a photo of it I didn’t bother to post it, I sufficed with a photo of the street sign:

On our way to the market we next made a drive through the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies, to see the University Chapel where many of my family who grew up in Jamaica got married (according to my cousin)  🙂

Then we finally made it to the market in Papine, where we wandered around for a bit while Nyuk Lan bought some fruits:

Of course, before we left to head back home Alexis insisted we stop at Tastee to buy Jammie Patties and Coco Bread.  I have to admit that I prefer the Jamaican Patties from Tastee over those from Juici, but will eat either  🙂  The Coco Bread is very similar to what we call Butterflaps in Guyana.