Kingston Seashore

On January 26, 2015January 26, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Landscapes and Seascapes… maybe even Cityscapes… that’s the kind of thing that I like shooting, Yes, I photograph lots of subjects, but this is what drives me really… at least that’s what I feel.

So…. when I see a sky with lots of detail (that apparently most other people don’t see) I almost have a compulsion to grab the camera and seek out a suitable scene.

While this spot might be considered overdone… the changing elements will always make it photogenic for me 🙂

2015 | Kingston Roundhouse

Click on the image to see it in the Black & White Gallery along with many other BW images in the collection.

2015 Deck – Week 03

On January 23, 2015January 23, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I don’t normally do abstract photography, actually, even including this photo I’m not sure I’ve ever done abstract photography, I just don’t see the world that way.

This photo I liked, I am not sure why, it just appealed to me, even when taking it.

To me it has an amalgamation of the things that make me “feel” like I am where I feel most comfortable, where I was born, where I was raised, where I belong… I am of Guyana, I am in Guyana, I am Guyana!

Now that I’ve gotten the crazy bits out of the way, here’s the photo 🙂

Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | 1/125s, f/10, ISO 100

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

…. and yes… that bit in the top right hand corner was knowingly left in the frame 🙂

Tree

On January 20, 2015January 20, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography, thoughts2 Comments

Georgetown, the Garden City; our fair city, once replete with Victorian and Colonial architecture, dutch built and inspired drainage canals reminiscent of European cities, and tree-lined streets and avenues, now laughingly referred to by it’s denizens as the Garbage City, floods with the slightest rain, governed (I use that word as loosely as is possible) by a city council that was elected two decades ago (although faces have changed, but not through any democratic process that I know of), and, sadly, losing it’s trees through neglect, sabotage, and lack of foresight (or hindsight it seems).

Most of the trees lining our streets predate us, they were planted, nurtured and cared for by colonial masters (and slaves) before our independence, before the Republic came into being, before self-governance and the long road that led to where we are today.

As we have travelled that road through time, our leaders, our people, we ourselves have forgotten or ignored what it was, what it is that makes Georgetown a place we want to live in, to visit, to be proud of… We as people, are not as welcoming as we should be, we as humans are not as caring of our environment as we should be.

Saving or replanting trees is not THE answer, but it’s a small part, one that is likely to go unnoticed or ignored.

Yesterday, Kamal Ramkarran wrote (on his own family’s place in our past and present):

As clichéd as it is, the lives of the six generations who followed them is the history of Guyana (from 1875 anyhow). All of us from here are, in a very real way, part of the history of this country. The history of Guyana is our own story, whether we know that story or not.

Since we are part of the story then, the story happening around us and through us, it ought to follow that we should make ourselves responsible for its present and future, just as we try to make ourselves responsible for the present and future of our own lives.

What part are we playing? Will what we do stand the test of time as those trees still standing attest to the work and acre of our predecessors/ancestors?

2013 | Tree in St Joseph Ursuline Convent compound, Camp and Church Streets.

Technically, the tree is in the portion of the compound now housing the St Angela’s primary school, the Ursuline compound also houses the St Rose’s Secondary School. Schools once run by the Ursuline Sisters, but were “nationalised” under the PNC government.

Vangelis

On January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

As soon as I saw this scene, somewhere in my mind I could hear strains of Vangelis’ compositions playing, and that name has stuck since then, even though I have only now processed the image itself 🙂

Unlikely to be anything but a “nice” photo, but I like it 🙂

2013 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm

Pear on the Pavement

On January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Last year, I walked a short distance from my office to see what I could snap for International Street Photography Day, I had used one of those images and posted it on my site. Yesterday, Fidal was asking if I had ever used the Canon 40mm pancake lens on the Canon EOS 6D, I knew I had, but couldn’t remember the circumstances… and it turned out that on that short walk I did use that combination, as I was checking the images, I decided to process and share a second one of those… same scene different take on it (much much closer to the subjects)

Canon EOS 6D, Canon 40mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

Men and Boys

On January 14, 2015January 14, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, thoughts2 Comments

I was originally just going to upload the photo and post a link to Facebook, but then I decided I actually had something to say…

Across the globe things are changing, rapidly in some places, slowly in others. While everyone is striving for an education and a job that earns a high salary, I think we too easily forget the way of life that actually matters; satisfaction at the end of the day’s work, a ready smile for friends and strangers alike, playtime as well as work-time, and actually caring about another human being.

This photo reminded me that we should pass onto other generations the joy of life, of actually living, and not just the drudgery of daily toil that has no reward but a monetary one.

Work hard, but enjoy the benefits of your labour, be able to say “I did that” with pride and with satisfaction; play easily without the need for satisfaction, but able to enjoy it for what it is, human interaction and the joy of Life; cry for joy and for sadness, because sadness means you were once joyful.

Look towards the horizon, curiosity is a good thing, but remember your roots, remember Home.

Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270mm | 1/125s, f/8.0, ISO 200 (46mm)

Click on the image to see it in the “Up East” Gallery (it only has 14 pieces so far) 🙂

Fishermen

On January 13, 2015January 13, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Third time.

I have no idea why I keep going back to this particular set of images, I’d shot a few frames of these fishermen on a photowalk in 2013, and I realized yesterday I’d now processed three of them…

one was a cover image for my Facebook page, a second one I had processed as a vignetted sepia image (two years ago):

And yesterday, I clicked on one and felt the need to process it in black and white…

Different but similar images, treated differently, tell different stories.

Click on the images to see them in their respective Galleries.

Smoke Signals

On January 10, 2015January 10, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, Seascape3 Comments

There was this “plume” of clouds in the sky that reminded me of the smoke signals I remember seeing in old Western movies, except that it was more contiguous than the separate puffs that I remember from the movies.

I was trying to get an average exposure, but no matter what I did that day the birds in the boat just “glowed”, the intensity of the afternoon sun I guess was just too much for my camera lens/sensor.

I only looked back at this image today and decided to process it through anyway 🙂

Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm EX Lens (@20mm, 1/125s, ISO100)

Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery, along with many other of my Black and White images.

Glee and Garbage

On January 9, 2015January 9, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Commentary, Photography, thoughts5 Comments

It is usually a breath of fresh air to read in the newspapers that some small group of people have embarked upon a “clean-up campaign” along our seawalls; one of the more recent ones would have been the one involving the Ministry of Natural Resources, the EPA (Guyana) along with the Pick It Up Guyana campaign, in the past the Guyana Shines group did a stint, on International Coastal Clean-up Day various NGOs came out in numbers, even the national Football (real football, not that American thing) Team even joined Youths For Guyana on a round of cleaning.

I prefer to re-iterate that cleaning up is an after-the-fact solution, our primary goal should be NOT to litter in the first place, we should be encouraging our peers, and children on a daily basis to do the right thing and put it in the trash!

How hard is it to keep your trash with you until you reach a suitable receptacle (the garbage bin in your yard works marvellously for this) to dispose of it in the right way?

When I take photos along our coast, invariably there is trash within spitting distance, much less within the scope of my camera lens, some of us include it deliberately to make a point, many of us (myself inclusive) try to compose to minimise the presence of the debris and detritus.

When I took this photo two years ago, I dismissed it out of hand as not appropriate for what I was doing at the time, but now, I think it makes a statement. Why should our children, who look forward gleefully to playing on the seawalls and seashore, be subject to the dangers, physical and health-wise, of the abundant and widespread disposal and accumulation of garbage on the seawalls?

We shouldn’t have to “Pick It Up” because we shouldn’t have thrown it down in the first place, let us live not for now, but for the future, our children’s future.

Click on the image to see it in the “Streets” gallery

2014 Deck – Week 52

On December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

Another year, another 52 images for the project. Almost thought I wouldn’t make it this year… My fascination with Jhandi flags on the shore as well as my focus on seascapes has spurred some thoughts to the cohesion of images into proper collections… My Oniabo collection is still taking shape and I hope that the new year will bear fruit in similar manner.

The last photo of the year exhibits the theme nicely, in colour, so it would not be a part of my Oniabo Collection, but it is a seascape with Jhandi flags at Lusignan.

After taking a series of images here, with both the Canon 60D and the Canon 6D, I then used my phone to snap one for Instagram, and I rather like that one!