Tag: The Michael Lam Collection

In the Garden

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

In Georgetown, once called the Garden City, there were once many tree-lined avenues, it was once adorned by colonial and Victorian styled buildings throughout the length and breadth of the city, and the canals were bridged, and those bridges adorned by concrete railings or balustrades that were pleasing to the eye.

With the current rate of demolition of those railings by errant (more accurately worded would be “criminal”) drivers of minibuses and taxis, there will soon be no more of them around, and the powers that be do not seem to want to extricate from these culprits the requisite price to replace the damage with suitable aesthetically pleasing railings, when they do replace them, it is with crudely welded utilitarian structures, more suitable to a prison cell.

There… I’ve vented enough 🙂

I photographed this one on the portion of road that bridges upper High Street with Main Street, this would have once seen the trains that serviced the coast of Demerara, would have been covered in soot from the engine stack, not it is occasionally white-washed, and more often left to have mildew and vines grow upon it.  🙂

Why did I photograph it?   it was there… it seemed like a good idea at the time 🙂

2015  |  Canon 60D, Canon 40mm  |  Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the “Odds and Ends” Gallery in the Collection

Out There

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

I shoot some odd scenes (more often than I’d like to admit) and when looking back I sometimes wonder what had gotten into my head to shoot them, then in a few cases, after a bit of consideration, I decide to process one anyway…

This is one of those “odd” scenes; it was almost twilight I guess, the sun had set (officially), yet there was light in the sky… and the crescent moon was still in the sky…  clouds were covering parts of the sky, not necessarily in a pretty way, yet I had the inclination to snap a few shots.

At this time of the year, the crescent moon is more like a smile than during mid-year when it’s more sideways…  I’ve heard it referred to as the Smiling Moon, or the Cheshire Moon (a reference to the smile of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland); in Hawaiian mythology and folklore it’s also called the Wet Moon, because of the “bowl” shape it resembles at this time, with “wet” referring to the moon holding the waters of the rains that were soon to come…

I digress….

It’s an odd scene for me, so I took some time to process it since it was not an easy one (processing-wise, that is)…  I used Nik Silver Efex, and did some exposure reduction in the upper portion to further emphasize the moon and the star (nothing has been added or removed).

2011  |  Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270mm

Depending on our cultural, religious or scientific knowledge and beliefs, we will each look up into the sky and wonder different things; about what is “out there”, the myths and legends of ancient civilisations colour our imaginations, the teachings of our theologies ask us to believe in our maker(s) and for some an after-life, astronomers and movie-makers give further impetus to our imaginations of worlds and galaxies more spectacular than the pin-point stars we see with the naked eye…  poets and song-writers pull at our heart-strings with words and melodies, with stories of love and lust under the darkened dome,

Most of us will never leave this rock we call Earth, but that should not stop our imaginations, our desires, our dreams, for there is undoubtedly more out there than we know.

Click on the image to see it in the Odds and Ends Gallery 🙂

2015 Deck – Week 05

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

A new Koker takes shape at Buxton.

In the context of current instability mostly due to imminent elections in Guyana, this can lend some social commentary, if one chose to look at it from certain vantage points.

You may have to look twice, but there is dog running away from it all in the scene.

I leave the storytelling to your own imaginations 🙂

Buxton, East Coast Demerara  |  2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the 2015 Deck Gallery.

The Carpenter’s Tools

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

Every so often, I take photos, then never get around to looking at them until long after… I think I still owe someone some wedding photos… oops!  Good thing I don’t do this as a paying job.

Anyway, I took about ten shots of this during the third week of 2012, a few before Vishal put the level next to the tape and a few after.  I felt that there was something there, but don’t think I got what it was… yet, I went back to this today and processed this one…   three years later, I’m regretting not trying a few other angles and perspectives that occur to me now… I’ve learnt a bit since then, hopefully I get to put what I’ve learnt into practice 🙂  Going back to these images, reminds me of what I did, what I didn’t do, what I could do, and keeps me thinking about the next time I come across a similar scene and what I might do 🙂

Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 18-270

Click on the image to see it in the “Odds and Ends” Gallery in the Collection

Stand

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

So, words almost failed me when it came to describing this photo for you (not that I need to describe it… you have eyes), maybe the few I could muster will suffice:

Stand to stretch your legs,
Stand to rise above,
Stand to show respect,
Stand to see beyond,
Stand and face the future,
Stand and feel the breeze,
Stand and show defiance,
Stand for who you are.

2015  |  Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, Guyana

Click on the image to see it in the Black and White Gallery in the Collection

Welcome

On By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

The driveway to the Cara Lodge hotel definitely says “welcome” to me.

I find this place to be warm and welcoming, and while many visitors to Guyana always mention the warmth of the people, I’ve found that the staff I’ve encountered here is that way with everyone, locals and visitors, and that’s refreshing.

2013  |  Cara Lodge Hotel, Quamina Street, Georgetown, Guyana

Stride

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

This is Georgetown, Guyana, if you walk through the streets, you’re bound to come across a few characters before you walk a few city blocks, photographing them is a whole different story.

Most people are very wary of cameras, they believe you’re either some foreigner trying to “make money off their image” or “from the papers”, apparently people just being photographers who do it for fun or for art isn’t something they’ve quite gotten used to as yet.

When Nikhil pointed out this man to me, we were walking toward the curb, and I quickly snapped photos from the hip… almost like a spray and pray technique 🙂

I had the Canon EOS 60D with the Canon 40mm pancake lens on, as I never did get the “shoot from the hip” method quite right, this one had to have some rotational cropping done to make it presentable, but I really wanted one to share as there was something about this fellow that made a photo compelling.

Seen large, he’s wearing a t-shirt (or vest) under that shirt that has USA emblazoned across the chest… 🙂

2015  |  Canon EOS 60D, Canon 40mm Pancake Lens

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other attempts at street photography

2015 Deck – Week 04

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, PhotographyLeave a comment

On a Saturday after work (which is generally after noon) I try to make a stop along the seawall, just to walk, feel the breeze, and hopefully get a few photos in, the harsh sunlight in the middle of the day is generally considered to be “not the best” light for photography…  but for me, it’s the time I have available mostly, so I have to make it work 🙂

I’ve walked past this particular piece of wood many times, but never saw anything I wanted to shoot… that happens a lot to me, but this day, the sky had some nice striations, after squinting and peering at the sky for a while I decided it had enough detail to work with for what I had in mind 🙂

Thomaslands, Georgetown.  |  Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images in the 2015 Deck Project.

Cara Lodge

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

An outside view of the Hotel,

I had dropped by hoping for a nice “blue hour”, and took some exterior photos of the hotel.  Tripod in hand, bag on my back, I kept moving from position to position for more than an hour… I think the guard was getting suspicious even though he was aware of what I was doing 🙂

Got there maybe 5:30pm, took my first shot by 5:45pm… this one was just about 6:30pm

2013  |  Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown, Guyana