Tag: The Michael Lam Collection

2012 Deck – Week 45

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I was checking out some photos taken by a young lady recently who aspires to become a professional some day, and there were a few images that had a distinct style that I think she can build upon.  One of the images were of some wind chimes, and because she approached the subject from a different perspective than we normally look at wind chimes, it was interesting.  Changing your perspective and shooting an object/subject from a lower or higher perspective, or a closer or wider perspective can alter the impression significantly and lend to the story you are telling.

Changing your perspective need not be only from a physical standpoint, as in where you place the camera in relation to a subject, but also a mental shift in perspective.  I see some things everyday, others less frequently, but they quickly become part of the fabric of life as I know it, yet sometimes its important to look at things with fresh eyes, or to remind ourselves that what we take for granted, others may be intrigued by.

This was taken on a walk through Bourda Market…

PT 938

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery!

2012 Deck – Week 44

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography8 Comments

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and taking some photographs of the best female golfer in Guyana, Christine Sukhram.  Most of you know that I am not a Portrait Photographer, I am not comfortable with directing ad posing models, and it was also evident to me that Christine was much more comfortable out on the Golf Course than posing in front of the camera, but both times I was able to walk away with a few photos that even I was comfortable with, and with the feeling that I had stood in the presence of someone who was not only comfortable with what they did, but was great at it.

She won her first Guyana Open Golf Tournament title in 2006, and this year marked her sixth Championship title in that tournament, for someone who has had to juggle a day job and still remain at the top of her game is impressive, I can only imagine what she could achieve if she were to go Professional, but in Guyana, we all need our day jobs 🙂

For Week 44 of the Deck Project I chose one of the images I took of her, which was also used in a promotional billboard, I chose it not because it’s a great photo (I am personally never that happy with my portrait photos) but because she is a great person, a great golfer, and as Guyanese we should be proud of her.  Maybe one day she’ll be ranked internationally like her compatriot Nicolette Fernandes who has made us proud locally and internationally in Squash.

Click on the image above to see it in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 42

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Sometimes, in any art form, you have to break away from the norm, step away from the straight and narrow line that you’ve followed all along, and try something different.

I’ve broken the rule about shooting into the sun before, so this is not new…. but trying to get the palm tree and horse as the focus while doing so was different for me, and even then I was not ecstatic about it, when processing, I went for a duotone processing that I don’t do, and I though that the result was pleasing.

Although the original duotone processing had much more colour to it, I toned it down a bit to bring the focus back to the photo rather than the duotone, and the result; “sunset Liliendaal” 🙂

sunset Liliendaal

Click on the image for a better view in the Gallery!

2012 Deck – Week 41

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography6 Comments

On a recent photo-walk with Nikhil and Sharon on the seawalls up the East Coast of Demerara, I found myself looking at the scenes around me and shooting without really thinking too much about it, almost on automatic.  I saw things to photograph, they caught my eye and I took a few snaps.

I wasn’t inspired, and I thought to myself that I’d be coming away with something “normal”, something that I would be happy with but not overjoyed.

On the walk back to the vehicle, I happened to walk under a fisherman’s shed, and the scene that caught my eye was different in a few ways from all that I had seen, nothing spectacular, but just different enough for me, and I stopped, took the time to set up the camera for a few bracketed exposures, and took two sets of exposures for later HDR-processing.

This was the result: At Rest.

At Rest

Click on the image above to see it better in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 39

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography10 Comments

Finding inner peace is not an easy task, and often times the path to it is fraught with despair.  With the myriad of daily struggles that we all endure, and the unexpected arrival of ones that we have no control over, it is no wonder that finding inner peace is difficult, and some may even say impossible.

Take a few minutes and get away from it all, go sit on the seawall in the shade of a tree, or the lee of a rock, and stare at the seemingly boundless ocean, towards the distant horizon, let your mind wander, free from the stress that has a vice grip on your soul… just relax, find a touch of inner peace in a moment of outward calm.

Click on the image to see it larger in the Gallery.

2012 Deck – Week 38

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Many moons ago, I sometimes took a few minutes to stare up at the stars and the moon, and let my mind wander, I haven’t done that in quite some time.  If you look at a child’s drawing, or an icon that is supposed to represent night, the moon is shaped in the crescent form, probably because the full moon would look like just a circle, and can be interpreted in many ways, but the crescent shape is instantly recognizable as the moon.

In Guyana it is not very common, but I’ve often seen drawings or paintings, and scenes in a movie or show where an old outhouse (the pit latrine) had a Crescent Moon carved on the door.  Many people see it as being decorative, the true significance have been forgotten by many and almost lost to the ages.  Apparently in ancient times the doors of the latrines were marked to identify the gender, the sun or star being for males (after the sun god Helios or similar deity) and the moon for the women (after the goddess of the moon, Celine or Selene, or similar deity).  So far the working theory as to why one with the sun or star symbol has been seen or recorded is that the women took better care of their out-houses 🙂

One night I got a message from Savita asking if I’d seen the moon that night, I hadn’t, and I told her so, she was excited that there was a star right next to the moon in the sky, and she hoped one of us could get a decent photo of it… I tried.

Not sure if you’ll see the star… but it’s there  🙂  Click on the image to see it better in the Gallery, along with a few other images in the Night album

Hermes

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography5 Comments

Hermes – God in the Greek Pantheon, often associated with speed and cunning, the messenger of the Gods.

I took of photo of an old Hermes typewriter whilst on a short walk down Main Street, I mainly took it because it made me remember how I first learned to type, on a Hermes typewriter, just like that one, but in better condition 🙂

At the time I didn’t like the resulting photo and just left it there in my catalogue, but on looking through some of my older stuff, I came across it again and decided to try processing it, after deciding on using a sepiatone process, I still wasn’t entirely happy, then I realized what was bothering me, it was the buildings in the background that showed in the upper portion of the photo, after judiciously cropping that out I was left with an image that I was more pleased with  🙂

Sometimes speed and efficiency can let images that are good slip away, simply because what needed to be done was to let the pixels age, and your outlook on the image mature.

Click on the Image for a better view in the Gallery, along with other Sepia-toned images in the collection.

2012 Deck – Week 37

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2012 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I have a few rules or guidelines that I try to abide by in my photography, and I’m not referring to the Rule of thirds or Rules of composition, I’m referring to ones that will guide me as a photographer and help me to get those photos that I want.

Rule #2:  STOP and take the shot

Many times we regret not stopping, for one reason or another, to take the “shot” that we could see in our mind; we saw it, we thought of how to compose it, maybe even how to process it afterwards, but unless we actually stopped and took the shot, everything else is supposition and a wasted opportunity.

I was driving down the Railway Embankment heading home and saw the colours in the sky developing into what could be a lovely sunset, I saw the clouds low on the horizon and the sun dipping towards them and I knew I had to take a photo of it.

A photo of a sunset, is a photo of a sunset, unless you have something else in the photo that adds interest, then its just a photo of a sunset, and there’s a million of those.  As I was driving down, looking for something to use in the foreground, I remembered the Chimney at Chateau Margot, and quickly diverted towards the main Public Road.  As chance would have it, I ended up behind some slow moving traffic and could not get to the spot as quickly as I’d have liked, but I got there, didn’t try to change lenses, but grabbed what was there and just shot a few exposures to get it.

Although I could have gotten the sky as I saw it earlier, from the road with houses around and utility wires all over the frame, I spent a few precious minutes to get to a spot I felt better about, and I think I can live with that  🙂

Click on the image above for a better view in the Gallery.