Photography; I shoot what I like, and sometimes people like what I shoot. All photos are copyright to Michael C. Lam unless explicitly stated otherwise.
A street photograph – as much as I can get one 🙂
It really needs very few words, but what caught my attention was the way the police officer and her companion deliberately walked diagonally off the pedestrian crossing…
In Guyana… is just suh!
2014 | Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 17-50mm
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other attempts at Street Photography 🙂
OK, the title is corny, but I couldn’t resist it…
I wanted to get the rocks in the foreground and the couple on the wall… this was one of those shooting from the hip instances, I didn’t want to disturb them by stooping down and pointing a big DSLR directly at them.
Anyway, I got most of what I wanted and also got one of the large telecommunications dish from the GT&T compound. and it works… somehow…
I figured that Valentine’s day is almost here, why not put up a photo with a “couple”, and although I meant for it to be a “loving” sort of photo, the title stuck because of the rocks in the foreground… sorry, couldn’t help it 😀 I guess I could have tried for “Sending my Love” or something like that… nah!
2015 | Seawall, Thomaslands, Georgetown.
Click on the image to see it along with others in the Sepia Gallery of the Collection.
I almost regret using the photo “Removing the Lines” for the Four Days, Four Photos challenge that James Broscombe had set for Nikhil and I… It is a photo that had something to say… and would have allowed me to have something to say too 🙂
That left me going through the rest of my week’s haul looking for something that stood out 🙂
Although I go out with hopes of getting nice landscapes or seascapes, I am usually also looking for anything else that might be useful to my own vision of my photography, and recently, I’ve been shooting some unusual scenes (for me, anyway)
This is one I think that is more Nikhil’s subject type, but not necessarily his style, There was something about the way the shadow fell that caught my attention, and then the way the shadow changed as the surface upon which it fell changed made me look again.
In this light (no pun intended) I was drawing a comparison to the way our actions and our attitudes to others often elicit different reactions and responses from each person, while we cannot control or even predict how others react to what we say or do, we should be observant of that reaction, so that we may learn from it, and be aware of it for future reference.
All shadows are not equal, and each shadow changes with the surface upon which it is cast, sometimes the shadow is sharp, and defined, at other times it can be diffused or even murky.
Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm | 1/320s, f/10, ISO200
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with the other images so far from this year’s Deck Project.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
Although I am keeping an eye out for “square(s)” upon which to base my compositions this month, I didn’t intend to include one in each photo I choose for the Deck Project, but, coincidentally, this one met both criteria (so to speak)
I noticed the square shape of the front of the food cart (or juice cart), and the square doors, I ran upstairs to grab the camera (light conditions not ideal for the phone), when I came down the vendor himself had moved away from the cart (still to be seen wearing a beanie cap or tam and glasses at the back of the group of people), I was lucky enough to catch this “active” scene.
Everyone was trying to stay dry, from the cart-man to the pedestrians to patrons of the fast-food restaurant on the corner.
Staying Dry | Canon EOS6D, Canon 24-105L | 1/200s, f/5.0, ISO 200 (cropped)
I cropped the image for the final composition, because, frankly speaking, I was trying to stay dry too 🙂
Click on the image to see it in the gallery.
The Michael Lam Collection's Blog 