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.
I don’t always get a week that’s full of photographs, so on some weeks, like Week 22, there are slim pickings, and I have to choose either the more appealing photo, or one that no one would get…
I have the flu, so processing one that’s appealing is easier 😀
Maybe some time later, I’ll do the other one that I was considering 😉
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
Buildings with character always fascinate me, but often I will look at the scene as I am passing and think, “it doesn’t feel right”; that has worked against me a few times already when one day I pass by and the building has been demolished. If it were just for a record of the building, then any photo would do, but I don’t just want a record, I want a photo that speaks to me.
There’s a mosque / masjid at La Bonne Intention (LBI) that I often pass, and consider that there’s a photo there somewhere, but I seldom see what it is that I should be photographing, I’ve stopped to photograph it twice, the first time I was trying to force the photo, but the second time, I was about three villages away and saw the skies to the south and thought that this was a good opportunity to try the photo(s) that I wanted.
Even before reaching the mosque I knew that I’d be using multiple exposures for some HDR processing after.
Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm | HDR from 3 Exposures.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.
I usually have a fair amount to say about an image, but for this week’s photo, I’ll let you form your own thoughts.
Canon EOS 60D | Canon EF 55-200mm | 100mm, 1/500s f/10 ISO100
Click on the image to see it in the gallery
For this week I actually had quite a few photos to choose from, mostly along the seawalls. Fidal Bassier had invited me along to shoot with him, he was doing part of a photo-shoot for Miss Earth Guyana, Ms Stacy Ramcharran, and even though I was late getting there, I decided to stop anyway and see what was going on.
The talented team from Bravo Arts under the direction of Steve Bravo had already done an amazing job of the body paint etc., and Stacy’s entourage were well in attendance and assisting her with all the necessaries.
Fidal was setting up on a mound on the southern side of the National Park, the winds had picked up a bit and he asked me to help hold one soft-box in position while I was there… but I’m a photographer, and I just couldn’t resist the urge to click the shutter button.
Whilst holding the soft-box in one hand (the wind was trying very hard to tug it out of position and out of my hands), I slung my backpack to the side and extracted the camera with one hand, the lens on the camera would have to work… it was the Sigma 10-20mm, so I suspected that cropping after was most likely.
I took only two photos, mainly because Fidal decided at that moment to switch locations, and by the time we had set up at the next spot, it was time for me to say adieu. One photo I had cropped and sent to Stacy, she ended up using it as the Cover image for the official Facebook Page for Miss Earth Guyana 2014:
The second one, I did not crop, it was the one I preferred, and I had decided since then that I would likely use it for the Deck project, so here it is:
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with other images from this year’s Deck Project
All-in-all, it was educational to watch these folks at work, and that I clicked the shutter twice, and got two photos that were usable, I feel good 🙂
This week’s photo is about Implied Motion. OK, I lied, it’s a photo of a Jhandi flag at the Kingston seashore, but as it turns out it is one of those images that displays implied motion (at least for me)
Whenever we try to convey the idea of motion in a still photograph we usually do one of two things, we either have the main subject show motion blur with the background or rest of the scene in focus (such as light trails at night on the street, or a speeding cyclist, slightly blurred with the track sharply in focus) or we do the reverse, with the main subject in focus but the background blurred (such as in panning shots, or a pedestrian in front of a speeding minibus – by “in front of” I mean with respect to the camera, not the business end of the minibus – although that would make a dramatic photo of a different sort). 🙂
Another method might be to blur everything, such as taking a photo from inside a moving vehicle, creating that “vortex” look (on a side note, using the zoom on the camera while standing still produces neat effects too)
Chrono Photography is also a neat trick used to convey motion, by capturing multiple instances of a moving subject and then layering them in your favourite photo software creates a good sense of the subjects path through the frame.
After babbling about all these ways to create a sense of motion in a still photo, I will just say that I used none of the above for this photo.
This photo is either serendipitous or pure photographer’s luck (hmm, maybe one has something to do with the other). I had stepped out of my office intending to walk around a few blocks, upon looking up at the sky I notices the clouds in a lovely “blown” pattern, I decided to walk to the seawall instead. I have taken many photos of the roundhouse before (and will probably take many more), I have also taken many photos of Jhandi flags before (and will likely take many many more), but that day I saw the clouds in a dispersed pattern, a Jhandi flag blowing in the wind with the roundhouse as a backdrop, and I decided to compose and shoot it, I took a few exposures, then saw five birds flying from the roundhouse towards me… Serendipity!
I was also shooting with the Sigma 10-20 Ultra-wide lens on the camera, so I also got a bit of lens distortion at the edges that helped with the appearance of motion in the clouds toward the edges even more.
That’s a lot of preamble for one photo, but I hope I bored you enough that the photo is now more pleasing 🙂
Canon EOS 60D | Sigma 10-20mm
1/250s, f/11, ISO 100 | 6°49’34” N 58°9’45” W
Click on the image to see it in the gallery along with other images from this year’s Deck Project
Once called the Garden City, now laughingly referred to as the Garbage City, Georgetown was known for it’s tree-lined Avenues and streets, and the tree-lined canals and trenches that divided the wards of the city and provided drainage for a city that was built upon land reclaimed from the ocean, and sits six feet below sea-level.
Today many of those drainage canals have been filled in for pedestrian walkways (most notably those running north-south such as along High Street, Carmichael Street, Waterloo Street and Camp Street). Many of the trees that lined the avenues, streets and canals have died (or been cut down) and have not been replaced. For many of us, we still see the trees that line our streets as being numerous, but this was a much more verdant city, we see it in the old photos and paintings.
Some of the older trees remain and provide some shelter from the tropical sun that bathes our city daily, some are even large enough to help provide shelter from the sudden shower of rain that cools the land and washes away the surface dirt that blankets the city, mainly from our own daily activities.
Walking down the Avenues that are still lined with these sentinels, I often look up at the canopy of lace-like branches and leaves that provide a respite from the midday sun and often ponder on what might make a good composition. I often take photos, but they just as often fail to live up to the ideals that reside in my mind’s eye.
Here’s a simplistic version that I favoured among the many that I took 🙂
Lacy Leaves
Leaves and branches adorn the sky
An organic filigree
Earthen wrought and weather tempered
It’s not just a tree.
Intertwined and interlocking
like a spider’s gossamer
A lacy parasol that once was
the city’s glamour.
Click on the photo to see it in the Gallery.
I’m not sure I ever come out of these events with the right photos… but I think I usually get a few that are nice, and once in a while, one that is very nice.
Mashramani was on a Sunday this year, making the following day a holiday, so it was more relaxed for me in a way, there were a few bands fewer as well, so the last band came earlier than normal, which is good, I always get a bit peeved when the last band comes and the sun is already getting low in the sky
I was without my flash this year, and shooting into the sun without fill-flash was a different experience for me. Also without my Tamron 18-270mm I felt a bit lost, but I stuck to my plan of attempting it with a borrowed Canon 55-200mm, and I think I did a fairly decent job of it.
I usually cull the set much more than this, but I think that these are fairly representative of the day, and I decided to keep almost all of the first draft.
Click on the image above to see the Gallery on the site for the full set, I will try to do a Select collection soon.
I had taken this photograph of one of the many trees lining the Main Street Avenue, it struck me that I could look up at these canopies along the avenue and feel a sense of calm and even tranquility but when I look back down and around me I am surrounded by rushing people, rushing vehicles, horns blaring and exhausts fuming.
Whilst processing the image I couldn’t think of much to say about this to put on the blog here… and I thought I’d take up a suggestion someone once made about using a Haiku Poem to accompany it (for some reason the image gave me an Oriental vibe). I read up on Haiku and realised that anything I attempted would likely come out wrong… and probably be laughed at by anyone who knows about Haiku, so I decided to at least put in these two paragraphs to accompany the photo, and yes I will put the attempt at Haiku under the photo… If you don’t know about Haiku, then I’ll be fine, if you do know about Haiku… just don’t laugh out loud 😀
Fresh scents, a clear day
Trees adorned with other life
A busy street thrives.
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
I selected one of the images I took from the recent Guyana Photographers’ Photowalk to the Conservancy via Canal #2 for my Deck Photo for this week.
While I’ve never swum or plunged into the Conservancy, I do remember the many outings to creeks and diving off of a tree at the side, even after being warned that it was either shallow or may have stumps unseen under the water.
This shot reminded me of those days. Many other photographers on the walk captured this moment, one even at, what appeared to be, the same moment, but it still remains one of my favourite images from the walk. When I noticed what was occurring, I knew I didn’t have time to stop, bring the camera to my eye, compose and shoot, so I shot it from the hip 🙂
Canon 60D, Sigma 17-50mm | 17mm, ISO 100, 1/400s, f/9
Click on the image to see it in the Gallery
We recently had a Photowalk for willing members of the Guyana Photographers’ Facebook Group, it was ostensibly called “Canal #2 Photowalk”, that just meant we met at the western end of Canal #2 on the West Bank of Demerara, right where it meets the Conservancy, from there we chose a direction to walk (by default we headed North). Each member is initially allowed three images to upload to the album on the group, and Fidal Bassier wanted us to put some emphasis on “Composition” for this PhotoWalk, so there was some discussion about it… and I chose these three photos for certain reasons.
First image: House – 14-1649
I was mentioning to someone at the beginning of the walk (or a few someones) that it is important to know what makes a good composition, read as much as you can on things like the Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, and other compositional aids, rules and guides. Once you know these things it makes composing a decent image all the easier, but it also allows you to realize that some scenes will allow you to “break” those rules.
For this image I pretty much threw the Rule of Thirds away… the main compositional aid being a Leading Line – the bridge leading you to the house, but even this is muted a bit by the shadow across the early portion of the bridge.
Second image: Sit – 14-1654
Initially the impulse was to zoom in to avoid all the clutter in the photo to simplify the scene down to the man, the boat and the conservancy behind him; but I thought that including the rough woodwork and using the low sun as a backlight would make for a nice silhouette shot or at least a more inclusive rather than exclusive composition. The low-hanging branch also helped enclose that corner of the frame. Shooting into the sun naturally desaturates a scene, and I used this to advantage in the colouring of the image. I also again ignored the Rule of Thirds and relied on the leading lines of the wood and the bright sun to lead you to the subject.
Third image: Prelude to Sunset – 14-1698
It seemed that although a few of us wanted to stick around to see the sunset, others preferred to get going… so I took a Prelude to Sunset photo. When I first started taking photos, I would be happy with just a plain nice sunset, but as I began to appreciate some more the images that actually made me look twice at them, I came to realize that some Sunset images (and most landscape ones, come to think of it) needed a foreground object in the composition to hold your attention as well, so I tried to include a portion of a rusty pontoon. I exposed for the sky and had already decided that I would be doing some post-process fill-light to regain some detail in the pontoon.
I hope I didn’t bore anyone with all of that… overall, I think it was a good Photowalk. Click on the images above to see them in the Gallery along with other images in the “Out and About” album.
The Michael Lam Collection's Blog 