Tag: water

Elemental

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography, Poetry4 Comments

The clouds, they roll toward distant shores,
O’er seas and lakes, past engines and oars,
horizons mean nought, but a curve of land
that changes but slight, by nature or man

The sun shines on, through fog or haze,
O’er stormy skies, or clear summer days
It beats upon the land beneath
or upon the clouds, spread like a sheet

The sands, they move with the ocean’s might,
on ebb tide or flood tide, all day and night
valleys are made, with wondrous ease
and disappear as quickly as a deity’s sneeze.

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with others in my Black and White album

Photograph and Poem copyright to Michael C. Lam, all rights reserved.

2013 Deck – Week 22

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Our coastal sea-walls are fairly famous, built by the Dutch during their colonization of the area during the 1600’s and the 1700’s, and lasting all these years, protecting the land which they reclaimed from the sea (mainly Georgetown).

Whilst the walls keep the sea waters out, the Kokers (sluices) and pumps allow water accumulated in the drainage canals to be expelled out to the sea, the Kokers only work effectively if the tide is low, so the pumps are used to augment the Kokers, especially at high tide, but not exclusively.

While walking along the wall at Lusignan, I was passing one of the large pipes through which one of the pumps expel the water when I saw this scene.  🙂

Canon EOS 60D  |  Tamron 18-270 Lens  |  1/400s, f/11, 18mm, ISO400

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery with the other images from this year’s Deck Project so far.

2013 Deck – Week 20

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography2 Comments

I was processing this image as a part of another long-term project that I’ve been doing; Seascapes, but I decided that I would also include it into the Deck Project as it turned out so nicely 🙂

The water was lapping around the larger rock seen here, the tide was on it’s way out, and the sand/mud could be seen at the rock’s base when the wave had receded.  The waves seemed fairly predictable, coming in, swirling past the rock and then receding, so I set my self and waited for it, when it came in, it came a little harder and faster, and I involuntarily jerked backwards a bit and the shot actually came out at a bit of an angle, so I had to crop back to straighten the horizon.  I did have others that I could have used, but this one came out nicely, in terms of composition and the way the water was.

The skies were just how I like them recently, fairly dramatic, nice variations and with a fair amount of detail that I knew I could eke out of the RAW file.

Canon EOS 60D  |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  1/500s, f/14, 10mm  |  Rotational crop

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery

2013 Deck – Week 18

On By themichaellamcollectionIn 2013 Deck, Photography4 Comments

One of the techniques I like to experiment with is HDR, or High Dynamic Range, especially on landscapes.  I don’t mean taking a single exposure and tweaking it or running it through HDR software for the effect, I mean actually taking multiple exposures for recombination in post-processing.

Since the Canon allows me three sequential shots automatically, that’s the amount of frames I usually use, although I would get a better handle on the dynamic range if I used seven or nine exposures.  But since most times I do these things without hunting for my tripod, Is tick to hand-holding 3 exposures in those circumstances.

I took the exposures for this photo one morning on the way to work (I think it was a Saturday… had to be), I was driving and noticed the Lotus Flower first, then noticed the sky, and quickly decided that I wanted a photo of the scene rather than the Lotus Flower alone 🙂

Each exposure was taken one stop apart and recombined using Nik HDR Efex Pro (as a plugin for Lightroom)…my hand may have been a touch heavy on the saturation 🙂

Dayclean  |  Canon EOS 60D  |  Sigma 10-20mm  |  10mm, max aperture f/4

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

Pegasus on the Shore

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Turn back the clock 5 years and 4 months…  I was doing one of those things that the manual says not to… shooting towards the sun… but in this case I didn’t point directly at the sun.  Since I was pointing towards the late afternoon sun, all the colours in the image became washed out leaving an almost sepia-toned image, so I carried it that extra step further in post-processing and made it a Sepia-toned image.

What had caught my eye was the light glaring off of the water that remained after the tide had receded, it made for a nice high-contrast image.

March 2nd, 2008  |  Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Shot on the lonest end of the camera’s 12x Optical zoom.

Click on the image to see it larger in the Sepia Gallery, along with many of my other Sepia-toned photos

Sunset’s Ghostly Walker

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

I still think that some of my favourite photos are from my pre-DSLR days, but that is probably because those were the days of learning about photography… I’m still learning, but at a slower pace 🙂

Since switching to a DSLR, I found that I take less of the images that excited me back then… I take less Macro photos and I take less long exposures in the evening…

I’m sharing one of the those evening ones today,

Rupert Craig Highway, the Green Light you see there is the traffic light at the Conversation Tree junction.

October 22, 2008, 6:02pm  |  6s, f/8, ISO 80  |  Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery, along with some other Sunset / Sunrise photos

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 6

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography6 Comments

The Journey Back.

On the way back from Orinduik, the journey usually takes a slightly different path, we bypass some places, particularly Monkey Mountain, and this cuts short the return trip significantly.

As we awoke at Kurukubaru, we noticed that since the previous evening we could feel a soft drizzle and this had not changed, it was then that we were told that it wasn’t really a drizzle, we were simply in a cloud  🙂

The view from so high up is so breath-taking, that it is hard to render that on camera, one direction looks very much like the other, but you can’t help but snap a few anyway 🙂

Be caught up with the main convoy at Kato and continued our journey onward, here are some more photos from the trail…

We stayed at Yarong Paru where I got in some more photos to show  🙂

I even got one at a village further on, I think it was Tiperu, when Frank and a few others took a break and sat aside the trail  🙂

At Karasabai the Safari was pretty much over, at this point the option was given to members to either head back to town or proceed to Lethem for the Annual Rodeo.  We opted for town and overnighted at The Oasis at Annai

As we were crossing the Essequibo River at Kurupukari I noticed Jason washing down his tires from all the mud… presumably making room for more mud as we hit the trail on the other side 🙂

On the other side of the crossing we stopped for Lunch and I took a few moments to get in a couple of shots at the shop  🙂

If I ever make the trip again, I hope I get to spend more time at some of these villages.  Click on the images to see them larger in the Gallery along with all the other select images from the Safari!

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt. 5

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

As we were behind schedule, I thought we would have left Paramakatoi extra early, but we started out close to 8am and headed for Kato.

At Kato we had a brief stop, some vehicles were attended to, and some thirst needs were also attended to 🙂

Our next stop would be at Kurukubaru, although I did not take many photos on the way into the village or even at the village, this one of a family at their home I liked.

From Kurukubaru, our next stop would be the destination of the entire Safari, Orinduik Falls, the route there proved to be unusually treacherous for the vehicles, it was on the way there and back to Kurukubaru that evening that the vehicle suffered the most damage 🙂  Unfortunately, no photos, not a lot of stopping on that leg of the journey 🙂

Just to prove that the Destination was worth it, I’ve selected quite a few photos to show you of Orinduik.

One of my favourites from Orinduik, Jason and Lily take in the grandeur of Orinduik Falls

See the crazy white dude? He just HAD to get a bit of fishing in… no, he didn’t catch anything 🙂

A Panorama of Orinduik Falls to catch the breadth of this stage 🙂

Although we wanted to make it back to Kato that evening, we lost the main convoy in the rains up at Kurukubaru, and were advised by the villagers not to descend the mountain in the rain, so we spent the night at Kurukubaru, the highest village in Guyana.

There may be one more post in this series, but it will be sometime next week, the Easter Weekend is upon us 🙂

Please click on the photos to see them larger in the Gallery.

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012 Pt 3

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

We awoke on the third day of the Safari at Rukumotu, and after clearing up our campsite, we joined the convoy to start our day’s drive.  Shortly after leaving the village we saw the reason that Frank declined to descend the mountain at night… a very rocky and difficult drive, with loose rocks that needed some steady nerves for Nikhil.

Once on the valley floor we made better time, but for some reason we lost sight of the convoy, some gentlemen on a tractor indicated a route we should follow, the trail seemed fine until we came to  a fork, made deliberately because the older trail was badly damaged.  Although the bypass included a steep ascent, Nikhil mastered it like a veteran.

Further along the trail, we cam to a widening in the trail that was mud from treeline to treeline and probably more than twenty-five feet across, at this point we were still alone having not caught site of the lead vehicles of the main convoy as yet.  We were now two hours out from Rukumotu, not finding any path across that looked any better than another, we drove straight in…. and got stuck…

Although we tried extricating ourselves from the mud with the winch, we didn’t get very far, and decided to wait on more experienced travellers to assist us, surely the tail of the convoy would catch up.  After what seemed like an eternity, but was more likely a half of an hour, we saw the entire convoy coming up behind us… somehow we had gotten ahead of the lead vehicles.

We can take some comfort in the fact that most of the other vehicles also got stuck coming through that patch…  but we do hold the dubious distinction of being the first to get stuck… for the entire Safari.

Of course, Nikhil is also quite proud of being instrumental in hauling many of the others through, once we ourselves were on solid ground

From there to our next main stop at Yarong Paru (or Young Peru) it was uneventful (relatively); at Yarong Paru, we took a breather, and gave over some packages the convoy had brought along for the village, as well as made arrangements for re-fuelling… and I took some photographs too…  lovely spot on the mountain to be…

I even did a Panorama.

After leaving Yarong Paru, we crossed the Ichilibar bridge, and as we drove along the river bank, we noticed the scene towards the river, we paused (very briefly) to get a few photos.  Here’s one:

Our next stop would be at the village on Monkey Mountain, a hard drive, but I did manage to get in a few photos as we drove.

We arrived at Monkey Mountain with time to spare (compared to 2009 anyway), it was still daylight, as we prepared camp, and Naseem worked at our dinner, I managed to catch a nice shot of some children playing football not far from our benab.

Click on the photos to see them larger in the Gallery

Pakaraima Mountain Safari 2012

On By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography3 Comments

This year, as the teams are already on their first day into the 2013 Mountain Safari, I’ve decided to share some images from last year’s trip.

It begins at night, so there’s not much to see 🙂  Our fist stop is at Peter and Ruth, 58 Mile, Lethem Trail; that’s 58 miles from Linden.  There’s a GuyOil Service Station there now, as well as cellular service from Digicel.

Nikhil was our primary driver (but seeing as he didn’t trust any of us behind the wheel, he ended up being the sole driver; I don’t blame him, I wouldn’t trust me behind the wheel on a Safari either)

A view from the back seat, note the can to the right 🙂

The trail crosses the might Essequibo at Kurupukari, where the Mekdeci Mining Company operates the pontoon crossing.

After the crossing, we pass through the Iwokrama Rainforest Preserve, and as soon as you leave the forest, we are hit by the vastness of the Rupununi Savannas, and the lovely undulations of the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains.  Our next stop is The Oasis, at Annai, run by Mr Colin Edwards and the native Amerindians from the village.  Colin has carved out a piece of paradise at The Oasis and the Rock View Lodge just behind it.

After leaving Annai, we continue on the trail until the turnoff to the first village on the main Safari, Karasabai, where we spend our first night.  Along the trail, the view of both the Pakaraima Mountain range and the Kanuku Mountain range is breath-taking

At Karasabia, we arrive with just enough light left in the day to set up camp… and enjoy the sunset 🙂

I think the first day was probably the most diverse for the photography  🙂  I may not post tomorrow (it being Palm Sunday, but look out for my next post from the Safari.  Best wishes to those on this year’s Safari, come back safely.

Click on the images to see them larger in the Safari 2012 Gallery in the collection.