Expressions

On February 20, 2020 By themichaellamcollectionIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Shooting in the streets can be a hit and miss form of photography, especially when you’re doing it “on the move” like I do. I know many Street Photographers sit and wait for things to happen, and these result in some extraordinary images. I tend to take photos on the street while I’m walking, either to a particular destination or just walking like a rabid dog in the midday sun (the words of the song go “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun…”, and since I’m not an Englishman, I must fall into the Mad Dog category)

On this particular day, as I walked beneath the midday sun, I took maybe about 19 photos during the space of a half hour, I think a normal day I’d get a lot less. Of these 19, I had set aside 4 keepers and a possible two others for later consideration. Of the four, one I posted directly to Facebook, another I gave over for use in a poetry blog, and of the remaining two, I had one that I thought was quite the catch in terms of Street Photography.

I was very happy with the overall capture, but more so of the expressions on the faces of the people within the frame, I hope you enjoy it, click on the image to see it in the gallery along with other images “In the Streets”

2015 Deck – Week 38

On December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography1 Comment

The Jerk Hut

With a name like that I was expecting Jamaicans, from the accent to the food. Sadly I was disappointed on both counts when I was there. The grilled fish was good, but with more bones than I like (quite acceptable to most people, I’m just quirky that way), but the Jerk pork was nothing like what I enjoyed in JA. It seems I must plan a visit to my uncle 🙂 Speaking of which, trips cost mulah, and if you see something on my site you like, don’t hesitate to buy 😀

Anyway, fun aside… this place was RED, from the tent/roof, sides, tabletops, aprons… all RED. So, it’s not that I overdid it on the photo, it’s just that the place was like that, and the poor phone camera had a hell of a time focusing because of it. I’m glad I got the shot I did.

The Jerk Hut (Amaro) | Instagram | Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Duos

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery!

Street

On August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

Today we honour one of the more famous of the Street Photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson (born August 22, 1908). I won’t try to mimic or even come close to his type and style of street photography… but here’s a Georgetown Scene for you.

Morning Munchies

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery along with some other Street Photographs.

500

On June 19, 2015June 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography4 Comments

The Art of Photography and Photography as Art

2015 – Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

This blog post is a milestone of sorts, it marks my five hundredth blog post. It began on a sad note, with a photo from my maternal grandmother’s funeral, it has been more of a photo journey rather than a photo blog, more about myself and the photos than about the photos themselves I suppose, so it’s rather like a journal…almost… of sorts.

On this journey I’ve learnt a lot, with still much more to learn, I’ve met many other people with a passion for photography, and many who love to look at beautiful imagery.

I have learnt that there is a difference between the Art of Photography and Photography as Art, and I believe that it is a realization that comes to most of us who pursue it with an aim for creating “art”.

2010 – Canon T1i, Sigma 18-270mm

It sounds presumptuous even to my own ears to refer to anything that I produce with the camera as “art”, but people like my friend Nikhil would thump me behind the head for even saying that. Not everything I take can be considered as art, so I humbly submit that I have a few that may be taken into consideration by those who are more knowledgeable than myself and more in-tune with the art world to be judged and pronounced as art.

Nikhil would also tell me that I have had work exhibited once at the National Gallery of Art (Castellani House) and have also been among the finalists in two of the recent Guyana Visual Arts Competitions, so I can’t get away with trying to play modest about being called an “artist”.

2011 – Canon Rebel T1i – Tamron 18-270mm

I began as most of us probably did with learning to use the camera and just snapping away at anything and everything that caught my eye.

After a while it began to be more important to learn and understand the art of photography, to understand how light plays an important part, where paying attention to composition results in a much better photo of the same subject. The art of photography is to know your camera (whether it’s a mobile device such as cellphones or a larger DSLR) to learn what it can and cannot do, and to know how to use it to accomplish what you want. Like any craftsman worth his salt, the art of the craft is the union of the person and the tools at hand.

It is good to learn different techniques, different approaches, different styles; that can be part of your arsenal, but it need not define the photograph you take.

2012 – Canon T1i, Tamron 18-270mm

The photograph is an extension of your self, it is a product of your own thoughts and skills, when the photograph stops being just a snapshot and becomes an expression of an idea, a concept, more than just a moment frozen in time, then it is possible that you have created a piece of art.

Photography as Art has to be more than just a pretty photo of a pretty scene or even a technically perfect photo of a dilapidated house, for a photograph to be Art it should have soul, it should convey an idea, elicit a reaction from the viewer, it has to be seen, talked about, appreciated or ridiculed even.

2013 – Canon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270mm

Not many of us in Guyana can successfully claim to be original in our photographs, most of it has been done before and by better artists than ourselves, Photography as an Art has to overcome the fact that everyone now has access to a device that captures images, and in the maelstrom of images swirling around the internet we have to produce a piece that stands out, that makes people stop and look, but also to have them remember it afterwards, to recall it and speak about it.

Art is subjective, that’s basically saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is not enough for the creator of the piece to want it to be art, the viewer has to appreciate the piece, not necessarily from the perspective of the creator but from how it affects them.

2014 – Canon EOS 6D, Canon 24-105mm

All the images in this post are “new to you”, they are from the six years than span this blog, 2010 to 2015, one from each calendar year. I went through the files looking for images that I have overlooked, or just not processed, not looking for any subject in particular, but for images I think worth processing, worth sharing and reflect what I would like to show others.

I hope that at least one strikes your fancy.

Click on each one to see them in their respective galleries in the Collection. Thank you for being a part of my journey so far.

2015 Deck – Week 08

On April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2015 Deck, Photography2 Comments

Each week it is hard to make a choice of a photo for the Deck Project, mostly because its hard to separate the emotion involved with the image at the time of it’s being taken and the merits of the image itself, but for Week 8 of 2015, I think it’s mostly because I think to myself that I came away from that week, which was mostly Mashramani images, with what I thought of as very uninspiring and “average” images.

Seven weeks later and I was finally able to look at them and chose one that I felt was different, or maybe just not the “usual” of the crop.

Am I happy with it? Yes. There are quite a few that I’m happy with, but it seems to me that I now want a little “more” from my images than just the “pretty picture”. I’m not there yet, but I’ll keep trying.

Context: this reveler was very close up behind the truck, it was 3 in the afternoon, although the sky was partially overcast, the sun was shining nicely down on the parade at this point.

Canon EOS 60D, Canon EF24-105mm f/4L

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

How we do it

On February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography1 Comment

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 🙂

Stand

On February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 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

Liza and Henry

On January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 By themichaellamcollectionIn Photography2 Comments

For some reason, I’m going through my photos from Week two of this year… in processing this one I had originally intended to leave it in the original colour, but then I opted for a slightly desaturated and warmer image… I think it works…

I was tagging the image with keywords and was tagging it with “bucket” when the title sprang to mind – “Liza and Henry” 🙂

1/200s, f/9.0, ISO 200

Click on the image to see it in the “”Up East” Gallery, along with other eclectic images from that side 😀

The title is a reference to an old song… I remember singing it around a campfire… and no, the song isn’t title Liza and Henry… go ahead google it 😉

2014 Deck – Week 46

On December 19, 2014December 19, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography4 Comments

I could have just kept on walking, but while I visit the seawall fairly often, scenes like this don’t occur with much frequency while I am there, and the juxtaposition that I noticed in walking could not be ignored, so I shot it, a few times…

In a small print or viewed small this won’t look like much, I really do have to set this one aside for a large print.

And yes, I did keep it in colour, shocking, isn’t it? 🙂

The Open Temple – Kingston, Georgetown. Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm

Click on the image to see it in the Gallery.

2014 Deck – Week 38

On December 9, 2014December 9, 2014 By themichaellamcollectionIn 2014 Deck, Photography1 Comment

This photo was included as part of my extended Oniabo collection which I presented at Moray House in a slide-show presentation in October.

The Oniabo collection started as a collection of 6 images, but when I was offered the opportunity to present something at Moray House, I revisited the idea and extended the collection to 16 Images.

I now have a better grasp of the collection and what I want it to be, and by early next year I hope to have concluded the set, omitting some that are there now and including others that are still in the making 🙂

Compositionally I was going for the three layers that I saw; the cloudy sky beyond the horizon, the mud-flats and the receded sea, and the rocky foreground, it was fairly dark already, but I knew that the some-what even lighting would make a good shot. A couple being there helped to make this shot even better.