October 2014 Cape Camera

CAPE CAMERA October 2014 Official Newsletter of the

Cape Town Photographic Society

President’s message 2

PSSA club entries

8

Gifberg outing

12

CTPS wins Interclub

3

October judge

8

Audio-visual news

13

125 year celebrations 4

Top images set

9

PSSA Congress

14

News flashes

5

Top images Open

10

Salon opportunities

16

Judges judged

6

Members perform

11

Marike Bruwer award 17

November judge

7

E&D evening

12

125 Year Diary

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Cape Camera • October 2014

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President’s message

t this the start of the new council’s year, I’d like to welcome the new members of council. The outgoing members will be missed and on your behalf I thank them for what they have given to CTPS. I’m sure that the new members will fill the gap that has been made. We work as a team and this will not change.

I also thank you all for the honour of reelecting me as your President during this prodigious year of CPTS’s 125 anniversary.

In this my first message in the new term, I thought it fit to give you a few quotes that I recently came across.

• Whenever science makes a discovery, the devil grabs it while the angels are debating the best way to use it (Alan Valentine).

• Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt at school ( Albert Einstein).

• Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.

We now have guided missiles and misguided men (Martin Luther King Jr).

• Science is organised knowledge, wisdom is organised life (Immanuel Kant).

• The limits of the possible can only be defined by going beyond them into the impossible (Arthur C. Clarke).

Much has been said and lamented about the system that we use to judge the images that you enter at our monthly meetings (see article p6).

The word judging is a misconception because the images are not judged, but a critique is given on the work. This

critique is always governed by the personal likes and dislikes and the past photographic experiences of the judge. What one person sees as excellent, another person may not even want to comment on.

A judge may come from a space where he, or she, does not know what amateur photographers wish to portray.

It is for this reason that council has appointed a sub-committee to re-examine the whole judging procedure.

Some of the other clubs, for example, use a three judge panel for their competition evenings. It is not always easy to find three judges, which gives them the opportunity to provide one or two of their salon workers with judging experience and training.

In a month’s time our end-of-year awards evening occurs (on 27 November) at the Granger Bay Hotel School.

This promises to be a grand affair and I’m sure you will all be joining us of this very special occasion. Tickets at R200 for members and R250 for non-members can be bought from Pat Scott.

As regards the future, 2015 is almost upon us. Please remember that there will be special events taking place every month throughout 2015, culminating with a grand dinner on 30 October 2015, so diarise this date now.

Wishing you all the best in photography, Detlef Basel Hon PSSA, APSSA

On the cover

Monthly meetings

Salon winner PDI Set — Zebra crossing by Pat Scott (28) was one of

Monthly meetings are held in the St Stephens Church Hall in Pinelands at 7pm.

1st Wednesday: Competition evening 2nd Wednesday: Audio-visual meeting 3rd Wednesday: Education & Development meeting

two images with this top score in the October competition. “Well seen,” commented judge Gerda Genis. “A strong image, done very well.” She suggested Photoshopping some of the white marks out.

Contact CTPS council members President Vice-president Development & Education

Honorary Secretary

Honorary Treasurer

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Detlef Basel president@ctps.co.za Tel: 082 898 6759 Nicol du Toit treasurer@ctps.co.za Karyn Parisi development@ctps.co.za Jacoba van Zyl info@ctps.co.za

Nicol du Toit treasurer@ctps.co.za

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Property Manager Richard Goldschmidt Website Manager

Steffne Hughes

webmaster@ctps.co.za Competitions Convenor Lesley Parolis

competitions@ctps.co.za Audio-visual Convenor

Joy Wellbeloved

joy.wellbeloved@telkomsa.net Public Relations Officer Steffne Hughes

webmaster@ctps.co.za Publications Officer

Trudi du Toit

editor@ctps.co.za

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CTPS wins Interclub — again!

Cape Town Photographic Society not only won the 2014 Western Cape Interclub trophy, but individual club photographers did exceptionally well Final scorecard of participating clubs Nr entries

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

CTPS Creative Camera Fish Hoek Tafelberg Helderberg Tygerberg Paarl Worcester Durbanville Swartland Hermanus

24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 21 14 12

Score

Average

1565 1542 1538 1536 1533 1516 1491 1436 1233 867 770

65 64 64 64 64 63 62 59 59 62 64

Average/30 22 21 21 21 21 21 21 20 20 21 21

Scorecard of CTPS entries Detlef Basel with the trophy CTPS won, Anna Engelhardt who won a judge’s choice, and Malcolm Jones, runner-up in the print section. Marius-lee Pretorius, who won the PDI section, was not present.

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TPS is, once again, the Western Cape Interclub champion. The 24 CTPS entries scored 1565 points, to beat the ten other clubs in the 2014 competition, organised by Paarl Photographic Club.

This year, we did consistently well, with our images in both the PDI and print section scoring an average of 65 out of 90 (or 22 out of 30). CTPS is the only club to score an average of 65/90 (or 22/30) – most others scoring an average of 21 out of 30.

In addition, Marius-lee Pretorius’ entry Pod shared the first prize in the PDI section with 76/90 points (25/30); Malcolm Jones’ First moments of a new life was the runner-up in the print section with 77/90 points (26/30) and Anna Engelhardt’s print In between showers (75/90 or 25/30) was judge Jean du Plessis’ favourite entry.

Karyn Parisi was the CTPS member who got the most points — a total of 145 for two images.

CTPS also won the print section with 777 points – an average of 65/90 (22/30) points per entry in a section where the judges were more likely to score in the 40’s and 50’s (14-20 out of 30). Other print entries that did well are Karyn Parisi’s Portrait of an American eagle, which got the 4th highest score of 75/90 (25/30) and Kim Stevens’ Victor Victoria (69/90 or 23/30).

In the PDI section Jeanette du Toit’s Action Reflection (73/90 or 24/30) and Karyn Parisi’s A man and his dog (70/90 or 23/30) were among the top scoring images.

This year two new clubs joined the Interclub competition: Worcester and Durbanville. Clubs could enter a maximum of 12 PDI’s and 12 prints, although some clubs didn’t enter any, or only a few, prints.

Taking into account that all the entries were the participating clubs’ highest scoring images for the past year,

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Prints First moments of a new life In between showers Portrait of an American eagle Victor Victoria Sea mist through the dunes Flaps down Early morning ride Velddrif dawn Hard working bee River abstract Seduction Which hand to pick PDIs Pod Action reflection A man and his dog Fisherman’s lot I see you Neon reality Shaft of light Sisterly love Heart valve replacement Evening snack Curious Towards the sun

Score/90 Score/30 77 26 75 25 75 25 69 23 67 22 66 22 65 22 63 21 62 21 57 19 54 18 47 16 Score/90 Score/30 Marius-lee Pretorius 76 25 Jeanette du Toit 73 24 Karyn Parisi 70 23 Pat Scott 69 23 Nellian Bekker 68 23 Ingrid Gane 65 22 Babette Frehrking 64 21 Lesley Parolis 64 21 Malcom Jones 62 21 Pat Scott 61 20 Robert Marconi 61 20 Joy Wellbeloved 55 18 Malcolm Jones Anna Engelhardt Karyn Parisi Kim Stevens Jean Bradshaw Joan Ward Robert Marconi Lesley Parolis Jeanette du Toit Johan Strydom Anna Engelhardt Antenie Carstens

it was interesting to see how much lower the three Interclub judges scored the images. They were especially harsh in the print section: of the 107 entries, only 10 scored 71/90 (24/30) and higher. Of these, three were CTPS images. In the PDI section, 21 of the 132 entries scored 71/90 (24 /30) or above – two CTPS images.

The judges come from diverse photographic backgrounds. Chris Hart from Riebeeck-Kasteel is a camera technician at Orms, who specialises in flower and black and white photography. Hentie van der Merwe is a senior lecturer at the Department of Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University, who has won many awards as a visual artist. Jean du Plessis was the former chief photographer at Die Burger newspaper, who now works as a freelancer, travelling and photographing all over the world. He has received several awards for his photographs.

CTPS also won the Interclub trophy two years ago, and was the 2013 runner-up.

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CTPS 125 years celebration Save the date for congress 2015!

De Hoop Dawn by Lesley Parolis, entered in the Print-Open category in the October club competition, gives an indication of the beauty of the De Hoop nature reserve that members will be able to experience during the CTPS Congress at the end of May next year. The judge gave the image a score of 27 and commented on “the lovely sense of design. The wider angle lens brings the spread of the scene into one space.” She liked the “lovely colours” and the pink of the dawn.

As part of the 125 year celebrations in 2015, a CTPS Congress will be held in the De Hoop Nature Reserve on the weekend of 29-31 May. This will be exclusive to CTPS members and as many members as possible are encouraged to book for this unique event.

Pat Scott is hard at work organising an impressive lineup of speakers, who will make this Congress one of the highlights of next year’s celebrations.

Exciting outings planned

Early next year CTPS will be hosting a weekend outing to Stanford, which will offer plenty of opportunities for birding, exploring the wineries, brewery and eateries and photographing the seascapes, quaint architecture, or even to enjoy an evening cruise on the lagoon. The date — probably end of February — will be confirmed.

Next year’s outings will all be planned around the 125th Year celebrations. Some dates and details will be confirmed closer to the time, but you can prepare yourselves for the following: • Table mountain hike (for fit members) and cable car trip for the others with sundowners and a picnic at the top on Saturday 31 January.

• A red bus tour around the Peninsula in March (weather permitting).

• Bein Wine will offer donkey cart rides and a wine tasting at sunset in April.

• An outing to Stellenbosch is planned for June.

• The club is planning an outing to Postberg, part of the West Coast National Park, in the wild flower season (probably August).

• Current and old club members will be honoured at a smart gala dinner in October.

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Apart from attending workshops and lectures, members will be able to enjoy the many stunning photographic opportunities in the reserve (see above).

The congress will start on the Friday afternoon and end on the Sunday. Members will therefore not have to take a lot of leave to attend.

Please let Pat Scott know if you are interested in attending to facilitate planning (p.a.charteris@gmail.com.).

Plenty of photographic opportunities Apart from the monthly club competitions, club members will be encouraged to record the year in pictures and also to pit their skills against other photographers in our celebratory National Salon.

• Members will be encouraged to photograph the celebrations throughout the year, with the set theme for the October club competition the 125 year celebrations, and a book of members’ images celebrating the year to be published at the end of the year.

• The Cape Town Photographic Society 125th Anniversary Salon, planned for our birthday month of October, will include prints (run by Antenie Carstens), PDI (Lesley Parolis) and AV’s (Joy Wellbeloved). Nicol du Toit will be the overall coordinator.

• A photo competition for schools is planned to promote the club to the younger generation. Learners will be encouraged to take photos during the July school holidays.

• An exhibition of members’ work from the past 125 years is planned for the foyer of the Artscape to coincide with the performance of West Side Story at the end of July.

• The possibility of a moving exhibition of images, our old cameras, etc. in shopping centres is being investigated. A possible date is in June.

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Cape Camera • October 2014

News flashes

Meeting on Jarvis Street

A Special General Meeting of all CTPS members has been called for Wednesday, 5 November 2014, to approve (or not) a resolution that the CTPS building at 28 Jarvis Street (right) be sold. The meeting will be held before the November competition evening at 7pm.

The building, which was built in 1890, the same year that CTPS was founded, has been the soci-

AGM approves constitution changes At the AGM during September resolutions were approved to change the election of council members. The changes to the Constitution (Clause 4.2) will be implemented during the 2015 election of council members.

It was decided that members of the council will be elected for a two-year term (instead of one). In addition, to ensure continuity, half the members shall be elected in one year, and the other half in the other year. The president will not serve more than two (two year) terms in succession.

Detlef Basel was re-elected president for 2014. The following members were re-elected to their positions: Nicol du Toit (honorary treasurer), Jacoba van Zyl (honorary secretary), Richard Goldschmidt (property manager), Lesley Parolis (competition convenor) and Joy Wellbeloved (audio-visual convenor).

John Spence was unavailable for re-election and Nicol du Toit will succeed him as vice-president and Trudi du Toit as publications officer. Steffne Hughes succeeds Sakkie Smit as webmaster and she will also be responsible for public relations. Karyn Parisi succeeds Pat Scott, who’ll concentrate on the 125 year celebrations, as education and development organiser.

Financial statements approved Although we incurred R92 000 in maintenance and repair costs on our building, it remains the main income stream on which CTPS relies, treasurer Nicol du Toit reported at the AGM. Membership fees contributed only 2% of our total income for the past year.

Expenditure reduced by 11% compared to last year, resulting in a net profit for the year of R229 000.

We managed to sort out our tax problems and obtained assessments for the 2007 to 2012 years, bringing our tax situation up to date, without incurring penalties or interest charges.

The long outstanding rental payments are in the process of being recovered. This was done by restructuring the rental agreement at the end the previous financial year. Although the tenant paid late on a few occasions, generally speaking he is honouring the new agreement and was up to date at year end.

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ety’s main stream of income.

But, at the 2014 AGM members decided to accept a motion from Richard Goldschmidt that the possibility of selling the building be investigated and a task team, consisting of Goldschmidt, Neels Beyers, Dante Parisi and Nicol du Toit, was appointed.

Book for end of year function

Members are reminded to book to attend our Annual Awards dinner to be held on 27 November 2014 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology Catering School, Granger Bay. This is an occasion not to be missed! Come along and discover who has won awards and enjoy a superb meal at a rather special venue right on the seaside at Granger Bay. Contact Pat Scott at p.a.charteris@gmail.com.

New members The following new members joined during October: John Basil Arseniou LPSSA, an AV maker formerly from East London Photographic Society; Daleen Nel Hall and Stokkies Stockenstrom. Welcome!

Latest promotions The following members were promoted in October: • Anica Jansen van Vuuren to Advanced • Ross Shackleton to Advanced • Joy Wellbeloved to Salon • Lesley Parolis to Salon Members are promoted to a higher level based on the following criteria: • Beginner to Intermediate: 3 gold awards & 30 points • Intermediate to Advanced: 5 gold awards & 40 points • Advanced to Salon: 50 gold awards.

Points awarded in the club competitions count. Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Red =1. Salon acceptances count 3 points.

Points needed for Salon Advanced Intermediate Beginner

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Gold 24 22 20 18

Silver 20 18 16 14

Red 16 14 12 10

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Who’ll judge the jud ges?

At the October CTPS council meeting it was decided that competition convenor Lesley Parolis (left talking to Joy Wellbeloved) and a sub-committee would re-examine the club competition judging system — a problem area for clubs countrywide, as well as the PSSA.

What are the criteria for judging photographic images? This is an issue most clubs and salons have always been struggling with. That is why CTPS has appointed a sub-committee to take a fresh look at the whole issue of judging and the PSSA wants clubs to help train judges

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re there rules for judging a Tygerberg have a set of guidelines on I strongly feel that we creative image? Had you asked the criteria they wish club judges to folshould use only accredVincent van Gogh and his colow. For example, that “it is important to ited judges, of whom Impressionists rejected by the start each crit on a positive note. First we have a number in the French salon judges in the latter half of concentrate on what you see and what Western Cape the 19th century, the answer would have is positive. Then proceed to ideas of how been an unequivocal: NO. you would improve the image.”

But, on the other hand, the incredulous They then ask the judge to look at the gasps from the audience when some of the scores were following criteria, again with specific guidelines on how announced at the Western Cape Interclub competition, to interpret each one: photo fit and relevance to categoshowed that for judges’ scoring to have some credibility, ry (especially set subjects); various aspects of composiyou have to have some criteria. tion; creativity; technical quality and overall impression.

For example, is it credible that an image that has had Training club members several salon acceptances, won salon categories and a PSSA bronze medal, would be scored the equivalent of The Beachcomber club in Empangeni came up with the fol18? Or, an image that was given a score of 26 by a club lowing solution for club image judging after many (somejudge, came second in the PSSA competition, be scored what acrimonious) discussions. Hendrik Louw explains: • Every member who wants to be promoted from 4 (our an equivalent of 16 by the Interclub judges?

Salon level) to 5 stars and beyond, must be prepared to The problem is more prevalent when commercial or give talks and become involved with club judging. academic judges from outside the club system are in• They select three judges from these club members, who volved. There are different rules for judging commercial, don’t know who the other two selected judges are. They news, magazine, product, art or club photography. judge remotely, before the competition evening, and send That is why club photographers don’t respect a judge their scores to the competition convenor and his/her aswho suggests cloning out or moving parts of a wildlife imsistant. age — as you would do to please a commercial patron.

• The competition convenor and assistant draw graphs to Drawing up criteria show the scores awarded by the three judges, each in a Judging is a topic of concern for most photography clubs. different colour. The convenor and assistant act as backups “I strongly feel that we should use only accredited judgand also enter their scores. The median scores of the 5 es, of whom we have a number in the Western Cape,” judges is then established. suggests Tygerberg Club chairman Robert Johnston.

• Each judge knows which colour is his or hers, but not the “Let’s face it, a well-known photographer, or lecturer, others, and can therefore compare his score to see if he is not necessarily a good judge. In the Western Cape we scores too high or too low. have a body of JAP accredited judges, the only ones in the • This enables the competition convenor to keep track of country,” he continues. the judges that are closest to the median and build up a He proposes that the chairmen of the Western Cape database of the best judges in the club. clubs, for example, draw up a judging criterium for the • On the competition evening one of the three judges is next Interclub competition and that the judges for the appointed to give comments — but he may not alter the event be briefed accordingly. combined score. The judge giving the crit may say if he/

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Cape Camera • October 2014

They select three judges from these club members, who don’t know who the other two selected judges are she differs from the other two regarding an image, as long as he justifies his opinion.

Training and accrediting judges Finding and training suitable salon and competition judges was also a topic that elicited much discussion at the Forum during the 2014 PSSA (Photographic Society of South Africa) AGM, held in Skukuza during September.

Francois Roux will now run the JAP programme to train and accredit judges, assisted by a JAP committee: Roel van Oudheusden, Willem Botha and Pieter Venter. They have been standardising the material for accreditation of judges and will be training new judges at club level.

Delegates agreed that more salon judges should be cultivated: the current judging panels are same old, same old, and many of the judges have become stale, some delegates commented. Fresh insights and perspectives are needed.

But only people who kept their honours criteria up to date should be judging.

It was suggested that a survey be conducted among honours members to find out if they are available to be trained as salon judges.

The JAP/JaP programme is split in two: • JAP is the Judging Accreditation Programme to get more salon judges accredited, run by the JAP team. They will offer structured training programmes countrywide.

November judge Jenny Powis photographed by John Cross in a cave during the Gifberg weekend.

An image that scored 26 at club level, was runner-up in the PSSA competition, but was scored 16 at Interclub.

• The JaP group project – the Judging Appreciation Programme – are smaller groups that get together at club level to talk about judging under the leadership of an accredited moderator. The aim is to train people to get to the level that they can join the accreditation programme.

Several delegates at the PSSA Forum stressed that it is clubs’ responsibility to encourage members to qualify as judges and to help train members to improve their judging skills. Judging should be encouraged at club level and clubs should run judging appreciation groups.

Once club judges improve their expertise and the top judges emerge at club level, they should be encouraged to seek promotion to the top level by taking part in the JAP programme.

Not one of the other clubs we spoke to use professional photographers from outside the club system. Outside judges are people from other clubs, who understand the amateur and club rules and judging criteria.

Remote judging also contributes to the vast discrepancies in scores awarded in salon competitions, said PSSA president Jill Sneesby. She would prefer that judges get together and discuss images, and that only experienced, accredited, judges be appointed who keep their skills updated by taking part in salons. She even suggested that remote judging be prohibited for salons in big sentra.

November club judge well qualified and accredited November judge Jenny Powis ticks all the boxes for judging a club competition: she is JAP accredited and actually helps train judges, she has been a dedicated CTPS club member — often serving as committee member — for so long that she qualified for life membership. And she is kind.

Her interest in photography started in 1980 when she was given her first camera as a graduation present.

She has won numerous awards and in 2002 became an Associate of the Photographic Society of South Africa.

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She is especially keen on landscape photography and macro work — see some of her images taken during the Gifberg weekend on our website (www. ctps.co.za).

“Just watching a landscape change in the low light at dawn and dusk is ever so exciting for me,” she says on her website. “There is a special kind of magic, which I try to capture in the sweet light of dawn and dusk.”

She will therefore enjoy judging the November set subject images: Low light.

See more of her images on www.jennypowis.com.

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PSSA Entries: Every month a competition entry from a senior (Advanced or Salon) and junior (Beginner or Intermediate) photographer is entered in the PSSA competition. The club entry winners can be seen on the PSSA website at www.pssa.co.za.

Intermediate PDI Open winner: Simply India by Anica Jansen van Vuuren (27) is the PSSA junior entry. “Well seen,

caught in the moment. A great photojournalism picture,” said judge Gerda Genis, who also commented that it captured the essence of India.

Advanced Print Open winner: Dusk by Catherine Bruce Wright (28) is the PSSA senior entry. “A National Geographic

cover!” said Gerda Genis. “It is backlit absolutely right — the sports and background don’t compete. A beautiful shot.”

More about the October judge

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ctober judge Gerda Genis is a renowned fashion and celebrity photographer, whose Oranjezicht studio produced many magazine covers and spreads — and facilitated the introduction between rugby player James Small and model Christina Storm.

Genis studied graphic art at the University of Stellenbosch, where her photography lecturer, the late Alice Mertens, inspired her to become a photographer ... even though she had never handled a camera until her father gave her a twin lens six months before she went to Stellenbosch.

She started working in Cape Town for a fashion retailer before going to Amsterdam to work as a camera assistant, because she did not believe that the very competitive Cape Town fashion photography industry would take kindly to a young girl starting out on her own.

The portfolio she brought back from Amsterdam in the

Competition news

Members may enter a maximum of three images in any category per competition. It is no longer compulsory to enter an image in the set subject.

In October there were 97 competition entries: PDI Set 29, PDI Open 32, Print Set 10 and Print Open 26.

5 November Set Subject: Low light.

Judge Jenny Powis.

3 December Set Subject: Portrait. Judge Jan Verboom.

21 January Set Subject: Yin and Yang.

4 February Set Subject: Windows and/or doors

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mid-80’s soon had her on speed-dial to most Cape Town fashion editors.

She soon became one of the magazines’ favourite photographers, who photographed famous people like Charlize Theron, Claudia Schiffer, Ryk Neethling, etc.

Most TV personalities and just about all the Judge selector Jeanette Brusnicky with models in Cape photographer Gerda Genis.

Town passed through her studio. She was also commissioned to do several commercial shoots, including billboards for Sun International.

Mertens instilled in her a work ethic that you should never be complacent with your work. “Till today, I look at every picture and ask myself: is that the best you can do?” In commercial photography, you have to plan your luck, she says.

Genis is one of the Hurricanes Agency photographers assembled by Gavin Furlonger — among the other well-known names who work together to offer clients a full package of skills are Alain Proust, Alexa Singer and Jonathan Taylor.

After 30 years in the commercial world, she now does photography for her own pleasure and teaches yoga. “I enjoy doing landscapes and photos of animals. I travel a lot,” she says.

“I now shoot for the love of it.”

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Cape Camera • October 2014

Top scoring images October Set subject: Graphic design

Left: Advanced winner PDI-Set: Flight of Fancy by Lesley Parolis (27). “Sublime,” was judge Gerda Genis’ comment on this image, which she describes as a Alice Mertens type of image.

Right: Intermediate winner PDI-Set: Winged by Anica Jansen van Vuuren (25). “Magnificent as a strong statement,” said the judge. “Beautifully lit.”

Left: Salon PDI-Set: Rhino sunset by Nicol du Toit (26). “Wonderfully surrealistic,” said judge Genis, who compared it to a Salvador Dali image.” It makes an incredibly strong statement.”

Left: Salon winner Print-Set: Nautilus Spiral by Jean Bradshaw (23). “A beautiful image, depicting something graphic from nature. It is almost an Ansel Adams image with beautiful greys and strong graphic lines.”

Left: Intermediate winner Print-Set: Youthful illusion

by Lorinda Rodrigues (18). The judge suggested that the basketweave be softened over the girl’s face,to make it less dominant.

Advanced winner Print-Set: Tweeling by Marius-lee Pretorius (23). “Beautiful lighting,” commented Genis. “The negative and positive elements work well together. The graphics are strong.”

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October top scoring images: Open Left: Advanced winner Digital-Open: Watchful eye by Lesley Parolis (27). “Amazing! Beautiful sharp image,” said Genis. “I want to see a little more on the side.”

Above: Salon winner Digital-Open: Doornbaai by Neels Beyers (23). “A perfect calendar image,” said Gerda Genis. “Nicely looked at.

Left: Salon winner Print-Open: Graphic descent by Kim Stevens (27). “Nice composition, a very strong image,” said Genis.

Right: Salon Print-Open: Kaleidoscope by Shaun Laishley (25). “So clever. I can see this as an art piece, a huge print on a wall,” said the judge.

Left: Salon Print-Open: Trappe in ‘n spiraal by Neels Beyers (25). “An arresting image that makes you stand still to look.

Very well done.”

Salon Print-Open: Arum lily bud by Jean Bradshaw (25). “A beautiful and sensitive lit flower shot, nicely backlit. The reflection makes it strong,” says Genis.

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Advanced Print-Open: Flower by Marius-lee Pretorius (25). “An arresting image. It will be a beautiful art print on a wall,” said Genis.

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Members perform well in other competitions

Cape Camera • October 2014

The CTPS entries in the September PSSA club images competition both scored the second highest marks, 1 point behind the winner. In the senior section Jeanette du Toit’s Action Reflection (above) scored 37 out of 45, and Rob Marconi’s Early Morning Ride (right) scored 36 in the junior section.

Left: Pod by Marius-lee Pretorius not only won the Interclub PDI section, but also got several salon acceptances.

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TPS members have been very successful in recent Print-Open category and Acceptances by Fstop and salons held countrywide by the East Rand SuperSprings in the same Super-circuit.

Circuit, Heigel Fotoklub Salon, Swartland Foto- • Storm clouds over Venice: Club medal from Fstop in the grafieklub Salon and Westville Digital Salon.

ERSC Print-Scapes category.

Twelve successes and COM for Shaun Laishley • Doorway to the desert: Acceptance in the ERSC (Benoni) Digital-Open.

Shaun Laishley has been especially prolific and was awarded with a Certificate of Merit (COM) and 11 Acceptances for • Jana on bentwood chair: Acceptance in the ERSC the following images: (Benoni) Digital Mono-Open.

• Base guitar: in the East Rand Super-Circuit (ERSC) it got • Tower reflections: Acceptance in the ERSC (Benoni) COM for Digital Mono-Open and Acceptances for DigitalPrints-Open.

Open (Benoni and Springs).

• Vlerksleep: Acceptance in ERSC (Springs) Prints-Nature.

• Artistic inmate: in the ERSC it got Acceptances for Digital• Lagulhas maru: Acceptance in Heigel Fotoklub Open.

Open (Fstop and Springs); and in the Swartland Salon it Five successes for Marius-lee Pretorius was accepted for Open-Pictorial.

• Blowing the night away: Acceptance in the ERSC Digital- Marius-lee Pretorius had five acceptances in the ERSC salon, Open (Benoni); and it was also accepted in the Swart- namely: land Fotografieklub salon for Portraits.

• Pod: Acceptances by Benoni and Springs for Digital-Open.

• Majestic old lady: Acceptance in ERSC Digital-Open (Benoni). • The mind of Jan van Wijk: Acceptances by Benoni and Fstop • Meeting by accident: Acceptance in the ERSC Digitalfor Digital-Open.

Sport (Benoni).

• Easy Rider: Acceptance by Springs for Digital-Open.

• Let me light it: Acceptance in the Westville Digital Salon Lion Kill wins for Sybil Morris for Photojournalism (including Sport).

• Trying to get up: Acceptance in the Westville Digital Salon Sybil Morris’ Lion Kill image has been awarded with two for Photojournalism (including Sport).

Acceptances by the Heigel Fotoklub (Nature) and Westville Winner and runner-up for Nicol du Toit Digital Salon (Nature - excluding birds).

Nicol du Toit won a PSSA as well as club medal with two As reported in the September issue of Cape Camera, Steff Hughes’ Smoking the Milky Way was accepted in the Heigel images, and was awarded seven Acceptances for: • Kolmanskop corner: PSSA medal (Benoni) in the ERSC Fotoklub Scapes category.

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Education & Development and Outings

Photoshop Guru shares insights

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The Advanced Photoshop E&D evening by Marius van der Westhuizen was not only very informative, but also enjoyable, report Karyn and Dante Parisi

n Wednesday 15 October, we were fortunate to have Marius van der Westhuizen conduct an Advanced Photoshop course to 18 of our members.

He began by handing out a CD, containing the course contents for everyone to take home, followed by nearly four hours of advanced techniques, throwing in some extra tips and humorous comments and stories, which made the evening most enjoyable.

At times he became quite excited about showing us his techniques. One in particular, was his photograph of a vintage car sinking in the middle of a lake, with the lights suddenly coming back on. Another, a photograph of a woman with changing hair and eye colours.

Marius covered numerous areas, including techniques such as: Advanced Layer Styles, Layer Masks, Blending Layers, Vignetting, Black and White, Dodge and Burn, Text, Writing Actions and Batch Processing.

He stressed the need to use layers to preserve the pixels of a photo and to be able to backtrack and add, or remove, processes non-destructively, while editing.

He also conveyed the importance of learning tool shortcuts, to save time while editing.

Marius was very willing to re-explain any techniques and

answer any questions throughout the night. He showed great enthusiasm for teaching and sharing his wealth of information with others.

All in all, it was a most informative and worthwhile evening, providing members with many more advanced tools for producing what he would call oohs and aahs techniques for club nights and competitions.

Lastly, a big thank you to CTPS for generously subsidising this event and making it possible.

Haarhoff in November

On Wednesday 19 November, after short notice, we are delighted to have Peter Haarhoff, well known photographer, return again, to present the last Education and Development session for the year. He will be speaking about portrait photography (the December club theme) and showing some of his amazing portrait shots taken on the township tours, which he offers.

He will also be talking about Star Trail Photography, as he has an upcoming one day Star Trail workshop in February next year, which members might be interested in.

We hope to see you all there!

Beautiful images

shot on Gifberg

weekend Cave Magic by Jenny Powis.

Despite the 4-5 hour trip from Cape Town to Gifberg in August, twenty club members were rewarded for their effort with some stunning photographic opportunities.

“A great time was had by all,” says former outings convenor Jenny Powis. She organised the outing after a work colleague, who had been on a cycling trip to the farm near Van Rhynsdorp, mentioned the photographic opportunities of the rugged landscape.

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Gifberg Reflected by Johan Strydom.

It is also a popular venue during the flowering season, as Nellian Bekker found when she tried to book an outing during her tenure as outings convenor.

The photographic expectations didn’t disappoint, as members could see from the slide show Lesley Parolis compiled from the six best images submitted by members shown at the last meeting. The images can also be seen on the CTPS website at www.ctps.co.za (Galleries).

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Cape Camera • October 2014

Audio-vision (AV) news

Top AV makers visit from UK

I

The presentation by the renowned UK AV couple, Linda and Edgar Gibbs, was a highlight of the AV year, reports ROBERT MAGINLEY

am sure that all our members who attended the presentation by Linda and Edgar Gibbs this month had a most enjoyable and educational evening. To all our members that missed it, I can only say “Hard Luck”.

Not only did we see some outstanding AV‘s but it was also interesting to learn from true professionals.

With Edgar’s photography and Linda’s productions, I can only repeat myself that we had a great evening and I am sure that it was an advantage to understand the voice over and narration and realise this is something that we could possibly use in the future.

On behalf of the AV Section we would like to thank the Gibbs’ for their time and enthusiasm in their presentation.

The Challenge We would like to remind everyone again that the AV Challenge of A Place Near Here closes on 31st October. If you have mislaid the instructions, drop Robert an email and he will send them on to you. This is a fun event and the object is to get you to make an AV. The challenge is not to raid your archives, but to go out and make an AV using all the things you were taught during the year.

The judges have been instructed to reward new work and to penalise AVs made before 2014.

November Meeting Wednesday 12th November will probably be our last meeting for the year and we will be showing some of the best AV’s submitted during the year.

Members are requested to bring a plate of snacks for afterwards.

Dear Detlef, Edgar and I want to thank you and the Cape Town Photographic Society for giving us the opportunity to show our work. We really enjoyed showing our AVs and hope that the section enjoyed them too.

We also want to put on record our very grateful thanks to the Council of Cape Town Photographic Society for allocating a budget to Joy so that she could take us around the wonderful sites that Cape Town and its surroundings have to offer. The amount of her personal time that Joy put into the planning of our trips, as well as the two days we were taken out, was really appreciated.

It was also great that Robert, Leslie, Ingrid and Nellian were able to join us for some of the time on the Thursday.

Again, very many thanks from both of us.

Kind regards, Linda

Introducing Linda and Edward Gibbs For the uninitiated: Linda and Edward Gibbs are Alisters in the world of AV, with numerous international awards to their name. A recent addition was the FIAP ribbon they received at the PECC International AV Festival for Talbot House.

The Cardiff couple are regular guest speakers on the UK AV circuit, giving live presentations on the use of sound, etc., as well as showing their own AV’s.

They are both on the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain’s list of AV judges, judging together and independently.

Edgar, the photographer, has an FRPS in AV and is

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the secretary and Advisory Board Member of the RPS AV Group. He has been a member of the AV Distinctions Panel. Linda, who studied art, is responsible for the production and creative aspects of their AV’s, especially the scripts.

They have been working together as a team for more than 30 years and together received a Master in AV from the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain in October 2011. They also won awards from the International Federation of Photographic Art - AV-AFIAP This month they’ve been sharing their expertise and AV’s with clubs in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria.

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Cape Camera • October 2014

- 14 Far left: Speakers Hendrik Louw, the macro man, Cape Town marine and wildlife photographer Chris Fellows and BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year judge Tony Heald from the UK with their spouses at the gala evening that ended the congress.

Left: CTPS Kim Stevens her LPSSA certificate at dinner.

member received honours the gala

Fun and learning at the PSSA congress Apart from adopting motions that can affect club salons and competitions during the AGM, delegates enjoyed stimulating discussions and interaction at the PSSA’s 60th celebration congress

F

ive CTPS members enjoyed the early morning and late afternoon wildlife photo opportunities, the interesting lectures, stimulating workshops and opportunities to share ideas with fellow club photographers during the PSSA 2014 Congress / Wildlife Convention in Skukuza. In short, they had a jolly good time.

Kim Stevens had the additional incentive to travel to the Kruger Game Park: she received her LPSSA honours certificate. Joan Ward, Pat Scott and Nicol and Trudi du Toit were there to support her.

CTPS had also contributed R5 000 as a sponsorship of the congress.

The 60th PSSA Congress was combined with a Wildlife Convention and therefore many of the workshops and lectures were conducted by some of the leading wildlife photographers.

Capetonian Chris Fellows charmed the audience with his stunning images and interesting insights on great white sharks and predators — and if all goes well, CTPS members will be able to experience him next year at our congress in De Hoop.

Tony Heald from the UK, a BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year judge, shared tips on how to take better images in the field, or improve them with Photoshop.

Shem Campion urged the audience to enjoy the bush, irrespective if you return with salon-winning images, after he realised that he had become so preoccupied with

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getting a perfect shot that he would return from a trip, declaring that he had seen nothing.

Hendrik Louw from the Beachcombers Camera Club shared some of his secrets for macro photography, for example, using a wide angle lens.

Wildlife photographer Johan Botha and visual art boffin Hein Waschefort gave presentations in support of their MPSSA Honours. Waschefort’s presentation and hands-on workshops on photography reflecting major art movements like Romanticism, Impressionism, Modernism, Surrealism and many more isms inspired many photographers to work outside the box.

PSSA finances healthy

“When I attended the PSSA congress recently it gave me an opportunity to have a look at their financial report,” says Nicol du Toit. “Their finances are in a healthy state. They reported a surplus for the year of about R192 000. Membership fees amounted to R445 000 and is the largest income item, as can be expected, while printing and stationary of R149 000 is the largest cost item. This includes the publication of Image.

Their balance sheet reflected cash of R2 197 000 at year end, although it also reflected an amount payable of R892 000, nevertheless leaving them with a healthy cash situation.”

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Cape Camera • October 2014

Hein Waschefort got the creative juices flowing with his workshops encouraging photographers to explore alternatives.

CTPS member Nicol du Toit in conversation with PSSA board members Roel and Adri van Oudheusden.

CTPS members Joan Ward, Nicol du Toit, Kim Stevens, Pat Scott and Trudi du Toit share a laugh during the PSSA Congress.

President Jill Sneesby paid tribute to PSSA director Barrie Wilkins, who died just before congress.

Decisions of interest taken during the AGM Forum JUDGING and the training of judges were exten- many salons also result in a photographer getting honsively discussed during the Forum at the AGM (see ours too quickly, which dilutes the quality of images that details on p7). qualify for honours.

Limiting entries of images in salons Clarity was asked about entering an image in mono and colour for salons. After discussion, it was voted that in order to be counted for the Impala Trophy, one image may only receive 5 acceptances, whether mono, colour, etc. One image can therefore be entered in mono as well as colour.

This includes super circuits where one entry may get 3 acceptances.

The problem of policing the number of times an image is entered was extensively discussed, but it was decided that peer policing and shaming will have the desired effect as other entrants and the judges will pick up when one image is entered too many times.

For a Diamond rating an image may only receive 3 acceptances in one media and colour.

Too many salons?

The problem with too many salons is that they require a massive number of judges. This results in judges being appointed who are not qualified or accredited. Too

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PSSA will therefore limit the number of salons per region they approve per year. Francois Rousseau will send an application form every February-March for the following year. 2015 Salons have been allocated, but they will accommodate the CTPS 125th Anniversary salon.

Cell phone images It was decided that there should not be a special category for cell phone images because an image is an image and is not dependent on the medium. Hendrik Louw mentioned that the winning image in the Beachcomber salon was taken on a cell phone.

Image magazine A suggestion that Image magazine be published electronically via ISSUU (like Cape Camera) will be put to the PSSA membership. This will vastly reduce costs and make it more legible as you can enlarge the image on the screen.

Image editor Hein Waschefort could not be present, because he was presenting a workshop. He wants to retain the printed version.

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Zombie Stopper by Heinrich Albrecht Krugersdorp Camera Club: PSSA Medal Open-Colour.

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Dance Jump by Ernest Arnold from Vereeniging Photographic Society: PSSA Medal Open-Monochrome.

Far left: Face in the Water by Juan Venter from Tafelberg Fotografieklub: PSSA Medal Portraits-Monochrome.

Left: Umhlanga by George Swart from George Camera Club: PSSA Medal ScapesMonochrome.

More opportunities for CTPS salon winners

T

he winners of the PSSA medals in the Cape of Good Hope National Digital Salon organised by CTPS, pictured on this page, now have the additional opportunity of winning further PSSA gold

medals.

All category winners in PSSA sanctioned salons are also entered in a competition at the close of the Impala Year to stand a chance of winning PSSA gold medals in the categories for the Best Salon Images of the Year in Nature, Open and Monochrome.

This will therefore be an added incentive for CTPS mem-

bers to enter our 125 Year Salon in October 2015, as well as other PSSA salons.

The organisers of the CTPS salon received many compliments from the seasoned salon entrants — for example, medal winner Heinrich Albrecht wrote: Thank you for a well

coordinated Salon, I will surely participate again.

Peet Mostert from Montanapark was impressed with the speed that he received the DVD he ordered. You can be

proud how you handled your salon. There are salons that were in held in March and April that have not sent the DVD’s etc.

Your promptness is appreciated, he wrote.

Left: Star trail Richtersveld by Willem Kruger from Bloem-

fontein Kameraklub. PSSA medal: Scapes-Colour.

Right: Fireman by Laetitia Kenny from Boksburg Camera Club. PSSA Medal: Portraits-Colour.

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Cape Camera • October 2014

Creatures of the dark by CTPS member Alicia Greyling At a gallop by Francina Swart was the winner of the 2014 Marike was the 2nd runner up.

Bruwer Award,

CTPS member 3rd in Marike Bruwer Award

Alicia Greyling was the 2nd runner up in this award in honour of former PSSA director who encouraged an alternative visual art view of photography. She died in 2006. ANTENIE CARSTENS, one of the judges of the award, explains It is hard to believe that we had the 5th invitation to PSSA members to submit entries for the Marike Bruwer Award this year. We received a total of 59 entries in 2014, the most since we (re)introduced the award.

Judging was done remotely by the four judges: Diane Skinner (Canada) and South Africans Izak van Niekerk, Johan Kloppers, and Antenie Carstens. As usual, it was not an easy task to decide on a winner as the entries represented so many different approaches to visual art, but eventually consensus was reached. As we have done in previous years, apart from selecting the winner, we also asked the judges to rate a first and second runner up. The judges used a 5 point rating scale with the opportunity to rate half points as well.

This year's winner is Francina Swart with At a gallop, first runner up Hanli Smit with Ghost of Magritte and second runner up Alicia Greyling with Creatures of the dark.

Judges comments.

Judge Izak van Niekerk says: “It is a couple of years now since we have said farewell to Marike – and yet, the entries for the Marike Bruwer Award still increase every year. I have experienced more creativity in the work than ever before. The mere use of filters is on the decline.

“Many hours of post processing is noticed, and with great success. It will always be a great achievement to win this annual award, and this year, there are a couple of winners. I am not a fan of remote judging, and would always want to hear and get the opinions of other judges on why and so forth.

“Unfortunately, in the case of this award, the judges, who are Marike’s friends, are all scattered, and judging

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cannot be done as a group together.”

Johan Kloppers comments: “I was surprised to see so many entries this year. The quality overall was also very high. Some really outstanding images showed the beauty and feeling of visual arts.

“My honest feeling is that, had Marike Bruwer still been with us today, she would have been very proud to have her name linked to this competition.

“This is a wonderful way of remembering Marike, whose love and passion was photography. May this competition still go from strength to strength and may we never forget who Marike Bruwer really was.”

Diane Skinner writes from Canada: “I would first like to say that I was quite impressed with the quality and the number of images submitted this year.

“It seems to me there were quite a few more images entered this year compared to previous ones, which in a way continues to keep Marike`s memory alive, as I still often think of her and her influence on creative photography. She certainly was an avant-gardiste, wiser beyond her years!”

CTPS member Antenie Carstens says: “It was good to see an increase in the number of entries in honour of Marike. I do feel, however, that more attention must be given by entrants to the briefing or definition of the category.

“Although we do not like to disqualify images as such, some did not fit very well in a visual art category. Even so, there were enough images to make this year’s event a success, allowing the participants to maximise their creativity.”

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125 Year celebration diary Save these dates for 2015

January 31 2015

Table Mountain outing - climbing for the fit members, via cable car (halfprice after 6pm) for the not-so-fit. Meet on top for sundowners and picnics

February 2015

Weekend in Stanford. Dates and details to be confirmed

March 2015

Red bus day outing around the Peninsula. Date and details to be confirmed.

April 2015

Bein Wein Private Cellar outing in Vlottenburg with donkey ride and wine tasting at sunset. Date and details to be confirmed.

CTPS Congress for members in De Hoop Nature Reserve. Expect top speakers - still to be confirmed.

May 29-31 2015

Schools photo competition launched.

June 2015

Outing in Stellenbosch area under guidance of photographer and graphic artist Nicole Palmer. Includes a braai.

July 20 to 3 August 2015

Exhibition of members’ work across 125 years in Artscape Opera House foyer, during the run of West Side Story musical Postberg outing during flower season.

Date and details to be confirmed.

August 2015

PSSA National Congress in Swellendam 9-14 August. Organised by Swellendam Photographic Society and Cape Photographers. See PSSA website at www.pssa.co.za (Congress tab).

September 16 2015

An illustrated talk on the club’s 125 years’ history. Possible AV shown?

Cape Town Photographic Society 125th Anniversary Salon for print (Antenie Carstens), PDI (Lesley Parolis) and AV (Joy Wellbeloved), coordinated by Nicol du Toit.

October 2015

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On October 30th, the society’s birthday will be celebrated with a gala dinner at a smart venue with a good speaker, where old and current members will be honoured. A book on the society’s 125 year history launched at the event.

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