January 2015 Cape Camera

CAPE CAMERA January 2015 Official Newsletter of the

Cape Town Photographic Society

In this issue President’s message

2

Stanford weekend

10

Top images set

News flashes

3

Meet the organiser

11

Top images open

How CTPS started

6

Table Mountain outing 12

Top images general 18

CTPS’ first president

8

AV programme

14

WC club committee

19

Judging revamped

15

125 Year Diary

20

Introducing the writer 8

16

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Cape Camera • January 2015

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President’s message

he year has got off to a very busy start and, by the look of things, it will continue along these lines. To you, members of the Cape Town Photographic Society it will be An Affair to Remember. (Am I giving my age away by quoting that film title?). On 30 October, 2015, it will be 125 years since 30 Cape Town gentlemen met to inaugurate what today is CTPS (see p3).

I wish all members to contribute in one way or another to our year of celebrations, be it in planning or just supporting the various projects. Let it be known by your children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren that you were part of this enjoyable celebratory year.

From various circulars and notices you will have grasped the fact that there will be some special activities taking place, over and above our normal monthly meetings.

Please note all the dates that you will find in a summary of events elsewhere in this issue of Cape Camera.

This brings us to some of our direct requirements from our members, which deal with the monthly running of our meetings.

Assist at competition evenings

At our competition evening we all sit back and enjoy seeing our images appear on the screen and listen to comments by our judge. This would not happen without our efficient competition convenor. Lesley Parolis does this month after month, but do we know how many hours this takes? We urgently need help for this portfolio, especially when our digital images are projected.

We need a volunteer who has greater computer skills than I to be trained to operate the system. Should Lesley be out of town, or otherwise incapacitated, the show must go on. We realise that we need trained people

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

1st Wednesday: Competition 2nd Wednesday: Audio-visual 3rd Wednesday: Education & Development For updates about speakers and topics visit www.ctps. co.za, or join the new Cape Town Photographic Society Facebook group, or be alert to a Snapshot newsletter email.

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who will continue with the good work that Lesley is doing currently. We need to give her a chance to sit back and enjoy being a member of CTPS, even more than she does at present.

One of the important things we all need to remember is that if we expect to get something out of the club we also need to put something into the club.

When we come across problems in one or other area of the club, we should avail ourselves to be part of the solution rather than just pointing out the difficulty.

How many of our members spend time looking at books which have many images reproduced? I do, and it is not surprising how much one can learn from the work done by other photographers. It is from these images that one is able to form an opinion of one’s own work and assess the value of that image.

When looking at an image that is projected during our competition evenings, do you in your mind’s eye give it a mark? If you do, how many times do you agree with the mark given? Judging is so subjective and it would be folly to rely entirely on the opinion of another person to put a mark to the image. We need only look at paintings and drawings of what we find in the records left from some of our esteemed masters, and you will agree with me.

We must not be carried away with the judging at our club meetings. We are members because we enjoy taking photographs and we must not spoil our hobby with such trivial matter of getting a gold, silver of red award, in some cases even a no award.

Until next month, I wish you all the best in activating the shutter on your camera.

Yours in photography, Detlef Basel Hon PSSA, APSSA

Cape Camera dates 2015

On the cover

Winner Salon Print Open and PSSA senior entry: Making space (27) by

Joan Ward. “The timing and execution of the image is very good,” said judge Krummacher, who commented that bird photography is not an easy subject.

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Cape Camera is published after the last CTPS function of that month. Material deadlines: February 2015: 25 February March 2015:

23 March April 2015: 20 April May 2015: 2 June (after the CTPS Congress weekend) June 2015: 22 June July 2015: 27 July August 2015: 24 August September 2015: 24 September October 2015 31 October November 2015 23 November

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Cape Camera • January 2015

CTPS news flashes

CTPS members perform well in PSSA salons CTPS member Jeanette du Toit had seven exceptances in the recent Beachcomber Photography Club Salon.

Three acceptances were in the Save the Rhino category, namely, On my way, Portrait of a rhinoceros (right), and Something in the Air. In the Nature (excluding rhinos) category she also achieved acceptance for The Catch of the Day and in the Open category for A Closer Look at Canola.

In the Macro category of the Beachcomber Salon Jeanette du Toit had two acceptances, for Hardworking Bee and Yummy....Yummy.

Tygerbgerg salon acceptances

Portrait of a rhinoceros by Jeanette du Toit got acceptance in the Beachcomber Photography Club Salon.

In the Tygerberg Digital Salon CTPS members Mo Bassa and Marius-Lee Pretorius gained acceptances.

The image Vernazza Cinque Terra gained acceptane for Bassa in the SCAPES (Colour only) category.

Pretorius got an acceptance in the same SCAPES category with City lights.

The next PSSA sanctioned salon is the PSSA National Digital Salon. See more at www.pssa.co.za/salons.

2015 Set subject themes Members may enter a maximum of three images in any category per competition.

The Set subject themes for 2015 will be: 4 February: Windows and/or doors 4 March: Composite image 8 April: Monochrome 6 May: Nature 3 June: Hands and feet 1 July: Low key 5 August: Macro 2 September: Scapes 7 October: 125 year celebrations 4 November: Shadows and/or reflections 2 December: Rustic

CTPS meetings in 2015 Month

Competition

AV

E&D

February

4

11

18

March April May June July August September October November December

4 8 6 3 1 5 2 7 4 2

11 15 13 10 8 12* 9 14 11 9

18 22 20 17 15 19* 16 21 18 No E&D

*The PSSA congress will be held in Swellendam from 9 – 14 August. A combined AV and E&D evening will be investigated for the 19th of August.

Visit www.ctps.co.za for more information for information on com[petitions and meetings

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 Website Manager

Competitions Convenor

Audio-visual Convenor

Public Relations Officer

Publications Officer

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Richard Goldschmidt Steffne Hughes webmaster@ctps.co.za Lesley Parolis competitions@ctps.co.za Robert Maginley rmaginley@worldonline.co.za Steffne Hughes webmaster@ctps.co.za

Trudi du Toit editor@ctps.co.za

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CTPS news

CTPS members prominent in Royal Photographic Society Two of CTPS’ swallow members from the UK, Clive and Joan Ryder Rathband (right), have a long heritage in the top structures of photography in South Africa and the UK. Joan was a PSSA committee stalwart, before moving to England, where she and Clive are prominent members of the Royal Photographic Society, who regularly judge exhibitions and lecture in the UK and Europe.

During their brief visit to Cape Town in January, they attended our competition evening, and shared their impressions of South African photography in the UK/European context.

They can immediately spot an entry from South Africa in the international salons they often judge, they told Cape Camera. And unfortunately, that is not a compliment: South African entries tend to be much too saturated when compared to images from Europe, where muted images, that “glow from within”, is the trend.

And unfortunately, South African photographers tend to choose cutey names for their images, which are a big turnoff for international judges, especially in nature or wildlife categories.

Apart from judging other photographers’ work, the Rathbands have won numerous awards. Both have, for example, won the Royal Photographic Society’s Gold Medal for the Best Nature Photograph — Joan won it in the International Exhibition in 1990, and Clive in the 2005 RPS International Exhibition.

In South Africa, Joan Ryder is one of the BIG names in club photography, because as chaiman of the Germiston club, she steered the growth of this club for 20 years, encouraging local salon entrances and PSSA membership. She also served on the PSSA, for example, as a member of the Distinctions Panel.

She is now married to Clive and live in Wiltshire, UK, where they are leading members of the Devizes Camera Club.

Joan has been a keen photographer since 1974, especially wildlife, nature, sport and landscape photography, and is

always in search of the ultimate mood lighting. Cape Town, the Westcoast and our National Parks are among her favourite photographic spots.

She has been awarded the Fellowship of the Photographic Society of Southern Africa (FPSSA) as well as the Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (FRPS) and the Artiste De La Federation Internationale De L’Art Photographique (AFIAP).

British-born Clive, has strong links to South Africa, where he met Joan, and is a Fellow of the Photographic Society of Southern Africa (FPSSA). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (FRPS), and was awarded Excellence De La Federation Internationale De L’Art Photographique (EFIAP).

He has been a keen photographer since 1972, with a special interest in nature and landscapes — with the Wiltshire countryside or South African National Parks providing inspiration. He also enjoys sport photography.

He is currently a member of the Royal Photographic Society Nature Distinctions Panel.

Corrections: Jeanette Brusnicky’s career explained

There were some errors in the article, The background worker who selected judges about Jeanette Brusnicky in the December issue of Cape Camera, especially regarding her work in the field of cytogenetics and at the Munich Olympics. We apologise and asked Jeanette to give an accurate description of the work she did: She obtained postgraduate degrees at UCT and the University of Stellenbosch and specialized in the newly-developing field of Human Cytogenetics. She participated in collaborative research in Mapping the Human Genome, based at the Department of Cytogenetics, Tygerberg (1970-2009).

During 1971-73 she worked in Germany, collaborat-

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ing internationally to devise new technology for Human Cytogenetic Testing. At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, she was a member of the group of German Human Geneticists implementing newly-devised techniques using hair root cells for rapid and more accurate detection of X- and Y-chromatin.

All female athletes were tested. Females with positive Y-chromatin tests were excluded from participation in the Games. The presence of the Y chromosome in certain females results in increased production of androgens and increased muscle deposition, which could present an unfair advantage over those females with a normal XX chromosome complement.”

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Cape Camera • January 2015

flashes (continued)

E&D speaker to share knowledge of composites

Malcolm Venter will be the Education & Development (E&D) speaker on February 18th, and in preparation for the Composite Image competition set subject in March, he will be covering various aspects of composite images. He will, among other topics, talk about the history and how to edit and compose composite images in Photoshop and will also be showing some photography examples.

“I did a course on Dynamic Photography at Vega (School of Brand Leadership) with him about two years ago and he was a superb teacher — so inspiring and enthusiastic!” says E&D convenor Karyn Parisi.

He has been a senior lecturer in photography at the Vega School since moving from Johannesburg to Cape Town in 2010. “In my role as Head of Photography I manage the day to day activities of both students and staff in the faculty. This involves organising camps and outings as well as directing curriculum based activities and equipment,” he explains in his LinkedIn profile.

He also teaches critical studies at Vega.

In Johannesburg he was a partner in the Light and Lens Productions photographic company, specialising in commercial, portrait, and wedding photography.

“Passionate about all aspects of photography, he is also a keen student of art history,” the Vega School website describes him. “He brings this passion Malcolm Venter’s Facebook profile to the classroom, insisting that we should be creating artists, rather than just photo. technicians.”

Save and use your images of the 125 year celebrations Members are encouraged to hold back their best im- • You are encouraged to provide as many of your images ages taken on outings this year for the following: for the making of an AV. Send images to Robert Magin• Only images taken on outings can be entered in the ley at rmaginley@worldonline.co.za; Set subject of the club competition in our birthday • All members who regularly enter CTPS club competimonth (October); tions may enter one image — on any topic — from • Please send 2-3 images taken on the outing for publicawhich 40 images for the public exhibition in the tion in Cape Camera (editor@ctps.co.za); Artscape at the end of July, beginning of August, will • Post your images on our Facebook page; be selected.

Welcome to new members

The new year started with CTPS welcoming six new members: Stella Coram, Paul Nuttall, Anna Morris, Mark Sorenson Browne and at the end of January, Dave Bruce — may they enjoy a long, active and enjoyable association with the society.

Enter PSSA website competition Members may not be aware that they can enter any one of their images every month in the PSSA Website Image competition. The competition is open to all PSSA members, or members of an affiliated PSSA club (like CTPS). The image can be submitted via Photovault at www.photovaultonline.com. The winning image will be displayed on the home page of the PSSA website for the duration of the month. See www.pssa. co.za/galleries1/website-winning-pics-nov-2014. The Website Picture of the Year will be selected at the end of the PSSA calendar year (30 June of each year).

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Awards and promotions Gold, silver and red are awarded in club competitions as follows for the four classes of photographers: Points needed for Salon Advanced Intermediate Beginner

Gold 24 22 20 18

Silver 20 18 16 14

Red 16 14 12 10

Points awarded in the club competitions count as follows: Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Red =1.

Salon acceptances count 3 points (entrant must alert the competition convenor).

Promotion criteria

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: 5 gold & 30 points in club competitions & 30 in salon acceptances / or 50 gold awards.

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Cape Camera • January 2015

-6An early photo of society members on an outing, complete with headwear, jackets and ties and the huge cameras they used. From the left in the back row are F Ayres, Grace, RJ Heydenrych, C Martin, EJ Steer, Glennie, Copcroft, Geo Higgie, Ashenden, Wright, Wignall, Ferrey, Lindup, vice-president TW Cairncross, committee member RT Pett, Schonegevel, secretary and treasurer BA Lewis and committee member C Hayne. Seated: First committee chairman C Ray Woods, GC Van Bonde, Dr David Gill (president), committee member DC Andrew and comet-photographer EH Allis.

Despite the cumbersome equipment, outings were as popular in the early days as today.

CTPS 125 years:

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Members on an outing to Leeuwenhof, home to founding member City Engineer TW Cairncross.

how it all started

The Cape was a British Colony, Cape Town was powered by gas, equipment and people were transported by horse carts and oxwagons and photography was in its infancy when CTPS was founded 125 years ago. Yet, certain aspects of the society then will sound very familiar to members today

he early years of the Cape Town Photographic Society (CTPS) set the tone for the following 125 years. The idea for the society was first mooted in a tavern, and throughout the years socialising has been among the activities most enjoyed by members.

The first president pioneered star photography (see p8) and star trail photography is still very popular. The founding members were prominent in society, and at the forefront of photographic developments at the time ... CTPS has had many prominent members who had also played an important role in developing photography in South Africa.

What’s more, the first meeting held after electricity was

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installed in the YMCA hall in 1896 had to be abandoned due to a power failure. During subsequent meetings they seriously considered returning to kerosene as illumination of the lantern as the “illuminant electric” had the habit of breaking down in the middle of a showing of slides ... which sounds rather familiar!

In the publication 100 Years. Cape Town Photographic Society 30 October 1890 – 30 October 1990, Eric Vertue, who himself played an important role in the society as president and member, wrote about two gentlemen seated at a small round table at the Thatched Tavern on Greenmarket Square in deep conversation, each enjoying a Tickey Beer.

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Cape Camera • January 2015 The minutes of the first meeting was reproduced on the cover of the menu for the CTPS 100th year celebration dinner.

An early meeting in the Owl Club room of the YMCA where the formally dressed all-male members were smoking pipes and cigarettes.

Below: Cape Town in 1894 photographed from Lion’s Head.

They were T W Cairncross who lived at Leeuwenhof in the Gardens, and B A Lewis who was the Secretary of the Gas Company. Their conversation revolved around the new craze of photography. They were both keen amateurs ...

The outcome of this meeting in the Thatched Tavern – which would feature prominently in CTPS reports in following years — was a notice published in the newspaper: All those interested in Photography are desired to attend a Meeting at the St George's School-room, Wale Street, on Thursday, October 30, 1890, at 8 pm for the purpose of forming a Photographic Society.

There were 30 men present at this meeting, where it was decided to form the Cape Town Photographic Club, with Dr David Gill (see p8) as honorary president, and initiators Lewis as honorary secretary and treasurer and Cairncross Then, in 1906, we find the name of the Club being the as vice-president.

Cape Town Photographic Society, writes Vertue. What The first committee included prominent Capetonians of brought the change about is not known, but it happened the time like Ray Woods, EH Allis, who photographed the before 1906 — as an Exhibition held that year is organised Great Comet with Gill, F Ayres (of Starke & Ayres seed and by the "Society". flower company), EK Green (in the liquor trade), etc.

The meetings over the first few months centred largely The chairmanship rotated from on members describing cameras member to member, except when they either made or adapted; discusIt was debated if the club should there was a Soiree or a Personage sions of fixture recipes, the making return to the kerosene illuminawas being entertained when Dr Gill of optical lanterns and the making tion of the lantern as the "illu(later Sir David Gill) took the chair, of lantern slides, both wet-plate and minant electric" had the habit reports Vertue. commercial slides being compared, of breaking down in the middle The membership grew with each reports Vertue (more in the next of a showing of slides meeting and the following year a issue of Cape Camera). Different second South African photographic methods for illuminating slides were society was formed in Port Elizabeth, often discussed. followed by another one in Grahamstown. These clubs had Perhaps due to the influence of Dr Gill, stars were popucordial relations — in 1894 members of these societies met lar topics for photos. At the July 1892 meeting Ray Woods in George for a weekend outing and they shared lantern showed enlargements of three diameters made from six inch slides amongst themselves. plates of Nebulae. The exposures varied from 5 seconds to 12 The Cape Colony was under British rule, and although war hours! The long exposures showed beautiful nebulae, which had not yet broken out with the two Boer Republics, the has never before been seen and could not be seen even with Cape societies had more in common with the Royal Photo- powerful telescopes. graphic Society in the UK, than the South African photogDespite the cumbersome equipment, members regularly raphers in the north. went on photographic outings, with horse-drawn carts or According to Vertue the minute books for the years 1897- ox wagons transporting the equipment — depending on 1906 were lost, and there is therefore no record of how the the length of the outing. On shorter outings they carried Anglo-Boer War affected the activities of the club.

To p11 their own equipment on public transport.

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Cape Camera • January 2015

CTPS 125 years:

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Our first stargazing president Far right: Sir David Gill during his time in Cape Town.

Right: A copy of the Southern Sky catalogue dr David Gill compiled as astronomer in Cape Town, now in the Library of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Sir David Gill, the first CTPS president, was a remarkable man: he took the first photo of the moon, pioneered astrophotography, helped take the first clear photo of a comet and used photography to map the stars ... among his many other accomplishments. JOY WELLBELOVED researched the life of the famous founder member of CTPS

F

or Dr. David Gill, starting organisations seemed to be a thing that he just did — time and again. He was a starter, an organiser. Cape Town Photographic Club was just one of the organisations that he got off the ground. He was elected homorary president at the first meeting on October 30, 1890, and remained president until he returned to the UK in 1906.

When the Cape Town Photographic Club was founded he had been the Astronomer Royal in charge of the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope for 11 years, a position that he would keep for the next 16 years.

When he arrived in Cape Town in May 1879 the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was in a bad state with antiquated, poorly maintained equipment, dating back to 1820. When he resigned in 1906, the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope was the finest observatory in the southern hemisphere, he had kick-started Astrophotography, he had designed a new telescope that was so good its design was still regarded as the best 100 years later, and he was now Sir David Gill, having been knighted by Queen

Victoria in 1900.

Born on 12th June 1843 in Aberdeen Scotland, David Gill was the eldest son of David and Margaret Gill. His father was a watchmaker of some repute, who held a Royal Warrant as Watchmaker to Queen Victoria, and fully expected his son to take over the business. Young David, however, had other interests, notably astronomy.

He attended school at Dollar Academy in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (which is currently the United Kingdom's oldest co-educational day and boarding school) where he boarded with the headmaster, Dr. Lindsay, who influenced him and interested him in mathematics, natural philosophy and chemistry.

He must have been a bright kid, as he was enrolled at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen in 1858, aged only 15. One of his tutors was the great physicist James Clerk Maxwell who produced the first colour photograph in 1861 – about the time that David left at his fathers request to learn the watchmaking business.

David spent the next few years travelling around the con-

Introducing Joy

era. “A roll of Kodachrome slide film cost one pound ten and six (about R3.50) at a time when my weekly pocket money was one shilling (10c).”

While working in the emerging computer industry in Johannesburg during the 1960’s, she joined the Johannesburg Photographic Society for a few years. “My first Salon acceptance was a black and white print,” she says.

In 1975 she was transferred to Cape Town, where she added a double garage to their cottage in Constantia as a studio. Portrait

The article on Dr David Gill was written by Joy Wellbeloved, a seventeen-year veteran of CTPS. She is known for her love of history, research skills and ability to make sense of technical terms and descriptions, as well as her willingness to help out when called upon.

Joy has been interested in photography for most of her life – or more precisely, since she received a box brownie when she was about eight. At school she joined the photo club, and in about 1957 she bought a 35mm Robin cam-

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Cape Camera • January 2015 Far left: The historical photo of the ‘Great Comet’ of 1882, taken by two CTPS founder members.

Left: The advanced heliometer Gill used in Lord Lindsay’s private observatory in 1876.

Gill undertook various scientific expeditions to far-away tinent, learning the art of clock making in Switzerland and acquiring a feeling for precision instruments, knowledge places to observe the pair of transits of the face of the sun of business methods, and foreign languages. At the same by the planet Venus, and using the opposition of Mars to time he kept his interest in astronomy alive by helping a work out the best-yet distance from the earth to the sun professor at Kings College Aberdeen set up a telescope. — and was within 0.2% of our current figure. This value After a few years he sold the business, but the skills that was widely adopted and earned him the gold medal of the he had learned working with precision instruments stayed Royal Astronomical Society in 1882, as well as a medal from the French Academy of Sciences. with him.

In 1879 Lord Lindsay was obviously a man of influence, By 1869 he was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, and had built his own 12 inch (300mm) telescope with because he influenced the decision to have Gill appointed which he took a photograph of the moon, which was of as HM Astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope – a position high quality. Taking a photograph of the moon in 1869 was that he held until 1906. Before he took up his post, Gill travnot as simple as it seems to us. The Daguerreotype pro- elled extensively all over Europe in order to meet some of cess was just not sensitive enough to light as it required the world's foremost astronomers.

In 1882, Finlay, one of his assistant very long exposures, even in full daylight. astronomers at the Cape ObservaWet plates could only be exposed while As Gill studied the photory, discovered a bright comet in the they were still wet, which limited exposure tographs of the comet, southern sky, which became known time, and the invention of dry-plate phohe knew that photograas the Great Comet of 1882. By this tography was still a few years away. phy could assist making time the dry plate cameras were newWhen an aristocrat, Lord Lindsay of Dun star-maps down to very ly introduced. Gill, remembering his Echt, saw Gill’s photograph of the moon, he faint magnitudes moon photograph of 1869, invited a knew that he had found the man to build local photographer, Mr EH Allis (who him a private observatory at his home at later became a CTPS committee memDun Echt. When Lord Lindsay offered Gill the post of director, he accepted with alacrity, despite the ber) and they fastened an ordinary camera with a 2.5 inch aperture, and 11 inch focal length Dallmeyer lens to the reduced salary.

The observatory was erected under Gill's supervision clock-driven equatorial telescope. They took several phoand equipped on a lavish scale with instruments finer than tos over a few nights with exposures of between 30 and 60 many of those available in Government Observatories at minutes. The results were astounding. The photographs the time — including a 4 inch (100 mm) heliometer with showed a good image of the comet, but the background which he became an expert observer. Gill remained the stars were also shown with absolute clarity and sharpness.

As Gill studied the photographs, he knew that photogDirector at Dun Echt until 1876.

And so started his career which was to bring him inter- raphy could assist making star-maps down to very faint national fame, and provide astronomers all over the world magnitudes. The result was the famous CPD or Cape Photographic Durchmusterung, which extended a To p11 with a priceless new research tool — Astrophotography. photography became a paying hobby, because as she says, “Hasselblads are very expensive!”

She joined CTPS in the same year and served as chairman of the print section for about two years, before she was elected president in 1984.

1985 was a traumatic year: her divorce cost her all her photographic equipment, and she was declared redundant by the computer bureau. She consequently left CTPS. Joy had joined Leo Computer Bureau in 1966 as a computer operator, working shifts, and moved to programming within a year, followed by a promotion to a systems analyst specifying custom designed applications. She was transferred to Cape Town as an account manager.

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After the retrenchment she was unemployed for two years, and then had various jobs in the computer industry, doing customer training across the country, as well as in neighbouring countries Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

She retired as a quality controller in 2007 – and ended the lean photographic years by buying the Canon 40D she still uses. This enabled her to rejoin CTPS in 2008, where she has been very active in various positions, like organising the audio-visual section for the past two years.

“If money were plentiful, I would be a wildlife photographer,” she says. “But, I am concentrating on Macro this year – I can do it in my study, and close to home. I would like to do portraits again, but do not have the space.”

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Above: Eagleyes’ Lodge will be our base for the weekend outing to Stanford. Right: The Goldschmidts (Joyce is at the back left) and Alison and Keith Bull did a recce visit to the base lodge, and had lunch with the owners Royd and Lindsey Frith. Photos: Richard Goldschmidt.

CTPS 125 years:

Action-packed Stanford weekend

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On Friday 20th February some 25 CTPS members will be leaving the city to enjoy an action-packed weekend at Stanford, with a full programme of photographic and social events. Organiser RICHARD GOLDSCHMIDT explains

tanford is a picturesque village in the Overberg, 30 km past Hermanus, which is the destination of our weekend outing of 20-22 February.

Surrounded by mountains and perched on the banks of the Kleinrivier, the village offers abundant photo opportunities. Apart from nature, the many antique and coffee shops and quaint architecture will inspire members to keep the shutters clicking.

CTPS has hired a large house — Eagleyes’ Lodge — as our base for the weekend outing This house sleeps ten people, and other members will be housed in a sevenbedroomed bed and breakfast, which has fabulous views of the lagoon and mountains nearby.

Some of the weekend activities will be: • A sunset cruise to take images of birds on the lagoon;

• A walk led by an architect around the heritage sites of the village; • A visit to Die Kelders caves and beach; • A visit to the Birckenhead Brewery, • Breakfasts at special little restaurants.

• Or just walk around and enjoy the scenery.

In the evenings we will all gather for a communal braai and maybe some photography!

Details will be communicated directly with those who have told Richard that they will be attending, in due course.

Other members may still be able to be accommodated. Anybody who is still interested, should contact the convenor, Richard Goldschmidt on cell 082 558 3037 as soon as possible.

The guy who makes the outings happen Richard Goldschmidt not only organised the first outing of our celebratory year to Table Mountain (see p12), he also used his considerable organising skills to plan the weekend outing to Stanford, which members will not want to miss. He is also helping his friend Keith Bull with the arrangements for the Red Bus Tour in March.

But then, organising should come naturally to a seasoned engineer.

Richard is a born and bred Capetonian, who was given his first SLR on his 21st birthday to capture his mountain climbing exploits. He remembers attending at least two meetings of the Cape Town Photographic

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Society in the late 1960’s when our meetings were held in the Cathedral Hall in the City. They were scary and not condusive to encouraging a young, inexperienced, photographer to join.

A working life spent building up a mechanical /electrical consulting engineering company in the City, left no time for photography, other than to capture a growing family.

Richard has designed the building services for many well-known projects, such as the Victoria Wharf shopping centre, many high-rise office buildings, numerous five-star hotels, shopping centres, and ended up leading the teams on the Port Elizabeth and Green Point Soccer

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Cape Camera • January 2015

The remarkable Dr. Gill (from p9)

The courtyard of the lodge where members will be meeting for the evening braai. Photo: Richard Goldschmidt.

Diarise and take note Please diarise the following information about future outings during this year. Also see the diary of activities for the full year on p20:

• March: The date for the Red Bus Tour has been moved forward to 21 March. More details will be supplied later.

• 25 April: The Bein Wine outing will cost R150 per per-

son and a maximum of 20 people can be accommodated. Members will be required to walk 4.5km uphill to enjoy a picnic at a panoramic viewpoint, and walk 4.5km downhill after sunset. The donkey cart only transports equipment. Urgently book with Pat Scott on email p.a.charteris@gmail.com.

• 29-31 May: There are 58 places available for CTPS

members and guests who want to attend the De Hoop Congress. Members are urged to book with Pat Scott as soon as possible, so that the bookings can be finalised.The four speakers are Chris Fallows, Paul Bruins, Martin Osner and Nicole Palmer. Palmer’s husband, a nature conservationist who has been working with De Hoop for 30 years, will give a talk on Friday afternoon.

A gala dinner is planned for Saturday 30 May. Book with Pat Scott on email p.a.charteris@gmail.com.

Northern Hemisphere survey, the Bonn Durchmusterung, down to the South Pole of the sky. The finished catalogue gives the brightness and approximate positions of nearly half a million southern stars 1886 he initiated an international congress to promote the making of a photographic catalogue of the whole sky, which resulted in the Carte du Ciel project. The Cape Observatory was assigned the zone between declinations −40° and −52°. He initiated the idea of a geodetic survey along the 30th east meridian stretching from South Africa to Norway, resulting in the longest meridian yet measured on Earth.

Gill was not a great theorist— his genius was as an organiser, observer and technologist.

His expertise in instrument making was put to good use. His design for a Reversible Transit Circle telescope proved so reliable and accurate that it remained in use until 1972. For decades, accurate positions for southern stars depended mainly on this one instrument.

On the 24th May 1900 Gill was knighted, and in 1906 he resigned due to failing health, and returned to London, where he continued to involve himself in matters Astronomical until his death on 24th January 1914.

Early days (cont from p7) In June, 1894, Sir Benjamin Stone, president of the Birmingham Photographic Society was the speaker. He "condemned" the use of hand cameras, when used merely for taking advantage of persons in peculiar positions and generally as tending to produce somewhat careless work. During his African trip he made between 600 and 700 glass plate exposures using his plate camera.

The first electric streetlights were installed in 1881 in Adderley Street and in 1896 the YMCA hall, where the club met, became electrified. However, the new-fangled illuminant, termed “electric” was viewed with scepticism (writes Vertue), because of the many power failures.

They seriously considered to keep on using kerosene lanterns for illumination, instead of switching on. The discussion of alternative power sources has now come full circle.

Stadiums built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. After retiring in 2010, he was talked into attending a CTPS meeting by his friend, Keith Bull. His wife, Joyce, also wanted to know more about photography, and so digital cameras were purchased, and they started to learn the ropes. They especially enjoyed the outings organised by Nellian Bekker, which encouraged their progression from Beginner to a little way up the ladder. But, Richard acknowledges that he still has much to learn.

With his knowledge of the building industry and management, Richard had his arm twisted to serve on council to look after our property at Jarvis Street.

Now that is in the final stages of being sold, he has accepted the task of organising some of our 125th year celebration outings.

Richard spends most of his time playing golf, climbing the mountain, dealing with CTPS business and working in a large garden. Richard and Joyce have three children, all residing in Cape Town, two of which have just provided them with their first two granddaughters in January this year.

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CTPS 125 years:

Table Mountain outing The fickle Cape Town weather turned the first outing of the year into an adventure

With the restaurant all but disappearing in the mist, CTPS members, protected by their new jackets, find shelter. Back row: Trudi du Toit, Joyce Goldschmidt, Nicol du Toit, Leslie Maginley, Richard Goldschmidt, Robert Maginley, Barbara and Detlef Basel. Front: Lidia Sancho and Anna Morris. Photo: Jeanette du Toit.

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ape Town demonstrated the truth of the saying four seasons in one day when CTPS members ascended Table Mountain via the cable car in hot sunshine, were greeted at the top by a fresh breeze, picnicked with clouds closing in and mist cutting off all visibility ... and were then rewarded by a beautiful sunset as the sun broke through the cloud cover.

Just as the later group were getting ready to ascend, Cape Town was experiencing true winter weather. Rain and thick mist resulted in a nerve-wracking car trip to the cable car and put the rainproof features of the new CTPS 125 year jackets to the test. We’re coming down, said the group at the top, who had enjoyed their picnic cocooned in fog.

And just before the cable car doors closed for the journey down, the sun broke through the clouds ... and the group got permission to return to the mountain to enjoy some glorious photogenic scenes.

The ease with which the group could adapt to the fastchanging conditions, was in stark contrast to what the society members had to endure a century ago: no cable car to take them to the top, no lightweight, compact cameras, no fast return as the clouds covered the mountain, no cell phones to communicate changed plans ...

Yet, they climbed the mountain with their bulky gear and took some impressive photographs, as Richard Goldschmidt demonstrated with the Table Mountain photo album from the CTPS storage archives he brought on the trip. And they did it with the clouds moving in, as the images on the next page show.

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Top: The group was already in the cable car to return home, when the sun broke through the clouds and everybody got out to photograph the sunset.

Above: “Cheers!” says Leslie Maginley, with Robert looking on.

Members enjoyed their picnic, even though thick mist cut off the view.

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A Titanic moment for Jeanette du Toit, captured by Joyce Goldschmidt.

Photo: Richard Goldschmidt

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Table mountain then and now The two monochome photos above from the CTPS archives were taken on an outing in the beginning of the 20th century, before the cable car was built in 1929.

The challenge was to recreate these images, taken about a century ago, during the CTPS outing.

Just as on that long ago trip, low-lying clouds and rising mist contributed to dramatic images.

The photographers are: Left (top to bottom): Trudi du Toit Robert Maginley Robert Maginley Trudi du Toit.

Right (top to bottom): Leslie Maginley Leslie Maginley Richard Goldschmidt Robert Maginley.

Right: The turn-off to Table Mountain Road from Kloofnek Road had a tram stop in the beginning of the 20th century.

Above: Nowadays there is a stop for the MyCiTi feeder bus that takes passengers from the parking area to the lower cable car, as can be seen through the mist during the CTPS outing.

The road leading to the cable station is also now tarred.

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AV’s plan ahead for the year

ROBERT MAGINLEY reports back on the first AV meeting and what can be expected this year.

The first AV meeting for 2015 was well attended, and all enjoyed the talk by Graham Blyth on the Antarctic.

Nellian Bekker also presented an interesting talk on ’Do’s and Don’ts of AV Making.

David Beckham AV’s where shown and members made various comments.

We would like to welcome new members Stella Coram and Mark Sorensen Browne to the AV section and look forward to seeing their AV’s The next meeting on February 12th is our first competition night for 2015 and we look forward to seeing your entries.

See more on how to enter in the block right.

For further information on the AV section please contact either Nellian Bekker (left) at nellian@wam.co.za or Robert Maginley (right) at rmaginley@worldonlne.co.za

Competion news for 2015

IN 2015 the bi-monthly competitions will have two sections — either Open or Challenges. Members may only use a Challenge subject once during the year. The topics that members can choose from during the year are: • Plant Kingdom • My Favourite Song • Monochrome • Tell us a story with less than 6 images • Light Spectrum • Some narration • 1 minute AV • Animal Kingdom • Abstract • Imagination At each comepetition evening there will be three prizes awarded for the Best Open, Best Challenge and Best Beginner AV. A beginner is an AV-maker who has not won any competition, had a salon acceptance or made more than five AV’s.

How to enter: • Members must submit the details of their entries to Robert Maginley at rmaginley@worldonline.co.za by the Sunday prior to the competition night.

• Members may submit a maximum of two AV’s per competition night, which must be no longer than five minutes each. Members are encouraged to make new AV’s for the competitions.

• Bring the AV’s on either a memory stick or CD/DVD to the club by 6.30pm, to allow enough time to load them on the computer.

Salon news

The current list of Salons from PSSA is on the right.

We also received news of the Tauranga Photographic Society salon in New Zealand.

The are accepting entries from 1 April, closing 10 June.

The judging will take place on 20 June. The cost is NZD $34 for the first av and NZD $11 for each additional AV. The categories are Theme, Documentary, Music poetry and song, Fusion (get examples for fusion on their website).

Contact email: avsalon@ taurangaphoto.org.nz.

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Cape Camera • January 2015

PSSA Entries: Every month a judge must nominate a competition entry from a senior (see p2) and junior photographer (right) to enter in the PSSA club competition. See the PSSA website at www.pssa.co.za.

Right: Print Set Subject Intermediate winner Nature using technology as a resting place (24) by Jenny Cole-Rous. “A lovely photo with a nice, soft, feel,” said judge Krummacher, who suggested that the seal could have been more to the side of the image, not in the middle.

Left: Digital Open Salon winner, The bigger picture (26) by Mariuslee Pretorius. “A humorous take on the subject,” said Krummacher of this impactful portrait that was one of the top scorers. He would have liked to see more expression on the subject’s face, though.

You be the judge of judging

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A new three-judge format for the competition evenings was introduced for a trial period in January. Members are asked to give feedback to council and will be asked to vote whether we should adopt this system at the end of April

he four-month trail period for the new competition format of three judges was introduced in January. Members are asked to please give their feedback on this new system, and they will be asked to vote after the April competition evening on the best way to proceed.

Apart from introducing the multi-person judging panel, another change was to send the images to the judges before the competition evening, without any indication who the photographer is. They are, however, not required to pre-judge remotely — this will not be fair to the print entrants and the judges should see the images as displayed by our new HD projector and on our new screen (which will soon be installed).

This does, however, offer the judges the opportunity to form an opinion of the good and bad points of an image

outside the pressurised environment of the competition evening. It also gives the external judge time to prepare comments, which improves the flow of the evening.

The judges score by clicking a device that is directly connected to the Photovault programme on the competition convenor’s computer, which averages their scores.

In the event of an internal judge entering an image, the average of the other two judges is entered as the score.

In February the external judge will be Christ Hart, a photographer and judge for many years and part time camera repairs person at Orms. The two internal judges are Neels Beyers and Gail Reuvers, both very experienced photographers and judges.

So far the feedback has been mostly positive, says Pat Scott, but she urges all members to voice their opinions via email by contacting her on p.a.charteris@gmail.com.

Three judges in January

In January the competition entries were judged by two club members, Ken Woods (middle) and Cathy Bruce Wright (right), and one external, Frank Krummacher (left), who was asked to comment. Krummacher is well-known for the creative photography workshops he presents and as co-owner, with his wife, Nicole, of the Camerastuff Cape Town branch.

Nervous at first, Cathy said during the coffee break that she gained confidence when she realised that her scores were on par with those awarded by the other two judges. The average score of the three judges was exactly the same, namely 22.

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Winning and top images January

Set subject: Yin and Yang

Left: Digital Set subject Salon winner: Eye spy (26) by Malcolm Jones.

Right: Digital Set subject Advanced winner.

Inside Outside (25) by Robert Marconi.

Above: Print Set Subject Salon winner. Interdependence across a divide (25) by Malcolm Jones.

Above: Digital Set Subject Intermediate winner. Leucospermum Balance (21) by Cathy Jenkins.

Below: Digital Set Subject. Salon. Where opposites meet (24) by Shaun Laishley.

Above: Print Set Subject Salon. Dark or light landscape or moonscape (24) by Jean Bradshaw.

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Above: Digital Set Subject Advanced. Opposite Statues (23) by Richard Goldschmidt.

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Cape Camera • January 2015

January winners & top scorers: Open Left: Digital Open winner Intermediate. Portrait of a wood owl (23) by Cathy Jenkins.

Right: Digital Open Advanced winner. Nature’s Power (25) by Dante Parisi.

Above: Digital Open Salon Blush (25) by Jeanette du Toit.

Above: Print Open Intermediate winner. Mantis in the Courtyard (20) by Jenny Cole-Rous.

Above: Digital Open Salon. In the light of the watery sun (24)

by Jean Bradshaws.

Below: Print Open Salon.

Wintertide (26) by Marius-lee Pretorius.

Above: Digital Open Salon. Enclosure (25) by Cathy Bruce.

Above: Print Open Salon. Marocco Street Scene (25) by Jeanette Brusnicky.

Left: Digital Open Salon. Reaching Out (25) by Jeanette du Toit..

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More January top scoring images Left: Digital Open Salon.

I’ve got attitude (24) by Shaun Laishley.

Right: Digital Open Advanced. Flamingo Planet (24) by Karyn Parisi..

Right: Digital Open Salon. Neons Passing (24) by Marius-lee Pretorius..

Left: Digital Open Salon.

After the Fire (24) by Neels Beyers.

Right: Digital Open Advanced. Eiffel Tower (24) by Jacoba van Zyl.

Above: Digital Set Advanced. Yin and Yang earth elements (23) by karyn Parisi.

Above: Digital Set Advanced. Dune Walk (26) by Cathy Bruce.

Left: Digital Set Advanced. Poinsettia Yin and Yang (23) by Julie Dyer.

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Cape Camera • January 2015

New forum for WC clubs

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A new committee, the Western Cape Club Committee, was formed in January to provide a forum for clubs to share information, improve social interaction between clubs, organise workshops, and run a JAP course for photographers interested in becoming competition judges. NICOL DU TOIT attended on behalf of CTPS, and reports back

Interclub competition lubs in the Western Cape are encouraged to share information Johan asked Alicia Greyling to move the about their activities, to attend Interclub date away from the 30th of Ocworkshops and a training course tober 2015, because it clashed with CTPS’s for prospective judges, through a new Gala evening. The date was subsequently Western Cape Club Committee. About 30 changed to 6 November. representatives of clubs and invited guests It was decided that the digital format will attended a meeting on January 17th, conbe changed to High Definition and that a vened by the PSSA regional representative, maximum of 3 images per author will be alJohan Kloppers, where the committee was lowed for clubs with 24, or fewer, members. formed.

Furthermore, five judges will be appointed, Clubs must appoint a representative to with the top and bottom scores to drop out. this forum. The main contact and discusAmateur club judges will be used and not sions will be through email, but a meeting professionals or academics.T will be held quarterly, if required and club he 2015 event will be hosted by Swartland, secretaries must be asked to send inforwhile the 2016 event will be run by Creative. mation of club activities, such as outings 2016 PSSA Congress and workshops, as well as newsletters, to PRO Celia Fouche and Kloppers, so that CTPS vice-president and treas- The 2016 congress will take place at clubs can hear more about the activities urer Nicol du Toit represented the Langebaan, and Johan said that he wished society at the inaugruation meet- to dedicate the congress to CTPS, who has of other clubs.

Johan asked me to give a brief summary ing of the Western Cape Club. He done a lot to promote photography in this of what we are planning for our 125th year will also be treasurer of the organ- region over many years. celebrations. I stressed the exhibition we ising committee of the 2016 PSSA He mentioned that delegates to the Congress in Langebaan.

Swellendam congress in August this year are planning at Artscape, where we will is capped at 200 delegates, half of which be exhibiting a number of old prints dating back to 1890 together with newer ones from our members, have already confirmed. and the Gala Evening to which chairpersons of the various PSSA Membership clubs will be invited.

Johan stated that the Western Cape lagged behind the northern regions in terms of membership, with the result JAP course for prospective judges Celia and Antenie Carstens are driving the judge accredi- that we do not have sufficient representation at PSSA. He tation programme in the Western Cape and they are busy asked that we should encourage people to join the PSSA finalising their own programme, which they will publish be- and in so doing give us more say in what happens at the national body. fore the end of February.

They are planning 20 monthly meetings, where they will Limiting salons get experts within the amateur club system (not profes- Hosting salons is becoming a hot discussion point at PSSA. sionals or academics) to talk about a different genre of pho- Statements have, for example, been made that the number tography at each meeting. This will include pointers to keep of salons should be drastically reduced as it was causing a in mind when judging. drop in photographic standards. This was hotly disputed by Participants will get opportunities to judge photographs most of the delegates, stating that overseas acceptances by scoring, as well as commenting publicly thereon. All the are easier to obtain than South African acceptances. Also, other participants, as well as a few senior active judges, if you compare current acceptances to those of years gone such as Antenie and Johan, will then evaluate individual by, there is a marked improvement in standards. participants, who will get summarised evaluations, includThe administration workload is another reason for wanting pointers on improvements, after each session. ing to reduce the number of salons. They also want to enThe programme is structured over a 24 month period with courage organisers to have salons with live judging, exhibino meetings in December and January. At the end of it par- tions and printed catalogues and will either encourage or ticipants who made the grade will either be accredited as a enforce such salons. I made the point that they then need club judge, or a club and salon judge. to increase the entry fees drastically. www.ctps.co.za

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125 Year celebration diary Save these dates for 2015

February 20-22, 2015

Weekend in Stanford: urgently confirm attendance with Richard Goldschmidt and book accommodation (See p10). Contact: cell 082 558 3037

March 21, 2015

Red tourist bus late afternoon outing around the Peninsula with unique stops for photography. Details to follow.

April 25, 2015

Bein Wein Private Cellar outing in Vlottenburg with wine tasting at sunset. Donkeys transport cameras. Limited number can go — book with Pat Scott urgently at p.a. charteris@gmail.com.

CTPS Congress for members in De Hoop Nature Reserve. Expect top speakers like Chris Fallows, Paul Bruins, Martin Osner and Nicole Palmer. (See p11). Book urgently with Pat Scott p.a.charteris@gmail.com.

May 29-31, 2015

Schools photo competition launched.

June 2015

Outing in Stellenbosch area under guidance of a renowned photographer.

July 20 to 4 August, 2015

Exhibition of members’ work across 125 years in Artscape Opera House foyer.

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), 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 Granger Bay with a good speaker, where old and current members will be honoured.

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