Sharp Focus August 2023

MESSAGE FROM YOUR CHAIRMAN

Hi, All

I want to start my article by congratulating Peter Franklin and Johan Kloppers for their recent successes in the July monthly competition of the PSSA countrywide.  Peter was the runner up countrywide in the junior competition for his entry Playful Times – his image received the highest score of all twelve Western Cape entries, 39 points out of 45. Johan’s Jacana Reflections obtained the highest score of 38 points out of 45 of all the Western Cape entries in the senior competition. Once again, congratulations to you both.

Nicol du Toit has sent an update on the Celebration of Photography exhibition that CTPS have invited us to participate in at Groot Constantia Wine Estate. He reports that 15 WC clubs and five youth clubs have accepted the invitation to participate in the exhibition. This means that the organisers must restrict the number of entries to 10 per club (one per person from 10 members) and four per youth club, instead of the 12 they had planned for. This change is due to the maximum number of images that can be exhibited in the space available. If you would like to exhibit an image please let Peter and myself know –our Interclub judging committee will choose the best 10 to be submitted.

Please remember that on Monday, 25^th September 2023, we will be holding our Annual General Meeting, at the Moth Hall, starting at 7pm (half an hour earlier than normal). If you would like to nominate someone to serve on the committee, please get their permission to do so, and then contact me so that we can put their name forward.

I want to end with a quote from Mark Denman:

          “It’s not enough to just own a camera. Everyone owns a camera. To be a photographer you must understand, appreciate and harness the power you hold!”

Geoff

 

From your editor’s desk

It’s interesting and quite sad to me how memories of someone who has recently passed away can quickly fade. Then a picture brings them back to you in a second, or an article recollects the fun we had together, and what stunning images we produced, or at least one of us did.

Evelyn loved anything and everything in photography, but had she been asked for her favourite genre her quick reply would have been “Steam engines”. And if she’d had the option to bring back the good old black puffers, shining with polish brass and red, I’m sure she would have wielded her broom on every grain of sand on the Fish Hoek/Simon’s Town line so that the trains could make their Sunday runs loaded with photographers and tourists.

Which is why the familiarity to me was immediate when Paul Ash wrote in The Loneliness of the Last Steam Spotters (Business Day 6 September) that

The track curved around a hill behind from which a column of steam and black smoke rose into the morning. Over the birdsong came the sound of a steam engine struggling uphill with heavy, plodding exhalations of locomotive breath.

Well did we know the Sunday sights and sounds of trains in the offing, but writer Paul knew nothing of Evelyn’s weekend phone call at 6 am suggesting sweetly that Jenny was running today, and we would get excellent images of smoke and steam. Or a Christmas message that the train staff would all be dressed up according to the season – which they were; chunky Father Xmases leaping around from Cape Town to Simons Town. Paul’s article dealt with steam enthusiasts worldwide, travelling from city to continent desperately attempting to keep these few historical old puffers on the tracks, if only for joyrides between small stations. And lucky were we to become the beneficiaries of gorgeous trips from Cape Town to line end and further afield.

In the middle of nowhere, sometimes hidden behind a bush or a wall, sometimes clearly visible to the train drivers, the three of us would watch for black smoke around a line curve. The engine drivers knew we were there and waving madly let us have smoke and steam for longer than perhaps they should have. For me it was a whole new interest, and the memories those pictures evoked of friends and enthusiasm are still welcome and will not fade, dedicated as they now are to Evelyn, steam enthusiast with the best of them.

 

Buy and sell

Anyone who is thinking of upgrading their camera equipment – I’ve been asked by a relative to help her sell two lenses, so here are the details:

Canon EF-5.6 L lens in excellent condition with box and carrying case – R18 000.00.

Canon EF 6D full frame lens. Very good condition with original box. Always had the same lens on, so very clean inside. Some external signs of use, but nothing serious. 7019 iterations. R6 500.00.

Should you be interested in either of these lenses, please either give me a call or drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with the owner.

Maureen

 

Judge’s corner

I was hoping to give some input on this month’s theme, Architectural photography, but the month has run away from us, and by the time the newsletter comes out it will be to late to be of any use!

So instead I will take the opportunity to share the following poem, by Félix Morisseau-Leroy, a Haitian, which appeared in an article called Haiti Feeding the Spirit (Aperture, 1992).

 

What made it really interesting is that the poem was presented alongside six studio portraits of children taken between 1959 and 1969 by Abraham Photo, in Port-au-Prince (see first image, below).

According to Ashley la Grange in the academic companion Basic Critical Theory for Photographers, “The portraits do not attempt to reveal poverty and show the children neatly dressed in a range of outfits … the photographs and the poem Kodak … highlight the relationship between Haitians ‘caught’ by the tourist’s camera ‘. . . and the way Haitians respond to photographic studio camera. The studio photographs . . . are remarkable for the clear cultural negotiations that are apparent in the photographs themselves. The subject, the camera, and the studio photographer are engaged in [a] . . . socially and artistically agreed upon photographic process. The subjects are in control. They are paying for the photographic sessions, which they themselves have initiated. In contrast to the ‘tourist’ photography that Morisseau-Leroy deplores, it is the Haitian clients who will determine how and in what context their images will be both made and displayed’.”

Food for thought!

See you at the next meeting
Peter

 

Winners of Digital Image of the Month (August 2023)

Evaluation of Digital Photography
Digital Entries
Title	Category	Author	Star	Score	Award	Points	Pic of Month
Awash	Scapes	Keith Lyle	4	10	Silver	2
Bumbling Along	Nature	Patrick Cardwell	2	9	Gold	3
Bushman	Portraiture	Johan Kloppers	MB	12	Gold	3	Yes
Canola-Zigzag	Landscape	Maureen Miller	3	10	Gold	3
Conquerer and Carcass	Wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	11	Gold	3
Death or Glory	Sports	Peter Brandt	MB	13	COM	4	Yes
Double Collared Sun Bird	Nature	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	9	Silver	2
Fading Beauty	Open	Lynn Toms	3	11	Gold	3
Fetch	Open	Geoff Jamieson	4	10	Silver	2
Forest Boardwalk	Nature	Marian Shinn	1	9	Gold	3
Frenzy	Open	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Friend or Foe	Wildlife	Lorne Sulcas	4	12	Gold	3	Yes
Kate Restrained	Open	Margaret Silk	1	9	Gold	3
Mother and Child duo	Nature	Marie-Louise Cardwell	2	11	Gold	3
Night Strollers	Open	Didi Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Oblivious	Street Photography	Betzi Pierce	3	9	Silver	2
Peeking Out	Street	Marian Shinn	1	9	Gold	3
Planted	Open	Derek Goldman	4	12	Gold	3	Yes
Ready for the Hunt	Nature	Marie-Louise Cardwell	2	12	COM	4	Yes
Robin	Nature	Geoff Jamieson	4	10	Silver	2
Rothenburg Old City Wall	Open	Betzi Pierce	3	9	Silver	2
Shadow on Shadow	Open	Mike Wesson	3	7	Bronze	1
Smiling Girl	Portraiture	Johan Kloppers	MB	12	Gold	3	Yes
Something Red	Abstract	Lynn Toms	3	9	Silver	2
Spinning	Open	Derek Goldman	4	12	Gold	3	Yes
Splashed by the Rain	Open	Ceridwyn Jamieson	3	9	Silver	2
Stitch at a Time	Nature	Patrick Cardwell	2	9	Gold	3
Tenebrae	Open	Margaret Silk	1	10	Gold	3
Tennis?	Open	Mike Wesson	3	8	Silver	2
Thirst Quenched	Nature	Didi Franklin	3	13	COM	4	Yes
Timeless	Landscapes	Peter Franklin	3	11	Gold	3
Waterferno	PJ	Peter Brandt	MB	12	Gold	3	Yes
Whoohoo	Black & White	Keith Lyle	4	12	Gold	3	Yes

 

Winners of Theme Image of the Month – Shadows (August 2023)

 

Theme Image of the Month: First Place Noir Swimmer by Peter Brandt, MB