Cape Camera April 2016 by Cape Town Photographic Society

CAPE CAMERA April 2016 Official Newsletter of the

Cape Town Photographic Society

In this issue From the council

E&D Dan Swart

Danie Coetzee profile

E&D May

What is Abstract?

Spier outing

Competition news

Tips for making an AV

Forthcoming outings

Winning images

AV News

News flashes

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April 2016

Council members from the back left: Richard Goldschmidt (vice-president), Jacoba van Zyl (secretary), Melanie Neethling (treasurer) and Nicol du Toit (president). Seated are Kim Stevens (E&D), Nellian Bekker (AV convenor), Detlef Basel (property), Lesley Parolis (website and competitions) and Anna Morris (public relations). Photo: Anna Morris.

News from the council

e are now moving into the next phase of our strategic planning session to make CTPS an even better society for you. Several task teams will now start meeting to plan a course of action on how to address specific issues raised at the strategic meeting in March. There had been a slight delay in the follow-up, because only a few people who so enthusiastically took part in discussions about what we can do better, actually volunteered to come and help us to implement the suggestions. After the first call only eight members volunteered for the six task teams. Luckily, after the second call we received enough people to start most of the jobs, but some will have to stand over for later until we can manage to do it. Four task teams will now tackle the issues members identified at the meeting grouped in four task teams. The teams are as follows:

Judging, scoring and getting judges: Kim Stevens, Lesley Parolis, Carin Hardisty, Antenie Carstens. Membership diversity: Anna Morris, Robert Maginley, Trudi du Toit, Carin Hardisty and Richard Goldschmidt. Interest groups: Lambe Parolis, Joy Wellbeloved, Mike de Villiers, Vic Els, Anna Morris, Robert Maginley. Store room/archives: Richard Goldschmidt, Detlef Basel, Nicol du Toit. Nellian Bekker was the only person volunteering for AVs and she’ll try and put a team together from the AV enthusiasts. Melanie Neethling was the only person who volunteered for a task team to investigate Photo evaluation/discussion as an activity and we have decided not to appoint a team to do that. Instead we’ll discuss on council how to proceed with this suggestion. So, now the discussions and brainstorming will start. I am looking forward to the

On the cover

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How well do we communicate? We are currently asking you to tell us if you are happy with the way CTPS is communicating with you by completing our online survey, as well as completing the surveys that will be handed out at meetings. Please participate, because we wish to get the views of as many members as possible. So far, respondents seem to be happy with all our online communications. Yet, when the Cape Camera editorial team called for help last month, nobody came forward to assist (see next page). The problem we have is how to interpret this lack of action. Is it because people are not really interested in certain things, despite what they say about it? Or do they think they cannot make a real contribution? Looking forward to hearing from you! Nicol du Toit

Publications Team

The cover image is Abstract Shadow Play by Jeanette du Toit. This was also our senior entry for April in the PSSA monthly club competition and the winner in the PDI Set category (Abstract), Salon, of the CTPS April competition. This is what judge Antenie Carstens said:“Well seen by the photographer — this is a highly successful abstract image. It is totally dependent on lines, shapes and light to create the effect we see. Our attention immediately goes to the right middle section where most of the lines are meeting. “The changes in shape that take place from the top left hand corner towards the middle of the right hand side create much interest. “The only small improvement that could make this a near perfect image is to darken the left bottom corner just a fraction.”

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ideas that will come out of these taskforce meetings!

Editor: Anna Engelhardt Audio-Visual: Joy Wellbeloved Competitions: Lesley Parolis Council & PSSA: Nicol du Toit E & D: Kim Stevens Facebook: Steffne Hughes Layout: Trudi du Toit Outings: Richard Goldschmidt Photo genres: Margaret Collins Snapshot: Andre Mouton Contributions for Cape Camera are welcomed. Please submit any contributions to editor Anna Engelhardt at email annengel@iafrica.com.

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CTPS news flashes

April 2016

Langebaan PSSA Congress

26th August — 1st September 2016 Please remember that the early bird registration special for the PSSA Congress in Langebaan will end on 31 May 2016. If you register before that date the cost of attending the congress will be R2 250 — instead of R2 800 — plus R250 for the banquet on the last evening for non-PSSA members. To register go to www.pssa.co.za then follow the links to the Congress pages. Also read more about the congress in the Cape Camera of March 2016.

The Marike Bruwer visual art award

Jeanette entered the 2nd Lowveld National Salon and gained five acceptances, one in the Human Portrait section with this image titled Gregory Franz.

Members are encouraged to enter the Marike Bruwer visual arts photography competition to honour the memory of this talented and active PSSA member who played a major role in developing an alternative and conceptual view of photography. Images entered must represent a personal statement, convey a mood or emotion and display creativity and imagination. Further details are on the PSSA website.

Help, please! If you still want a Cape Camera

According to 96% of the members who’ve so far completed our survey on how well CTPS communicates with members, they always read Cape Camera. What’s more, 71% say they read everything in our monthly newsletter. We’d love to hear your views, and therefore urge you to please complete the online survey on www.surveymonkey.com/ r/57LYWQH — it will take you less than a minute. We’ll also be handing out printed survey forms at meetings, as we’d like the views of as many members as possible. From the responses received so far it would appear that members do want to continue receiving Cape Camera in its present format. But, producing a quality prod-

uct requires a lot of work from the editorial team, who are all volunteers with other responsibilities. This is therefore a heartfelt plea: if you want Cape Camera as is, please volunteer if you are able to help with any of the following tasks: Reporting on members’ achievements: We need somebody to write short news reports on members’ achievements and other news of importance to fill at least a page for News Flashes. These would include short introductions to new members, reporting on salon acceptances, etc. Please contact Anna Engelhardt on annengel@iafrica.com if you’ll be able to help. Layout of next Cape Camera: Trudi du Toit is desperately seeking somebody who is

Forthcoming meetings Month

Competition

Education & Development

May

4th — Architecture

11th

18th: Michael Groenewald, Stage photography

June

1st — On stage

8th

15th: Martin Osner on High Key photography

July

6th — High Key

13th

20th tba

Monthly meetings

Contact person: Jacoba van Zyl Email: info@ctps.co.za Website: www.ctps.co.za Facebook : Cape Town Photographic Society

This is the last call for orders for the book to commemorate CTPS’ first 125 years — covering all aspects and activities that made it such a great society to belong to, as well as the interesting, famous and hard-working members who made contributions. Past activities will be combined with coverage of last years’ 125 Year Celebration activities. The final print order, which cannot be repeated, will cover the orders received. The cost will be R160. Order from trudi@sportstrader.co.za before May 16th, please.

President Vice-president Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer Property Manager Education & Development Competitions Convenor Audio-visual Convenor Public Relations Website

CTPS Contact details:

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Last orders, please!

CTPS council members

Meetings are held in the St Stephens Church Hall, Central Square, Pinelands, at 7pm. 1st Wednesday: Competition ; 2nd Wednesday: Audio-visual; 3rd Wednesday: Education & Development.

www.ctps.co.za

able to assist with the layout of the next Cape Camera and (hopefully!) eventually take over the layout completely. Her priority is currently to complete the commemorative book on CTPS’ first 125 years and get it ready for printing. She simply does not have the time to do justice to the layout of the next Cape Camera. If no member is proficient in InDesign or any equivalent design program, she is willing to train anyone willing to assist, using a simpler program like Microsoft Publisher. Please contact trudi@sportstrader.co.za if you can help — even just for the next issue.

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Nicol du Toit Richard Goldschmidt Jacoba van Zyl Melanie Neethling Detlef Basel Kim Stevens Lesley Parolis Nellian Bekker Anna Morris Lesley Parolis

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April 2016

Left to right: Judith Dodds providing a perch to two bearded dragons, photo by Robert Maginley; Richard Goldschmidt captured Lambe Parolis ‘in flight’ and Pat Scott photographed Joyce Goldschmidt interacting with a barn owl.

Birds in full flight at Spier

RICHARD GOLDSCHMIDT organised another successful outing in April, when 21 members of CTPS met at sunrise in the chilly Spier Wine Estate parking area to photograph birds of prey in full flight ryone hoping to get that perfect shot of a soaring king of the sky. Eagle Encounters is a wildlife rehabilitation, education and ecotourism centre, based at the historic Spier wine farm. It is a nonprofit organisation that raises money by giving the public an opportunity to see and interact with some rescued birds of prey up close and attend educational talks that include spectacular interactive flying shows. CTPS had arranged for a private and early flying session, so that we could move around at will with our cameras and not be restricted to the public grandstand seating. The first bird to fly was a kestrel. Jaws dropped as he seemed to hit the sound barrier across the field and then did swooping loops over the head of the handler. We soon realised that we had taken on quite a challenge, says Richard Then, out came a golden eagle with a mean streak. It did some great flying for us but seemed to prefer sitting on the handler’s glove because that is where the food came from. Next came an eagle owl that seemed to be more sedate in his fly passes, but preferred sitting on a perch rather than flying. The cute little barn owl came next and performed admirably until he got tired and decided rather to sit on the heads of various photographers.

Photo by Joan Ward.

Photo by Neels Beyers.

Photo by Andre Wijne.

t was a photographer’s sight to behold when CTPS members arrived at dawn at the Spier car park: most of them had their longest lenses attached to their cameras, eager to master the art of taking images of birds in flight in early morning light; and eve-

www.ctps.co.za

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April 2016

Photo supplied by Joan Ward

Outings in May and June

Marleen la Grange captured ‘Christo (La Grange)and snake’ as well as Pat Scott communicating with a barn owl (below).

Zip Zap Circus in May

Photo Richard Goldschmidt

Below: CTPS members photographed by Richard Goldschmidt.

We had to change the date of our next CTPS outing to Saturday 14th May, to coincide with the next Zip Zap Circus performance, as the following performance is only in mid-June, says Richard Goldschmidt. This will allow members to take photos of performers in time for the June competition with the set subject On Stage, but before the E&D talk on stage photography on 18th May. Interested club members are invited and encouraged to come along to the school performance of the Zip Zap Circus at 3pm on Saturday 14th May at their tent in the garden (open space)opposite the Artscape in the City. The cost of a ticket will be R100, which you will have to buy at the door. There is no overall CTPS booking or seating, so it is up to individual members to find seating, says Richard.

Bettys Bay outing When eventually the Cape vulture was taken out of his cage, photography became much more successful, as he was more graceful, although with his massive wings he could be likened to a cargo plane. He was much more obliging with the handler, but flew close to the ground, thus making it difficult to exclude structures in the background. After two hours we had our fill of flying birds and went off to take photos of the other birds that were on static display, reports Richard. Much to our consternation, our handler appeared with a boa constrictor and wrapped it around three of our bravest members. The snake was very slow and docile, having feasted on a rat a week prior to our visit. After this reassurance, quite a few had the courage to touch his smooth scales. To everyone’s amazement, Judith Dodds was the only one who was happy to have two bearded dragons sit on her shoulders.” Quite a few members enjoyed breakfast at the Hog House before heading off home after 11h00.

www.ctps.co.za

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The outing to Betty’s Bay has been rescheduled for June 4th, after the initial weekend outing had to be cancelled in midMarch due to accommodation shortage caused by the school holiday. Members can either go out to Betty’s Bay on Friday 3rd and stay over until Sunday 4th, at their own discretion, or simply come out for the day on the Saturday. If staying over, people must make their own accommodation bookings in the area, says Richard. “I intend to create a programme of activities for the Saturday only, but participants should make a full day of it in order to catch the good light early in the morning and just before sunset. Those staying over will have more sunrises and sunsets to work with.” Richard will email the final plans directly to members who initially indicated their interest to take part in this outing. Any other members, who are now able to participate because of the changed dates, must please email Richard at Richard@goldschmidt.co.za.

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April 2016

Dan Swart would like to encourage clubs to discuss art photography as a way to attract members.

Dan says that this photograph Nan Golding took of a young drug addict is “one of the most moving and sensitive portraits I have ever seen”.

Dan Swart addresses the eternal question:

Art or just photography? DAN SWART, a long time teacher of art and photography in Johannesburg, was invited to present the JAP session in April. CTPS contributed to the costs and he generously agreed to address our April E&D evening. His talk was most inspiring, reports KIM STEVENS.

an Swart started his presentation by trying to explain art photography and had to admit that the term has no universally agreed meaning or definition: rather, it refers to an imprecise category of photographs, created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer. The basic idea behind the genre is that instead of merely capturing a realistic rendition of the subject, the photographer is aiming to produce a more personal – a more evocative or atmospheric – impression. One might simplify this by saying that fine art photography describes any image taken by a camera where the intention is aesthetic — that is, a photo whose value primarily lies in its beauty, rather than scientific, commercial or journalistic aspects with news or illustrative value. “For me, an art photograph is more easily defined by what it is not; and even the most well executed images are not necessarily art. It is usually a supercharged image with a message that evokes an emotional response and resonates with the viewer and expands and deepens their experience and opens a window of imagination. “These images are usually relevant and contemporary and capture a decisive moment. They often also contain symbolism and metaphor,” he said.

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Fine art photography describes any image taken by a camera where the intention is aesthetic

members who attended this fascinating session that it could have easily continued for another hour, and we hope to have Dan back in Cape Town in the not too distant future.

Dan stressed that a fine art photograph needs to be a tangible object, professionally printed on archival paper that can be presented as part of a collection, displayed in art galleries, or books. He cautioned any aspiring fine art photographer that the art market market is a demanding judge and that the leap afrom an amateur photographer to professional fine art artist is a giant one. He then went on to discuss various images of earlier and contemporary art photographers and opened the discussion to the floor, encouraging a most lively debate about the artistic pros and cons of the individual images, as well as our emotional responses to them. Among others, he discussed works by Roger Ballen, Koudelka, Ansel Adams, Philippe Halsman, Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, David Goldblatt and Herman Potgieter. It was the general consensus of the

“A very powerful image,” says Dan Swart of this work by the Iranian artist Shirin Neschat.

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April 2016

Michael Groenewald (right at AfrikaBurn) excels at photographing dancers from the Cape Town City Ballet, as these examples of his work shows.

Taking to the stage Our May E&D speaker is Michael Groenewald, whose talk will centre on ballet and the techniques and art involved in stage photography, including during rehearsals, dress rehearsals, backstage and outdoor. This will help members prepare for the June competition set subject ‘On stage” KIM STEVENS, who manages to find us new and inspiring E&D speakers every month, first met Michael Groenewald when photographing dancers before a rehearsal for the spectacular full length ballet Spartacus at the Artscape Theatre Centre. He impressed her with his lighting setup and the wonderfully textured grey backstage wall as a backdrop. This, together with his engaging personality, had the dancers lining up to be photographed by him. She therefore asked him to talk about stage photography at our E&D meeting in May, to give members guidance to enter

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their images in the June competition set subject category, namely stage photography. To fund his ever increasing passion for photography, Michael works as an IT manager at a company that is for some reason named after one of the larger rain forests in South America, Michael told Kim. When not doing early morning shooting stints around Cape Town, he finds immense satisfaction in trying to figure out how to photograph the dancers at the Cape Town City Ballet in a way that celebrates their skill and dedication. His other photographic interests (besides

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boring his kids to tears with light experiments) are finding a way to become an official photographer for AfrikaBurn. Kim urges members to have a look at his wonderful portraits, especially of AfrikaBurn attendees — although surprisingly, he says that he has to feel really brave to ask somebody for permission to take their portraits. For more information about Michael and his images go to www.1imagined.com; Instagram: OneImagined; or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oneimagined/

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April 2016

PSSA Entries

Every month we select two images to be entered into the PSSA National Club Winners competition. The chosen image for the junior section entry (Beginner and Intermediate) was The Dome by Paul Nuttall (left), winner PDI Set Intermediate, which scored 22 points.““Well seen and exposed in difficult lighting conditions as the photographer was shooting into the light,” said the judge, Antenie Carstens. Just enough detail on the inside is visible to give some anchor points. My first impression was to suggest cropping the image into a square, but I feel it is best presented this way, as the landscape format gives horizontal ‘space’ to the image”. The senior section entry (Advanced and Salon) was Abstract Shadow Play by Jeanette du Toit (on the cover), which scored 28 points. See p2 for the judge’s comments on this image which won the Salon PDI Set Subject category.

News from April competition

Set subject: Abstract

The April competition judge was ANTENIE CARSTENS, who is not only a CTPS life member, PSSA director, member of the PSSA Honours Judging Panel, and holder of various honours awards, but also organises the monthly judging appreciation (JAP) courses in the Western Cape. He also received the PSSA Service Medal and the President’s Award for his nearly 50 years of service to photography in South Africa, reports ANNA Engelhardt

t the start of the April competition evening judge An- image with striking shapes or lines. tenie Carstens gave us an introduction to the art of abAs can be expected from such an experienced and highly regardstract imagery. ed judge, he was consistent and most constructive in his critique, “Let me start by saying that, as in life, there is not al- leaving us with a better understanding of what is abstract photogways a handbook to explain what is only right and what is only raphy and how to create successful abstract images. wrong,” he says. “My overall impression of the images was very good. I feel that “These perceptions depend on many factors and most of us know most of the entrants tried to convey what them. The same applies to the set subject they saw and understand of abstract phothis month. We can only execute the assignThere are a few pointers to tography and create images accordingly. ment by using our creative brain and the what can be classified as Some had more impact and others less. techniques available to us. abstract and to those that He was quite lenient, but at the same time “All this will differ from person to person. are not — and then there critical of using somebody’s art for a record As I have mentioned in my short presentashot, without any additional and personal are the grey areas. tion, there are a few pointers to what can be interpretation, or not placing it within a soclassified as abstract and to those that are cial context that gives the image a different not — and then there are the grey areas. “I counted that 27 out of the 40 images meaning. (PDI's) presented can be classified as truly “Be aware that when an image is created abstract — and where some kind of techby means of a controlled technique — for nique was used to create the image, whethexample, a Photoshop filter, as in a few caser it was shutter speed, soft focus, movees submitted — care must be taken not to ment, reflection, or the angle of view. create an image which does not contain the “But this still leaves us with some images elements of design using line, colour, shape which I would say fall into the grey area. I and texture. usually try to be objective and try my best “At least some of these elements in combito understand what the photographer saw, nation must feature in your image to take it so that I can give my best opinion about the to the next level of creativity. image. No judge can really reject an image “The possibility of taking the image to because he/she does not understand it. But the next level by applying a simple, but efkeep in mind that the impact of an image is fective, technique was neatly illustrated by still a huge factor when images are judged. the entry titled ‘Inanimate Object’ (by Anna We cannot really get away from impact, Engelhardt), which I gave 24 points. ”. whether it is a soft or a very high contrast

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April 2016

Left: Winner Print Set, Salon — Bohemian Rhapsody by Jeanette Brusnicky. “The combination of movement and slow shutter speed works very well here to create this colourful abstract image,” said the judge. “The placing diagonally in the frame gives ‘movement’ to an otherwise static image. The extension of the red colour towards the bottom left of the picture helps to fill the largely dark space and even gives the impression of intrusion into the ‘darkness’. A very nice creation!”

Above: Winner Print Set, Advanced — Glass flowers III by Anna Morris. “This image is well seen and well composed,” said judge Antenie Carstens. “The technique used works well by shooting through textured glass with the colours at the back of the glass creating small shapes of colour like green and orange. A slightly less orange tint, I feel, would have helped the image to look more neutral in colour”. Left: Winner PDI Set, Advanced – Abstract by Ariane Jenssen.“Well exposed soft lighting was used to create this image,” said Antenie. “It could be labelled a partially abstract image, because we are still able to identify the subject matter, as well as the approximate scale of the tree bark. The photographer used the curved lines as well as the darker colour of the bark to create a movement from left bottom to the top right corner. Very important is the little round (darker) circle in the bottom right third breaks the rather large monotone area”. Winner Print Set, Beginner — Out of Order Fountain by Lee-Ann Kriel. This image has potential, said the judge, but unfortunately a small, but important, detail was neglected, namely straightening the ventilation shafts. “I would suggest ways to improve it is by correcting the leaning shafts, cropping out the top area of the picture down to the top of the ventilation shafts and to crop most of the water at the bottom as well.” Below: Winner Print Open, Advanced — Kalk Bay by Jacoba Van Zyl. “This image is well composed and very good soft lighting is used,” said Antenie. “Very strong lines lead in towards the figures and their placement (the viewpoint of the photographer) is well done”.

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Right: Winner PDI Set, Beginner — Above the sea by Ingrid le Roux. “As an entry in the set subject category, the only section of the image that can be considered abstract is the bottom half of the picture. I would have preferred had the photographer focused on that particular area to work on. However, the use of a slow shutter speed to create an abstract image has worked well”, said Antenie Carstens. Right: Winner Print Open, Intermediate — Sleeping Beauty by Mike de Villiers.“An image that is basically a record shot of another person’s art,” said the judge. “Although the light is from the top (back) there are hardly any shadows, thus not producing a three dimensional effect. The direct sun just right and towards the bottom of the head is distracting. The background could be slightly darkened.”

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More winning images from April

Winner Print Open, Salon — Early Morning Glow 2 by Jeanette du Toit. “The image has a beautiful soft pinkish colour of morning light, I suppose,” said Antenie. “The success of the image lies in the use of light, shapes and the detail on the sand dune visible in the foreground. The two dark grass patches are vitally important to create a focal point. The image could be improved by cropping half the sky which would place more emphasis on the texture of the dune in the foreground, but still have enough impact to draw the eye to the main area of the image.”

Winner PDI Open, Intermediate — In your Face by Paul Nuttall. “This could have been a great ‘action’ shot, but the walkers seem to be too casual as to what is going on! It is, however, well seen. The movement of the water is frozen by means of the shutter speed and the placement of the figures is well done.” Winner PDI Open, Beginner – What’s up there by Alison Bull. “This is a difficult shot as the subject matter is highly reflective. The success of the image is due to the well composed picture to tell the story. At first the statues on the left seem to be distracting, but in fact it is not. It forms an important line leading from the left to the right and drawing our attention to the left front figure facing the camera. The large empty space at the bottom left seems to be distracting, but not much can be done with that”.

Winner PDI Open, Salon — Setting sun by Neels Beyers.“This is an extremely dramatic picture created by strong lines, colour and shapes. The leading lines from left (in the water) and right (the wall) as well as the clouds moving from left top to middle right. All this creates a strong flow towards the junction point on the thirds but more towards the middle right of the image.”

Winner Print Open, Beginner — Silent Art by Lee-Ann Kriel.“This type of photography is generally labelled as a photograph of other people's art. Apart from the light used at the time and the angle of view of the artwork, there is very little that a photographer can do in terms of a creative approach. To a large extent the success of these images (as far as I am concerned) lies in the inclusion of the environment to see the work within that context, or the social environment of a culture. The light is nice and soft in this image although the bottom seems to be a little dark, so that the letter work becomes less prominent,”said Antenie Carstens.

Some April stats and figures To see more great images by members entered in the April competition, visit www.ctps.co.za. In April 88 images were entered: 47% were from Salon workers, 40% from Advanced, 6% from Intermediate and 8% from members who are Beginners. Gold was awarded to 51% of the images entered, 47% received silver awards and only 2% got bronze awards.

www.ctps.co.za

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April 2016

Danie Coetzee’s Het Wijnwinkeltje was the April competition winner Digital Open, Advanced. “This image is well exposed and the illumination gives a very pleasing feel — creating a natural atmosphere. The strong arch above the steps, as well as the people on top of the steps, assist the composition, although I feel that the shoppers at the bottom far left corner take away a bit of the attention. Preferably, they should have been cropped out or the front left figure should have faced into the picture. Unfortunately, it is difficult to create a ‘spontaneous’ picture of this type in this type of environment, without giving some direction to people. For similar pictures look at the work of photographer Gregory Crewdson,”suggested the judge.

Danie Coetzee only joined CTPS in October last year and already stands out by winning top awards every time he enters the monthly competitions, reports ANNA ENGELHARDT. She talked to him about his approach to photography Right: Danie’s image titled This is my world.

Focus on a winning member: Danie Coetzee

ince Danie Coetzee joined CTPS in October last year as an Advanced worker, he has been winning just about every competition he entered with high scores. His first entry in a CTPS competition, Grandeur decay in December 2015, started it all off with 26 points and great comments from judge Stanwell Slater. His February entry, A Pier with a View, won him not only 28 points — together with being featured on the cover of Cape Camera — but the image was also chosen as the senior entry in the PSSA monthly competition. In March and April, Danie continued his success story by winning top marks for Purple splendour (27 points) and Het Wijnwinkeltje (24 points, see above) respectively. Surprisingly, Danie only became serious about photography five years ago when he bought a Cannon 7D. He joined Helderberg Photographic Society (HPS), but because he wanted more feedback on his images, also joined CTPS last year. This was because he had heard such glowing reports about us from fellow HPS member Neels Beyers. Until he bought the Canon, he used a camera only to point and shoot and always on

automatic. “But this all changed radically.” that I find extremely challenging and rewardHe started to read the manual from front to ing … there are so many things still to learn back, became almost obsessive and never in this genre and my best is yet to come. “I always aim to create a visual and emowent anywhere without his camera. “Although I mainly focused on bird-in- tional experience or response from my phoflight photography in the beginning, I shot tographs, in other words I am looking for anything and everything that caught my that special impact. Although I like to be difeye,” says Danie. “I tried different angles ferent to others and like to stand out from and different camera settings. If I didn’t the rest, I stick to the golden rules of photogknow how to do something, or I was un- raphy, but when the image lends itself to a happy with a result, I would just Google it different view, I will break the rules.” “If I have to spend more than five minutes and learn from the experts. “About two years ago I upgraded to a Can- in Lightroom, I rather delete it — but then I on 5D Mark III … what an amazing piece of take lots of images, from all angles and with numerous settings”. technology!” He is out and about nearly every weekend, regardless of the weather, looking for special moments and interactions.“I love street photography. I also like land and sea scapes and have started to include the human element more and more in my images. For the past two years I have also been shooting ballet and dance shows, something Yellow is the colour of …

Rankings and promotions

Points needed to get an award

There were two ranking promotions this month: congratulations to Paul Nuttall, who is promoted to Advanced, and to Steff Hughes, who is promoted to Salon. The following are the requirements to be promoted from one level to the next: • 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 points in salon acceptances / or 50 gold awards.

Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Bronze =1. Salon acceptances = 3 .

www.ctps.co.za

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Salon Advanced Intermediate Beginner

Gold 24 22 20 18

Silver 20 18 16 14

Bronze 16 14 12 10

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April 2016

Alvin Coburn Portrait of Ezra Pound (1917).

Lakes Connecticut by Paul Strand (1917).

Le Violin D’Ingris by Man-Ray (1924).

Exploring abstract photography EMMA WILLEMSE, an art lecturer at UNISA, gave an informative, relevant and engaging presentation on abstract photography at the Western Cape Judging Appreciation (JAP) Forum last year, reports MARGARET COLLINS

mma Willemse describes herself as a conceptual visual artist who dabbles with photography as a concept. With a masters degree in Fine Art and currently lecturing on art at UNISA, she is well qualified to present an informative and insightful talk. She covered the development of abstract photography, its relationship to art and provided five pointers as to the nature of abstract photography. During discussions, it was highlighted that in PSSA and Salon judging, there is a distinction between Altered Reality and Abstract photography, which does not exist in art. In the Middle Ages painters, unconcerned with proportions or perspective, told stories through their work, rather than trying to depict reality. During the Renaissance, artists started referring back to Greek art and artistic ideals and greater realism in art became evident. By the 1700’s, arbitrary scenes of daily life and people were depicted by artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer. The latter used the camera obscura to project and trace images and thereby created very realist paintings. These paintings did not necessarily tell stories or re-

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stricted themselves to the beautiful. In 1826, at the height of realism in painting, the first photograph was taken. Though it took 70 to 80 years to develop the photographic process sufficiently to compete with art, painters were forced to respond and explore alternatives. They tried to express more than what could be captured in a photograph. Impressionist painters like Monet and Degas painted fast to capture movement and the character of fleeting moments; and post impressionists began to explore the ideas of abstraction. This is when the three main strands of art making and art ideas emerged: Gaugin was interested in spiritual ideas; Cezanne in the breaking up the images, from which cubism was developed, showing the three-dimensionality of the object (Picasso 1910); and van Gogh explored the painting of feelings and emotions. Pushed by the development of photography, abstract painting developed rapidly, and early abstract photographers followed suit. In particular those working at the time of WW I, when there was a lot of upheaval and change and ideas developed quickly.

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The nature of abstract photography 1. Abstract photography can relate to an altered reality Alvin Coburn used a physical intervention the vortoscope, a kaleidoscopic arrangement of mirrors, to create what is considered to be the first entirely abstract photograph. His images express the ideas of cubism, viewing objects from all sides. See the Portrait of Ezra Pound above.

2. Abstract photography can relate to making strange Paul Strand did not physically intervene, but changed the object through his point of view, focussing on tones, light, placement, composition — see example Abstraction, Twin Lakes Connecticut above. Taken out of context his images could also be considered making strange. Unlike Strand, whose work was almost entirely formal, contemporary artists are interested in issues: using the making strange approach to highlight social, environmental, political issues we are faced with. The issue is identified through the title and relates back to the

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Cape Town Photographic Society

Tips for making a simple AV

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April 2016

At the April AV meeting JOY WELLBELOVED gave a short presentation to give newcomers some tips on making a simple AV

rint and PDI workers should be aware of the importance of workflow when editing their images, and the difference between having an organised vs disorganised flow. In making AVs, getting your images perfect is just one small step that must be repeated for every image in your show — and you can have from 30-60 images in an average show. So my advice to you is to get organised — right from the get-go. • Organise your Planning • Organise your Taking • Organise your Making

Organise your planning It is well-known that bs baffles brains, so let me clarify a few terms that are designed to confuse the uninitiated. In increasing order of complexity, you have the following 3 broad groups that all qualify as Audio-Visuals (AVs) only in so far as they all have sound and pictures. • Slide Show refers to images presented in any old order (often in the sequence the author took them) with a music accompaniment. There is often no reason the piece of music was chosen, other than the author liked it. • Photo Harmony is similar to the above, but care has been taken in grouping the images so that they flow seamlessly, one into the other. The music has been selected with care, so that the music enhances the images, and the images enhance the music. • Audio-Visual refers to a highly organised, carefully planned, meticulously sequenced, photo harmony that also conveys a message, or tells a story. Forget the old adage that you submit your best images for judging, and make an AV with the rest. ALL IMAGES in an AV should be able to earn you a Gold award. Having clarified these terms, decide what you want to create, and go out and get the images you need.

Organise your taking You want the best quality images possible, so set your camera to the best quality you can — RAW if possible, as you can do so

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Joy Wellbeloved (standing) and Nellian Bekker setting up for an AV. Photo Johan Greeff. much more with raw than with jpegs. When shooting with an AV in mind, as well as aiming for perfect shots, look for continuity images — packing your car at the start, a road sign to show where you are going, a hotel name, a sunset series to end off with. Finally — where possible take your images in landscape mode as they project better.

Organise your making Uploading: Once you get home, upload your images into meaningfully named folders as follows • Create a folder for your AV project with the following sub-folders • Audio • Pictures • Video • Backups Batch convert all your images to Tiff, and select the best images for your AV, and copy those to the pictures folder that you have just created. If you need to crop any images, crop all images to the same aspect ratio — but keep the uncropped images in case. Sorting: Getting your images in a sequence that is both logical and pleasing is perhaps one of the more difficult aspects in making your AV. Without doubt, the hardest is pruning your images to the bare mini-

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mum so that your AV will not be too long (3-4mins recommended) so that the viewer will have time to appreciate each image. Here is how I get my images into my chosen sequence using Faststone (free — Windows only). Step 1: Using Faststone light box view (or similar software) shuffle images into chosen sequence. Step 2: Using Batch rename select all images, select Batch rename, use File name template, then Run rename. NB reset display into file name sequence afterwards. Step 3: Using slide show viewer with 1 second per image, see what the sequence looks like in renamed sequence. Repeat steps 1 – 3 as often as needed. Your images are in the correct sequence when they flow to your satisfaction. Popular AV software for Windows are: • Wings Basic (free forever) • PTE Essentials ($69.00) • Proshow Gold ($69.95) • Pictures to Exe deluxe ($129) • ProShow Producer ($249.95)

Don’t miss the May & June AV meetings All members are invited to submit an AV for constructive comments from all present for the next AV meeting on May 11th. Completed AVs as well as work-inprogress AVs are welcome. Please email Joy Wellbeloved (joywellb@gmail.com) with the name of your AV and its duration — no more than 6 minutes please. Some of the acceptances for the PECC AV Salon will also be shown in May, as well as the balance of AV makers’ Salon acceptances. Every meeting will include some training on AV related matters as well. In June Antenie Carstens will be giving us a talk about how important sound is when making AVs. All CTPS members are invited to join these meetings. Please contact AV convenor Nellian Bekker at nellian@wam. co.za for more information

Cape Town Photographic Society

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April 2016

AV group news

Forthcoming AV salons

JOHAN GREEFF and JOY WELLBELOVED report on the April AV meeting and what to expect in June

Salons With Patronage 22nd RPS International FIAP Patronage. Closing Date: Submissions Between 1 August 2016 and 27 August 2016 Entry Fee: Tba Rules and entry: www.av-Group.org.uk/

Citta Di Garda Fiaf 16Avf01, Fiap Patronage 2016/239. Closing Date: 15 May 2016 Entry Fee: €18 per sequence Rules and entry form: www.fiaf.net.

Salons & competitions without patronage 55Th Epinal International Closing Date: 16 August 2016 Entry Fee: €15 Any Number Of Avs Rules and entry form: http://diapimages.free.fr/

AV Makers SA Theme: Water Closing Date: 1 November 2016 Entry Fee: Free Rules and entry form: http://av-makerssouth-africa.wikispaces.com/Water

Showing an AV on the competition night is paying off: it was a pleasure to see some new faces at the April meeting, including a few existing CTPS members who were new to AVs who were inspired to attend by what they saw. Before the competition evening in April a moving AV by Adri van Oudheusden was shown, called Le Chant du Violon, which was placed 3rd in the CTPS 125 Celebrations AV Salon. Dedicated to the memory of the Roma (Gypsies) in Bohemia and Moravia who perished in the wholesale genocide during WW I I it showed that AV is a very powerful medium. When our speaker for the E&D evening got lost and ended up in Bellville, a short AV made by Ingrid Gane promoting AVs that was scheduled for next competition night was screened, and went down very well to a large appreciative audience. The result was several new faces at the April AV evening. The evening started with the showing of some members’ AVs: Stella Coram showed Breede River Reflections — a place she loves dearly and often visits; Karyn Parisi

showed an AV highlighting the beauty of Alaska, concentrating on the bears and environment of Lake Clarke. Then Joy Wellbeloved showed how easy it was to make an AV, specifically touching on some tricks and pitfalls (see previous page).

composition, rather than the pictorial content

tograph should be unrecognizable in order to be abstract. For example, are Stiglitz’s clouds abstract or not, even though he didn’t identify them as clouds and refused to acknowledge them as such when asked? In a partial abstraction, one can interpret the ideas and concepts behind the image, through what can be recognised. In a total abstraction, formal qualities dominate. Mood and symbolic use of elements can be interpreted, but not much more. Judging is based mostly on formal qualities and feelings invoked.

Training session in June In June Antenie Carstens will be sharing a few of the tricks that he picked up during nearly 50 years of making AVs starting back in ouma’s time when you needed up to 6 slide projectors, a tape recorder, and devices to automatically change the slides at the precise moment required. In his opinion, making a digital slide show these days, is so easy, it is just not fair. Antenie will demonstrate how to edit your selected piece of music to make it longer or shorter to fit your images in such a way that the listener will be unaware that anything has changed — with a particular emphasis on avoiding just fading out the music when the images end. He will also explain the use of different Ramps and nodes in making your AV.

Abstract photos cont. from p12

pictorial. The same image would be judged differently if the title did not make a statement — in that case, only formal elements would be considered.

3. Abstract photography can be a metaphor for the ideas and emotions of the photographer, expressing their internal world The work of Alfred Stieglitz (see right) typifies this method of abstraction, as does the work of Abstract Expressionists field painters, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko. Though they may seem to be largely formal, the greater meaning is in the feelings they invoke through the manipulation and use of line, colour, shape and tone.

4. Abstract photography can question and debate the real by denying all relationships with the real Photographer Man Ray does this by decontextualizing his subjects (see Le Violin d’Ingris previous page), and this is also found in the work of Alfred Stiglitz. This raises the question of what is the artwork and what is real?

5. Abstract photography can focus on the formal elements and principles of

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If the pictorial is absent, only the formal elements of artwork remain, e.g. Mondrian. It was noted that, in the context of PSSA judging, a distinction is made between Altered Reality and Abstraction, although the two may overlap, depending on what is presented, and that Altered Reality may contain principles of abstraction. In art there is not a distinction between these two. There was also debate on whether a pho-

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Cape Town Photographic Society