December 2014 cape camera

CAPE CAMERADecember 2014

Official Newsletter of the

Cape Town Photographic Society

President’s message 2

News flashes 3

125 Year celebration 4

AV year end 7

Judging dissected 8

Judges selection 8

December judge 9

Top images set 10

Top images open 11

Top images general 12

PSSA news 13

125 Year Diary 14

Cape Camera • December 2014 - 2 -

www.ctps.co.za • Copyright 2014 • Cape Town Photographic Society

It is hard to believe that the year has only a few days left before we go into the New Year. With that in mind, I would like to wish you all a happy

Christmas and a prosperous new year. May the best of this year be the worst

of 2015.2014 Has been a busy year, but noth-

ing in comparison of what 2015 will be. Hopefully, all members will take an ac-tive part in the celebrations planned for our 125 year celebration (see more in-formation on pp4-6)

The Cape Town Science Centre does not close for the holidays, other than the public holidays, i.e. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s day. I will be taking annual leave from the 13th December. When I get back to work, I will be involved with running a number of workshops. One of these will be how to get good images with your camera and the second workshop will be to print pic-tures from negatives in the dark room.

I have many negatives that I will use to demonstrate the technique of print-ing pictures. I still find this a fascinating process. I will use my Kaiser Systems V enlarger. I wonder if any of our members do some printing in the darkroom?

When we all get back after the break I hope to see all the exciting images cap-tured by our members. Some of you will, no doubt, have been abroad or visited some of the fantastic destinations near here.

Talking of the places near here, mem-bers still in Cape Town were able to look at the work done by our members in the AV section on the 17th December (see

p7). I have seen some inspiring work from our members, some who have only taken to doing AV’s recently.

Wishing you all the best and happy clicking of the shut-ters,

Detlef Basel Hon PSSA, APSSA

President’s message

On the coverWinner Salon PDI Set Subject (29) and PSSA senior entry: War bride by Kim Stevens. “I like the mood and the darkness,” said the judge, Jan Verboom. “I love the treatment, which takes it to a whole different level.”

President Detlef [email protected]

Tel: 082 898 6759Vice-president Nicol du Toit

[email protected] & Education Karyn Parisi

[email protected] Secretary Jacoba van Zyl [email protected] Honorary Treasurer Nicol du Toit [email protected]

Property Manager Richard GoldschmidtWebsite Manager Steffne Hughes [email protected] Convenor Lesley Parolis [email protected] Convenor Robert Maginley [email protected] Relations Officer Steffne Hughes [email protected] Officer Trudi du Toit [email protected]

Monthly meetingsPlease note: The January 2015 meetings will deviate from the nor-mal meeting schedule, namely:14 January: Competition21 January: Audio-visualThere will be no Education & Devel-opment meeting in January 2015.Monthly meetings are held in the St Stephens Church Hall in Pinelands at 7pm.1st Wednesday: Competition

2nd Wednesday: Audio-visual

3rd Wednesday: Education & Devel-opment

Cape Camera dates 2015Cape Camera is published after the last CTPS function of that month, namely:January 2015: 26 JanuaryFebruary 2015: 25 February March 2015: 30 March April 2015: 20 AprilMay 2015: 2 June

(after the CTPS Congress weekend)June 2015: 22 JuneJuly 2015: 27 JulyAugust 2015: 24 AugustSeptember 2015: 24 SeptemberOctober 2015 31 OctoberNovember 2015 23 November

Contact CTPS council members

- 3 - Cape Camera • December 2014


CTPS news flashes

2015 Set subject themesMEMbERS may enter a maximum of three images in any category per competition. It is no longer compul-sory to enter an image in the set subject, nor are en-tries in for print or PDI restricted to two. The 2015 judges are still to be finalised as a sub-com-mittee chaired by Pat Scott is taking another look at the judging procedures during club competitions.The Set subject themes for 2015 will be:21 January: Yin and Yang.4 February: Windows and/or doors4 March: Composite image8 April: Monochrome6 May: Nature3 June: Hands and feet 1 July: Low key5 August: Macro 2 September: Scapes7 October: 125 year celebrations4 November: Shadows and/or reflections 2 December: Rustic

Points needed for Gold Silver RedSalon 24 20 16Advanced 22 18 14Intermediate 20 16 12beginner 18 14 10

Promotion criteriaMembers are promoted to a higher level based on the following criteria:• beginner to Intermediate: 3 gold awards & 30 points• Intermediate to Advanced: 5 gold awards & 40 points• Advanced to Salon: 50 gold awards.Points awarded in the club competitions count as fol-lows: Gold = 3, Silver = 2, Red =1. Salon acceptances count 3 points.

December 2014 competition statsOf the 107 entries received for the December competi-tion, 2% entries were from Beginners, 11% from Inter-mediate photographers, 45% from Advanced and 48% from Salon photographers.

The average score awarded by judge Jan Verboom was 23, and 65% of the entries got Gold awards, 31% Silver and 4% Red. Nearly a fifth (19%) of the entries received a score of 27 or above (90%).

You can still order 125 Year jacketsAS PARt of the 125 Year Celebration next year, CTPS is sponsor-ing special celebratory navy club jackets with wind-, waterproof and breathable features so that members can buy them at a vastly reduced price, namely R248 (including VAT and 125-Year Celebration badges).

Due to the Barron factory closing in December, we can still place final orders until January 5th. The distributor, XCO, will have the jackets delivered in time for the first 125 year celebratory outing on January 24th.

They can take further orders after that, provided that a minimum of 5 jackets are ordered at one time. The samples will therefore again be at the January 14th meeting for members to try on. Contact Trudi du Toit on [email protected] or 021 461 2544 for more information.

Members perform elsewhereSHAuN LAISHLEY was awarded a Licentiate of the PSSA (LPSSA) in the latest honours list. Above is one of his im-ages, Please don’t get up, which was accepted in the re-cent Bosveld Salon.Two members got acceptances in the Tygerberg Pho-tographic Society Salon: Mo bassa for Vernazza Cinque Terra and Marius-lee Pretorius for City Lights.



CTPS 125 years celebration

RICHARD Goldschmidt is organizing an action-packed ac-tivity programme in Stanford over the weekend of 20-22 February as the second outing of our 125th year celebra-tion. Activities: a braai at the rendezvous base on Saturday night and perhaps also on the Friday night;• Sunset birding cruises on the river, sunrise birding pho-tography from a dedicated hide on the lake;• An architectural guided tour of the heritage buildings and market in the village;• A trip to Die Kelders archeology cave and beach, break-fast looking out over Walker Bay, • A visit to a brewery/winery • Free time to relax and do what you like. Accommodation: CTPS will be hiring a newly reno-vated property that can sleep ten members in five en-suite rooms and will use this as a rendezvous base for all. Members are urged to book with Richard Goldschmidt as soon as possible.• Another option is Valda Finch of Stanford River Lodge.

She is holding seven rooms open for a few weeks, only for our members. These are superior rooms with mag-nificent views and there is a swimming pool. Members should make their own bookings with Valda asap.

• Members who do not wish to avail themselves of thesearrangements can find other accommodation through the Stanford tourist website – but should do so as soon as possible.

Costs: CTPS will subsidize some costs and will generous-ly contribute to providing a meal — and perhaps more. Further details will be provided once members commit to attend.• Members interested in the rendezvous base must be

prepared to pay R800 (per person in total) for the two nights stay. Costs could come down when we know numbers interested.

• Accommodation can be cheaper if members bring their own stretcher and sleeping bag and are prepared to sleep in a dormitory situation.

• Valda Finch prices vary between R750 per room pernight (sleeps two) and R940 for the honeymoon suite.

bookings: Members are requested to e-mail or phone Richard Goldschmidt as soon as possible to show their interest/commitment at [email protected] or call cell: 082 558 3037 or home 021 794 3648. • Valda Finch: see www.wheretostay.co.za/stanfordriv-

erlodge or call 028 341 0444.• Stanford tourism www.stanfordinfo.co.za or call Tel:

028 341 0340

The 125 Year celebrations for CTPS in 2015 has many memorable outings, a mini-congress, salon for society members only, exhibitions, etc. in store. Make sure you’ve diarised the following events for the first half of the year. Please make sure you book well in advance, where required

Table Mountain : 24 JanuaryA SOCIAL function on the top of the iconic symbol of Cape Town, Table Mountain, kicks off our 125th year celebrations on January 24th. We offer two options: for fitter and less-fit members.For fitter members: Meet at the lower ca-ble car station at 3.30pm to ascend. • Walk along the top to Mac Clears Beacon;• Take photos of the city and the Peninsula

from the highest point;• Mini-walk led by Richard Goldschmidt• Return to upper station by 6.30pm, to meet

the other CTPS members.For less fit members: Enjoy the half-price ticket rate after 6pm. • Walk the paths around the cable station,

take photos of the city from the various viewpoints;

• Meet other members on the deck on the west side below the restaurant at 6.30pm.

All members: Bring drinks and snacks, or picnic sup-pers, to enjoy while watching the sun go down and take photos of the city below as the lights begin to come on. • The last car down from the mountain is at 9pm. Costs involved: Tickets for the cable-way should preferably be pre-purchased on the web. The return ticket price is R225. You have to queue for the half-price tickets (R112.50). booking and cancellation: The event will be cancelled — or postponed — if the weather is unsuitable. Therefore, let Rich-ard Goldschmidt know if you are interested in attending so that he can inform you of any change of plans.Contact Richard Goldschmidt at [email protected] or call cell: 082 558 3037 or home 021 794 3648.

Stanford weekend: 20 to 22 February

Richard Goldschmidt, or-ganiser of the January out-ing and Stanford weekend in February.



Blue bus afternoon outing: 28 MarchKEITH buLL has agreed to lead a late afternoon out-ing on one of the hop-on, hop-off tourist buses trave-ling around the Peninsula. A designated route will be followed, with members taking photos whilst moving, and at designated 30-minute stops. Details will be fine-tuned and announced in due course.Proposed departure: Members park in the Portswood Ridge parking area at the Waterfront and meet over the

road at the terminus at the Aquarium at 4pm. Ideally, it would be great if we have sufficient numbers to hire a private bus and depart by 4.30pm.Proposed stops: Perhaps we stop at the following des-tinations for photo opportunities: Groote Constantia, Imizamo Yethu township in Hout Bay, Hout Bay Harbour, Camps Bay beach road, close to where they sell the cu-rios. We have sundowners and snacks there and wait for sunset at 9h16. We then proceed back to the V&A Waterfront just before 8pm. Alternatively, maybe go to the top of Signal Hill for night photos before returning to the V&A a bit later? Duration: The bus travels for 1 hr 15 minutes, so includ-ing 4 stops, the duration would be 3 hr 15 minutes. Cost: Bus tickets bought online for the Blue Peninsula Mini tour cost R150. The cost of creating a unique tour for us will be investigated, hopefully by Keith Bull.

CTPS 125 Celebration Exhibition: 20 July - 4 August

LuKA AND INGRID at Bein Private Cellars have a fun donkey-cart ride and wine tasting at sunset, and we have booked this as our April out-ing, reports Pat Scott.

It is actually not so much a donkey-cart ride, but rather a walk up the hillside and the donkeys accompanying take the wine and food up for a fun wine tasting with delicious snacks at the top. It is quite a walk, about 40 minutes on a farm road, with great photographic opportunities on the way and superb panoramic vista when you get to the picnic spot.

The return trip is barely 15 minutes downhill to com-

plete the overall round tripUnfortunately numbers are limited for this outing, 15

–20 max, so it will have to be the first come up to the first 20 people. Contact Pat on [email protected]

Bein Wine Photo-Op Picnic: 25 April

Bein Wein Panorama by Pat Scott.

Members are encouraged to hold back two or three of their best images of each outing for the 125-year competition set subject in October 2015, and also provide as many of their images as they wish for the making of an AV of the event — or for inclusion in Cape Camera.

PAT SCOTT is planning to hold a very special photo ex-hibition in the Marble Foyer of the ArtScape theatre to-wards the end of July to introduce CTPS, and the devel-opment of photography, to the public. The exhibition will consist of photographs taken over the past 125 years.

The exhibition will coincide with the performance of West Side Story, which is expected to attract a large au-dience.

“We are going through the archives to look for past im-ages, but would really appreciate your help in tracing as many past members as we can, in order to get photo-graphs to display at the exhibition,” says Pat.

“A little anecdote: I was in the Kruger Park in August this year and met a lady whose husband was a member of CTPS over 60 years ago. She still has his pictures, and I have asked if I could go round and select a couple to ex-

hibit. So please, if you know of anyone with connections with the past, let me know,” she asks.

The exhibition will be including images from current members, but we will let you know more details in the new year.

For information on photographs by old members, con-tact Pat Scott on [email protected].

Featuring members from the pastCAPE CAMERA will next year be publishing features on long-standing CTPS members and anecdotes about interesting events from the past. Please con-tact Trudi du Toit at [email protected] if you are a long-standing member, know a long-standing mem-ber, or have anecdotes we could include.



The CTPS 125 Year Congress at De HoopThe CTPS Mini-Congress planned for the weekend of 29-31 May 2015 at De Hoop is taking shape, reports PAT SCOTT

DE HOOP IS a photographic haven with magnificent sand dunes, beautiful exten-sive beaches, a fascinating river, plus an array of birds and animals…what more could you ask for? reports PAT SCOTT. Well, how about four renowned photo-graphic personalities to give you presen-tations on their outstanding works and then hang around to guide you with your photography!

That, in a nut-shell is what you will get if you attend the CTPS Mini-Congress at De Hoop at the end of May.

The four speakers are:• Paul Bruins, on Evening into Star pho-

tography;• Chris Fallows on Nature;• Nicole Palmer on Macro photography and • Martin Osner on Creative Landscapes.

Nearer the time we will publish more detail on the in-dividuals and their actual presentations.

The plan is to give members time to shoot mornings and evenings, and to have the presentations mid-morn-ing and mid-afternoon, except for Paul Bruins, who will kick it all off on the Friday evening.

Again, a more detailed programme will be sent out nearer the time.AccommodationFortunately De Hoop management have been very gen-erous with promise of a good discount on their normal prices: the more we take the cheaper the cost, so no de-finitive pricing yet, but as a ball-park figure it will range from R250 to R400 per person per night.

They have booked the following accommodation for us:

Sun rises on the Dunes by Pat Scott illustrates the photographic opportunities offered by the De Hoop nature reserve.

• 5 x Campsite Rondawels (2 per cottage with outside shared ablutions) = 10 people

• 6 x Equipped Cottages (4 per cottage with 1 bathroom) = 24 people

• 1 x Equipped Cottage (6 per cottage with 1 bathroom) = 6 people

• 3 x Opstal Houses (6 per cottage with 1 bathroom) = 18 people

This will provide accommodation for 58 members.We will have a special dinner on the Saturday to cele-

brate CTPS’s 125 years…plus our President, Detlef’s 80th birthday, the week before. And yes, CTPS will pick up the bill for that great treat. So make a plan and start saving to come and join in the celebrations!

You can start claiming your spot now by contacting Pat Scott on [email protected].

APART FROM the monthly club competitions, club members will be encouraged to record the 125th year celebrations in pictures and also to pit their skills against other photographers in our celebratory Na-tional Salon.• Members will be encouraged to photograph the cel-

ebrations throughout the year, to enter their images in the set theme The 125 year celebrations for the October monthly competition.

• The Cape Town Photographic Society 125th Anniver-sary Salon, planned for our birthday month of Oc-

tober, will include prints (salon director Antenie Carstens), PDI (Lesley Parolis) and AV’s (Neels Bey-ers). Nicol du Toit will be the overall salon director.

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

• An exhibition of members’ work from the past 125years is planned for the foyer of the Artscape to coin-cide with the performance of West Side Story at the end of July (see previous page).

Plenty of photographic opportunities



Audio-visualscelebrate year end

T he last AV meeting of 2014 was attended by 20 members. Members were informed about the The Cape Town Photographic Society 125th Anniversary Salon planned for October 2015,

which will include an AV salon, organised by Neels Bey-ers. More details about categories and entry require-ments will be provided early next year.

There are also a number of international salons mem-bers can enter in 2015 and details can be found on the PSSA website – www.pssa.co.za — under the AV tab.

Congratulations to Nellian Bekker for her acceptance and runner-up in the Lowveld National Salon (see box right).

Plans for 2015An outline of what members can expect for 2015 in-cludes workshops, speakers and a monthly celebrity. • On alternate months there would be competition

nights, with two sections, Open and Set. • Members are asked to submit ideas for the set subjects. • A new feature would be the Beginners Award. This is

to encourage members who have not made an AV pre-viously, to enter. A beginner is someone who has made less that 5 AV’s and has not won any award in either a salon or club competition.

• There will also be monthly prizes for the Best AV and

Runner up and acceptance for Nellian BekkerTwo AV’s entered by Nellian Bekker was a runner-up and got acceptance in the 1st St Lowveld National Au-dio Visual Salon. Watery World was the runner-up in the Nature Section. All from the same tree was ac-cepted in the Open Section.

The CTPS AV Section meeting held on 17th December 2014 was part year-end celebration and partly a showcasing of the entries in the A Place Near Here challenge, reports ROBeRT MAgiNleY

the Best Beginner AV on the same lines as for the gen-eral competition nights.

The entries from The Challenge competition where screened and audience members were asked to com-ments. We trust this will help AV makers in the future.

The organisers also learnt valuable lessons from run-ning their first competition and we look forward to or-ganizing similar events in the future.

“We would like to thank all the members that sup-plied the most delicious snacks, well done to all,” says Maginley. “From the AV Team we would like to wish all our members a great festive season and a great photo-graphic 2015!” Robert Maginley has been co-opted to represent the AV Section on the CTPS Council in 2015, following the resignation of Joy Wellbeloved.

Far left: Henk Mulder (in back-ground), Elmara Willis, Nellian Bekker and Len van Wyk enjoy the snacks.

Left: Patricia Marais and Neels Beyers deep in discussion.

Left: AV group chair Robert Maginley has been co-opted to represent the section on the CTPS council. With him is award-win-ning AV-maker Ingrid Gane.

Right: Jeanette du Toit, Cathy Bruce and Ken Woods share a joke.



Judging re-evaluatedAt the November competition evening Pat Scott announced that we’ll be returning to the three-judge system for a trial pe-riod of four months from January 2015

J udging formats and judges have been contentious is-sues for CTPS, as well as photographic societies and clubs across the country, for more than 120 years. As Pat Scott (right) points out, in 1897 a member

walked out of a meeting in protest against the bad judging. The problems experienced with judging, and the train-

ing of judges, was the main point of discussion during the PSSA Forum held during the PSSA AGM in Skukuza earlier this year. After consulting with clubs, the PSSA has now produced their guidelines for promotion and evaluation of images (i.e. judging) — see p13.

In the Western Cape, PSSA Regional chair Johan Klop-pers has called a meeting of club representatives for January to discuss issues about judging.

It is clear that judging is under scrutiny from many quarters — and no surprise that the CTPS Council agreed that a sub-committee re-examine the judging procedures during our monthly competitions.

At the November 2014 competition evening, Pat Scott reported that we will again be introducing a three-judge system for a four-month trial period from January to April 2015.

But, there will be changes to the former three-judge sys-

tem used:• One external ( p r o fe s s i o n a l photographer) judge and two internal judges (club members) will be employed per competition evening;• One internal judge will have judging experience and

the other one will have an interest in judging;• All three judges will receive the images for remote

judging before the competition, but the judging will only be finalised after viewing the entries on the com-petition evening;

• All three judges will award a score, but only the exter-nal judge will be asked to comment on the evening;

• Club members and council will be able to evaluate thesystem and the judges during the trial period, which will be reviewed at the May council meeting.

At the time of going to press, the January judges and evaluation methods had not been finalised yet. Informa-tion will be provided closer to the time.

The background worker who

selected judgesFew members are aware that Jeanette Brus-nicky had been appointing the judges for the competition evenings over the past four yearsJeanette Brusnicky and John Spence share a love of photography.

FOuR YEARS ago, in 2010, Jeanette Brusnicky was elect-ed to the CTPS council to take responsibility for finding and appointing the judges for the monthly competitions — and she has quietly been fulfilling this task as an un-heralded background worker until the end of 2014.

2010 was the ideal time for her to join the council: she had the time after she retired from her post as a medical scientist at the Tygerberg Hospital the previous year, and had bought a Canon 7D SLR camera when her interest in photography was rekindled when she and John Spence joined CTPS at the behest of a friend in time to go on the Struisbaai weekend.

While taking on the responsibility of selecting judges might appear daunting to many members, Jeanette, a global genetic pioneer used to challenges like perform-ing genetic examinations on the remains of the Israeli athletes blown up in the helicopter during the 1972 Mu-nich Olympics hostage drama, found it “interesting”.

She was on an extended sabbatical at a German uni-versity in the early 1970’s when the ethics, possibilities and boundaries of genetic engineering were widely dis-cussed at international symposiums. Jeanette not only attended these as a representative of the university, but also contributed by delivering and writing papers for



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

More about our December judge

J an Verboom is the owner of Roodebloem studios yet, he is not a fan of photos shot in a studio, he says.

The studios are favoured by many top companies for advertising, ce-lebrity, fashion and film and TV shoots — and are all usually fully booked well in advance.

As a stills photographer for the past thirty years, Verboom has not only mastered the art of studio pho-tography, but also the whole spec-trum of genres, from social media to billboard to on-set, behind-the-scenes to portraits.

He also illustrated that it is the photographer, not the camera, that makes the photo, by showing some iPhone images he had shot of the pirates in the Black Sails TV series being

filmed near Somerset West.Verboom started his career in com-

mercial photography as in-house photographer for brandbuilding agency Ogilvy, which became Ogil-vy & Mather Rightford Searle-Tripp and Makin in the late 1980’s.

His belief that a photographer al-ways has to add something to an image, not just shoot what is in front of him, resulted in an individ-ual style that made him a sought-after photographer for local and international productions. “If a per-son adds some value, I will give an image a higher rating, because I like interpretation,” he explained.

He is also a big Instagrammer, which he considers to be a great platform to learn about the art of photography.

Left: Intermedi-ate PDI Set winner: Wow bubbles by brian Hallock (27) is the PSSA junior entry. Portraying humour in photography is very difficult, said the judge, who believed this im-age succeeded in pro-traying humour. “I love the expressions and the t-shirt.”

scientific journals. When she returned to South Africa in the 1970’s, her employer, Tygerberg Hospital, could benefit from her pioneering involvement in this new medical scientific field, from which other South African scientists had been excluded due to politics.

When she was elected to the CTPS council, a three-judge panel system was in place. “We had an external judge and a senior and more junior member judges,” she recollects.

At that stage members could submit six images each — three print and three digital. All three judges were encouraged to comment on the images “but the junior judge usually did not wish to comment.”

Because the evenings became too long, this system was abandoned in favour of one external judge.

“Members would suggest suitable judges and I would

appoint judges from this list.” She continued doing this even after she stopped being a council member.

Jeanette was also responsible for selecting the set sub-jects and tried to select a judge with specific knowledge of the particular set subject for that month — e.g. wildlife, portraiture, action sport, etc.

The professional photographers were usually very keen to judge the CTPS competitions — but, because they make their living from assignments or leading photo tours, there was always the danger of a professional cancelling at short notice when a job opportunity presented. That could re-sult in a stand-in, who is not an expert in a field, judging a set subject — but that happened very rarely, she says.

Jeanette would book the judges at the beginning of the year, and re-confirm closer to the time, when she would give them the briefing documents as well.

Salon Print Open winner: Got you at last! by Dante Parisi (28): Verboom commended the pho-tographer for the time and patience it required to get the shot. “I like the lighting and the isolation from the background,” he said. He also liked the crispness of the image.

Jan Verboom with CTPS Competition Con-venor Lesley Parolis.



Winning and top images December Set subject: Portraits

Above: Salon winner Print - Set: True Col-ours by Marius-lee Pretorius (27). “A strong visual image,” said the judge, who liked the white eyes that stand out. “I like the mystery of the shot … it doesn’t tell you why or what.”

Left: Advanced win-ner Print-Set: Township Family Portrait by Karyn Parisi (28). The judge liked the composition and the feeling of togetherness and connectivity portrayed. He also thought the HDR treat-ment suited the shot. “I like the double shadow, colour and crispness.”

Right: Advanced winner PDI-Set: Grungy Zombie by Dante Parisi (28). Verboom highly com-mended this image because “this picture interprets, there is a story at-tached to it.” He especially liked the treatment.

Intermediate winner Print-Set: Fun with bubbles by brian Hal-lock (24). “A good mood shot, catching a moment. A fun element is the kid’s face - awestruck and focused on the bubble,” said the judge of this “sweet shot”

Right: PDI-Set Salon: Looking to the Light by Jean bradshaw (27): "Beautiful," "like poetry" "feels like theatre" "evoking a mood," are some of the descriptions Verboom had for this image.

Left: beginner winner PDI - Set: Wan-nabe Dinosaur by barbara Hallock (24). “A lovely shot!” said the judge, who liked the soft background, but nice detail and clarity of the portrait.

Left: PDI-Set Salon: Man at the Market (26) by Joan Ward. Judge Verboom liked the rug-gedness of the face. "You can almost feel the per-sonality, of this man lost in his own thoughts." He also liked the light on his shoulder.

below left: PDI - Set Ad-vanced: Putting on the Glitz (27) by Steffne Hughes. The judge liked the retro Hollywood feel and commended the lighting.

Right: PDI-Set Intermediate: Friends (27) by Catherine Jenkins. “A lovely shot, captur-ing a nice moment of recognition between two people,” said Ver-boom of this portrait of George Hallett and Arianne Jensen. “One can sense the caring.”



December winners & top scorers: Open

Right: Salon Print Open: Stealthy Stare by Pat Scott (28): “A moment captured,” said the judge. “You get a sense of closeness, as if the animal is unaware of the photographer.” He liked the detail, clarity and shallow depth of field.

Advanced win-ner PDI - Open: Desert Land-scape by Cathrine bruce Wright (28): “Beautiful, a lovely time of day,” said the judge. “I love the light coming through, the beauti-ful earth colours.”

Left: Salon winner PDI - Open: Young lioness at the waterhole, by Jeanette du Toit (28): "Lovely light! You can almost feel the tension in the animal. You can see the lion is aware of its surroundings."

Salon winner Print - Open: Shaft of Light by Kim Stevens (28): The judge liked the tonal val-ues and he liked the fact that it doesn’t look like it would look like at first glance. “I like the drama and the way the subject matter was pushed.”

Winner Intermediate PDI-Open: Dune and Gemsbok by Trudi du Toit (24): Quite a strong image, said the judge, but the shadow on the dune at the back and on the back of the buck bothered him.

Right: Advanced PDI Open: Cooling off by Ken Woods (28). "What a great action shot!" said the judge.

Right: Salon Print Open: London Millenium bridge by Malcolm Jones (28). The judge appreciated the treatment and interpretation of the scene and the visual strength of the white line of the bridge.

Far left: Salon Print Open. Walls, doors, arch-es by Lambe Parolis (27). “I like the orange and blue and the clarity and crispness of the image,” Verboom said. He liked the composition of the ar-chitectural shot, but would, however, have liked a bit more drama — for example, “something cap-tured in the portals.”Advanced Print Open: Twilight Zombies by Karyn Parisi (27) The judge liked the treatment of the subject matter, he also liked the cyan back-ground that makes the subjects pop out.



More December top scoring images

Salon Print Open: Looking out to Sea by Jean brad-shaw (27). The judge liked the long open shutter speed and the informal interpretation. “I like the colours and ethereal, dreamy feel.”

Salon PDI Set: Pelican Portrait by Joan Ward (26). “Lovely clarity in the detail - like the sparkle in the eye,” said the judge. He also liked the blue and green background.

Salon PDI-Set: Perpend by Marius-lee Preto-rius (27). “There is lots of drama in the image,” said the judge, who commended the strong use of depth of field, which “definitely puts an edge to the image.”

Right: PDI - Set: Portrait of a Rhi-noceros by Jean-ette du Toit (27). “I love the tones,” said Verboom. He liked the line through the body and the rep-etition of the mud on the ground. “A good nature shot.”

Right: Advanced PDI - Set: Face of Rajasthan by Jacoba van Zyl (26). "I prefer a portrait of some-one with a road map on their face, indicating lots of stories through life," said Verboom, who liked the engagement with the photographer.

Salon PDI - Open: Orange is my Colour by Neels beyers (26). “I like the way the orange stands out. It is an unusual shot, which tells a story,” said judge Verboom. He also liked the people in front of the shot.

Right: Salon PDI - Open: up up and Away by Jenny Powis (26). “I love the colours — a beautiful moment, a sense of serenity,” said Verboom, who also liked the cloud in the distance.

Left: Advanced PDI - Open: Tak-ing off by King Tong (26). “A nice shot with good clarity,” said the judge, who also commended the sharp detail on the bird’s face.



PSSA News

PSSA Congress in the Cape Canola fieldsCAPE PHOTOGRAPHERS and the Swellendam Photo-graphic Society will be hosting the 61st PSSA Congress in Swellendam from Sunday 9 to Friday 14 August, 2015.

The Congress in the Canola 2015 will be held in the Swellengrebel Hotel, who are also offering specially reduced rates to delegates.

On the PSSA website there is also information about other accommodation that will offer special rates for congress delegates. See more at www.swellendamtour-ism.co.za/congress-in-the-canola-accommodation.

To register for the congress, follow the link from the PSSA website (www.pssa.co.za) and click on the Con-gress tab at the top.

Enter website competitionMEMbERS 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 Pho-tovault 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).

Members competing for ImpalaSEVERAL CTPS members are among the PSSA members currently competing for the Impala Trophy, awarded to the photographer with the most points gained in PSSA approved salons during the official PSSA year (ending on the 30th June).

Halfway through the annual competition Shaun Laish-ley is ranked in the top third, Marius-lee Pretorius and Nicol du Toit in the top half, and Joan Ward, Kim Ste-vens, Jan Swiegers, Mo Bassa and Lesley Parolis in the top two-thirds of the 468 ranked photographers.

One point is awarded for a salon acceptance, two points for a Certificate of Merit, club medal or runner-up position, while the winner of a PSSA medal (1st place) gets 3 points. Salon judges are awarded 4 Impala points, but this may not constitute more than 33% of their total.

The PSSA has posted a Club Advancement Guidelines document on their website, created for new clubs, as well as existing clubs that want to meas-ure their current system and possibly introduce changes or adopt these best practice principles

T he PSSA had compiled guidelines for clubs on what they consider best practices, based on feedback from 33 member clubs PSSA with re-gard to their promotion systems. The survey

covered three topics, namely what advancement levels clubs implemented, the requirements for advancement and the award system used.

They found that most clubs used a 1-5 Star system (our salon level would, for example, be 4 Star), but that many clubs introduced further star levels to keep the long-standing and most advanced photographers motivated. Most clubs used the same award system as we do, with the addition of a Certificate of Merit (COM).

The PSSA propose at least ten advancement levels for clubs: 1 Star, 2 Star, 3 Star, 4 Star, 5 Star, Master Bronze, Master Silver, Master Gold, Master Platinum, Master Diamond — with the addition of Senior Master levels, where required. CTPS has four levels of advancement.

They found that there is little standardisation among clubs about the requirements for advancement, and

therefore recommend that advancement be based on time, rather than points. Points should be awarded for all possible awards on a weighted system, with a mini-mum number of Gold and COM awards. In all but the entry level, advancement will also require acceptances in PSSA salons - but only three acceptances per photo should count, and points awarded for international ac-ceptances are discouraged.

The aim is to retain a member for at least five years, at the time of which he should be at 5 Star level. The docu-ment gives detailed guidelines on the time frames for advancement between levels (8-10 months) and points.

Most clubs use three judges, each awarding points out of 5. They recommend that each judge starts by award-ing 5 points, and then deducting a point if the photo is incorrectly exposed; lacks sharpness; if the digital pro-cessing is incorrect; it lacks good composition or impact. The judge must comment on why points were deducted.

When judges award points out of 15, points can be de-ducted on a sliding scale of 1-3 for each of the five judg-ing criteria.

The full document can be read on www.pssa.co.za/clubs-mainmenu-148/club-advancement-guidelines.



January 24, 2015Table Mountain outing - climbing for the fit members, via cable car (half-price af-ter 6pm) for the not-so-fit. Meet on top for sundowners and picnics (See p4)

February 20-22, 2015Weekend in Stanford: urgently confirm attendance with Richard Goldschmidt and book accommodation (See p4).

March 28, 2015Red tourist bus late afternoon out-ing around the Peninsula with unique stops for photography. (See p5)

April 25, 2015Bein Wein Private Cellar outing in Vlot-tenburg with donkey ride and wine tasting at sunset. (See p6).

May 29-31, 2015

CTPS Congress for members in De Hoop Na-ture Reserve. Expect top speakers like Chris Fallows, Paul Bruins and others. (See p5).Schools photo competition launched.

June 2015 Outing in Stellenbosch area under guid-ance of a renowned photographer.

July 20 to 4 August, 2015Exhibition of members’ work across 125 years in Artscape Opera House foyer, during the run of West Side Story musical (See p6)

August 2015

Postberg outing during flower season. Date and details to be confirmed.

PSSA National Congress in Swellendam 9-14 August. Organised by Swellendam Photograph-ic 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?

October 2015

Cape Town Photographic Society 125th An-niversary Salon for print (Antenie Carstens), PDI (Lesley Parolis) and AV (Joy Wellbe-loved), coordinated by Nicol du Toit.

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.

125 Year celebration diarySave these dates for 2015

Documents

December 2014 cape camera