Tygerberg Photographic Society - July 2015

Finally! After months of trying, July was the first month as a 3-star photographer where all four photos received Gold ratings! Plus a winner's spot in the Open Print category (the first time ever that one of my photos has won a category), and a runner-up spot in the Set Subject Print category. What a month!

I must say, however, that I put in much more effort this month than normal, plus I had some great help from some great people:

• Starting off with Liza Feldtmann and the rest of the team at Taleni Africa, who made our very first Namibian holiday a reality - the winning image came from that trip. 
• Marie Stinnes, Marketing Manager at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, who was incredibly helpful and organised a spot for me on the photographers' boat on Day 1 of the 2015 Lipton Cup (the runner-up image came from that trip). 
• Brenton Geach, the pro photographer on the boat, whose help and tips were utilised for the photos taken at the start of this year's Berg River Canoe marathon. 
• The owner/manager of Hortus Wrought Iron (on the corner of Vissershoek and Malanshoogte Roads), who allowed me access to the premises and staff at their Blacksmith's works. 
• And last, but not least, to my wife Jacqui, for all the help and support with all of the different projects.

Right - now to the photos. The first is really one of my all-time favourites - a photo of the power lines in the Namib Desert, not that far from Walvis Bay. A simple shot, but very powerful. This was my entry for the Open Print category:

From there we move to the set subject for the month - Photojournalism. Normally newsworthy subjects don't make for the greatest prints, so I was looking for a subject that I would be happy to print out and frame. A search for things to do in Cape Town in July brought up, amongst other things, this year's Lipton Cup Yacht Race, which was hosted by the Royal Cape Yacht Club, and the Berg River Canoe Marathon. Both to me had scenic as well as newsworthy possibilities. 

So I emailed the RCYC, and received a fantastic response from them, and specifically from Marie Stinnes, their Marketing Manager. She said that if I got there early enough, she was sure she would be able to get me onto the photographers' boat. So I did, and she did! What an experience! The swells were around the three-metre mark, the wind was strong, and it was freezing! We set off at around 10h00 (even though the race was only scheduled to start an hour later), and once out of Cape Town harbour, were subjected to the swells. It was really hectic out there and seasickness-wise proved too much for one of the others who had joined us, so the captain returned to shore to drop him off! That trip back and then out again at speed was one I won't forget in a hurry! Anyway, spent the next few hours shooting away, amidst hanging on for dear life while the captain, Henk, tried to manoeuvre the boat into favourable positions for photos. gave me a whole new respect for smallish boats on the high seas! I took lots of shots, a great deal of which didn't come out well, and only learnt the secrets for this type of situation from Brenton while on our way back after finishing shooting. Am now really looking forward to trying again!

But I made use of those secrets for the Canoe Marathon! Jacqui and I went out to Paarl about a week before the event, just to suss out which lens(es) I would take, and also to find decent vantage points. We met a really nice gentleman who runs a guest house in the area, and he was most helpful with information about what happened at the start. So I was all set - or so I thought! On the morning of the start of the race, I decided to have a final look at the BRCM website - no real reason, just good fortune! Because I then found out that the start of the race had been moved from Paarl (not enough water in the river there) to Hermon! Just as well we had risen early! So after a quick breakfast and hurried shower we set off for Hermon. Passing through Malmesbury at 08h30, the temperature was reading 1º Centigrade!!! Luckily it was a little warmer (4-5º C) in Hermon, but still cold enough! We spent some time rushing around to try and find new decent vantage points, and I was quite pleased that the start of the race had been put back to 10h00, instead of 09h30 - gave me just that little extra time to move across the bridge to the opposite bank of the river.

Getting good shots proved to be quite a challenge. The starts (there were three different categories with 5-minute intervals between starts) were incredibly fast - one minute the canoeists were there, the next they were gone!), so I was really pleased that all my camera settings had been pre-planned and pre-set (thank you Brenton!)! 

And then finally to the Blacksmith's shop. I have seen the sign many times while driving along Vissershok Road, and finally decided to bite the bullet and go and see what went on there. I spoke to the owner/manager, and while he seemed a little dubious, he eventually decided it was ok for me to walk around and take some photos. I think I spent about 30 minutes there, and found the place fascinating. As with all metal shops, it's a truly hard and difficult working environment, but it produces some spectacular products. This is my pick of the various images:

And that's it for July! August now presents a really difficult challenge to equal or better those results!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - June 2015

At last some success again! After two dismal months, the submissions this month produced three Golds and one Silver rating.

The set subject for the month was "Architecture/Abandoned buildings". For the print entry I submitted a photo of the Swakopmund jetty - a photo that I really like. It was taken one evening just as the mist was about to come in and it's got a bit of a surreal feel to it. It's called "Reaching out".

For the digital entry, a photo taken from the top of the restaurant (it can be seen at the end of the jetty above), looking back into the town of Swakopmund was the choice, but this image only received a Silver rating. What I enjoy about the photo is the strength and power displayed, but understand that it's not nearly in the same class as the photo above. This one is named "Looking back".

For the open section, I chose one of my favourite images from our recent Namibian holiday. It's of a dune very close to Dune 45 as Sossusvlei, and features some lovely flowing lines. It also highlights the huge contrasts that are to be found in the area. Not surprisingly, the photo is named "Contrasts".

For the final open submission, I decided to submit a stacked macro image of a Bougenvilla. I thought more images were involved, but looking back I see that only three different shots were used to combine for the final image. The stacking process is used to ensure that all parts of the subject are in focus. It is named "Vibrant".

Now for next month's challenge!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - May 2015

And I thought last month was bad!!! Four entries this month, and not one gold rating!

The set subject for the month was "Movement". I spent quite a lot of time trying to think of something different to use which would depict or demonstrate movement. Eventually I chose two items from our home, the first one being my main guitar. I spent quite some time setting up the shoot and then again editing the final image. This was the choice for my print entry. Here it is, and named "Vibrating G-string":

I love its simplicity, the shapes and angles, and the clean lines of the image, but the judge didn't, and the shot scored a silver rating.

For my digital submission, I chose to try and capture the movement of the pendulum inside an old clock that had been awarded during the second world war to my grandfather on my Mom's side. The clock is still going strong, and made a really interesting subject. Well - at least I thought so! But again, the judge didn't. In fact it took him at least a full minute to see the pendulum! The image was titled "A split second", as it was taken with a shutter speed of 0,6 seconds. A silver rating followed. See what you think:

For the open section, I knew I was taking a chance. Personally I love both these images, but realise they aren't everyone's cup of tea. The first was taken at the beach at Van Riebeeckstrand, in front of our flat. Jacqui and I were sitting on the balcony on a warm and sunny day, when all of a sudden the infamous West Coast mist decided to make an appearance! There were people on the beach enjoying the sunshine, and they were really caught unawares. I rushed downstairs with my camera, and was able to take this image of a couple who were to pack up and leave about two minutes after I had taken the shot. My thanks to my wife, Jacqui, for the title (which I thought was really amusing) - "Umbrellas in the mist".

And finally to the dog of the evening! According to the judge, the image had no focal point, was just a record shot, and had little merit, and so he gave it a bronze rating. But I still love the image! Some of what the judge had to say might be correct, but for me it's still special, and is just simply about the gorgeous light - the light in the sky and on the trees. Which is why I titled it "Thunderstorm lighting". It was taken from our patio during a thunderstorm and here it is:

So - another poor evening - three silvers and a bronze. Seven points out of a possible twelve. But I suppose it could have been worse!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - April 2015

Wow! Talk about total carnage!!! It's been a while since a judge has dished out so many poor scores for a competition evening. And it was the first meeting I have attended where a number of images received a "No rating" award. Oh well - time to pull the socks up and try and catch up next month!

The set subject for April was "Panning" - the art of capturing the effect of motion while using a moving camera. It's not my favourite type of photo, but it was a good learning opportunity - and a real challenge! I tried to get some inspiration from images already on the internet, but most are shots that have been done again and again before, and I wanted something different.

So Jacqui and I set off one Saturday morning to take some shots of one of our beautiful nieces, Bianca. I am really grateful to her for agreeing to give up some of her weekend time to help me out. What I was wanting to achieve was a panning image of her on a swing. Well - it proved incredibly more difficult than I expected. The time period between focusing on the subject at the top of the arc, and then following it through to the end of the arc is very short. In addition, there were things like poles getting in the way, and to top it all the panning motion was in a curve instead of in a straight line. So while the idea was different, the end result didn't quite match up to expectations. 

Bianca

I was able to get a number of shots which I liked, but unfortunately in all of the photos, there was not enough of the subject in focus. So I decided not to use them for the competition. In the end that proved to be a wise decision, as the judge would have had a field day marking the images down! But, it was fabulous spending some quality time with Bianca, though I'm sure she would have had woken with some stiff arm and leg muscles on the Sunday morning!

After packing up and dropping Bianca off at her home, Jacqui and I then took a trip out to Zone 7, to attempt to capture a more conventional panning subject. I submitted this image in the Set Subject Digital category, and received a silver rating for it. Apparently not enough of the main subject was in focus!




From there it was off for a lovely lunch at Durbanville Hills (we hadn't been there for ages, but will be back again as they now seem to have their house in order - the food was delicious!), and on our way home Jacqui noticed that there was action at the Durbanville Race Course. So we made our way there and spent some of the afternoon with a couple of beers trying to get some more images. 

For me, the time spent earlier with Bianca was really beneficial, and from what I had learned while with her and then at Zone 7, I thought I ended up with some reasonably good images. I entered this one in the Set Subject print category, and while I only received a silver rating for it, it was placed as runner-up to the winning image! 




I had more luck in the Open category, where my photo of the White Butterfly Bush (a macro stack of four images) received a gold rating. The mono Winter 2014 image received a silver - the judge said that there was too much water in the foreground, and some of the image should have been cropped off. For my particular taste, that would have made the image unbalanced, and would have cut off the reflection of the reeds, so I still prefer it the way it is!

And that was April at the TPS. Onwards and upwards towards May!

As mentioned in previous blog post, please click on the images for the large view.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - March 2015

The set subject for this month was "Sunsets or sunrises". I've taken so many of these over the years that it should have been easy to find two images to submit that would have eared Gold ratings. But, I decided to be clever, and enter an image that would stand out from the rest (the "Cold sunset" image - first one shown below), and it did, but not in the way I had hoped! With hindsight, I think the judge (and everyone else) wanted to see a sunset with the rich warm colours one normally associates with that time of day, so that image only earned a Silver rating. All my other submissions, however, earned Golds. All in all a good month!

As usual, just click on the image for a larger version. Titles and ratings can be seen on the TPS page (link on menu bar).

I must also just say that I really enjoyed playing with the macro images. The colours, lighting and reflections really have made the marbles a very special project, and the colours and detail that came out of photographing the pink butterfly bush were very special indeed!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - February 2015

So - one year in and my first anniversary with the TPS! What a great year it has been, and I can honestly say that joining them was the best thing that could have happened for my photography progress. The highlights (of course) have been when the judges like one's photos and score them highly, and the worst times are when the images just don't rate! But even the negatives have positives, as it is here where one learns the most from one's mistakes.

Set subject for February: Macro, or close-ups. As mentioned previously, this is an area that I really enjoy, and this month all the photos I submitted, both in the print and open categories, were macro images. So I'm going to show the images of all submissions below, though they can still be seen (with the judge's ratings) on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Lichen on oak

The ageing process

Marbles and frangipani

The Balotelli wave

My biggest disappointment for this month was not receiving a Gold rating for the shot of the marbles and frangipani reflections. Mainly because the judge did not give any reasons for marking the image down. But even though it didn't get Gold, I still really like it!

Tygerberg Photographic Society - January 2015

Set subject for the month: Black and White. 

Real highs and lows during this particular competition. My photo of two dahlias featured as runner-up in the set subject print section, while the digital submission of the black and white sunset got me my first Bronze! In fairness to myself, though, our projector was displaying the images much brighter than what they were actually, and the photo looked completely blown out when shown on the screen. There was a number of images from different members that suffered the same fate.

The images entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). 

As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - November 2014

The set subject for November (the final month for competitions for 2014) was "Macro". This is one of my favourite forms of photography, and while I expected to do well this month, it was in fact my bleakest set of results since joining the TPS, and the first time I have failed to receive a Gold rating for any of my entries! But - it's great motivation to do better going forward!

My first image was of a cross section of a Kiwi fruit, and not to make it too obvious, I decided to convert the image to black and white. I eventually named it "Ancient artwork from New Zealand", though "Alien sports stadium" came a close second.

The second image was of the centre section of a pansy, and I named this one "Furnace".

The images entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page (link is on the menu bar). The "Light beer" image was just a bit of fun, though I quite liked it in the end. 


As usual, please click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - October 2014

I'm a little behind with my blog posts, hoping to catch up this week, but this is a start!

The October set subject was 'Photojournalism". Not my favourite form of photography, but these were my two entries for the month, and I was more pleased with them than the judge was! The photo of the Vissershok Road flooding was taken in July last year, while the "Zone 7" motorcyclist was taken in October 2014 during a TPS organised outing. Both these images received Silver ratings.

As expected, having advanced to the 3-star photographer category makes it just that more difficult to achieve Gold ratings for photos, and this month only one of my photos qualified for that status. This is the image - it's of one of the Rapport Newspaper Sunday morning vendors, a very pleasant and friendly gentleman named Moses.

My final image entered into the "Open" category can be seen on the TPS Entries page. Just click on the "TPS Entries" link on the menu bar.

As normal, please click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - September 2014

The September set subject was 'Macro" and these were my two entries for the month. The photo of the gooseberries was taken way back in May after a very helpful neighbour let me forage in their garden for the gooseberries. The second image was of a Wild Iris from our front garden, and a baby snail from our back garden!

My other two images entered into the "Open" category can be seen by clicking on the "TPS Entries" link on the menu bar.

It's been a big month for me as my four "Gold" ratings moved me up from the 2-star to 3-star category! The requirements for a move to the next star rating are onerous to say the least, and it will take more than a year to get there. And at the 3-star level, the scoring and points needed for the ratings are the same as for the best photographers in the Society, so it makes it that much more difficult for images to achieve Gold status. 

As normal, just click on the images for the large versions.

Tygerberg Photographic Society - August 2014

The August set subject was "slow shutter speed", and this was my entry for the month. The judge seemed to like the shot, but marked it down as he found the red branding on the chopsticks packet distracting. I think it helps balance out the bottom section of the photo, so still obviously have lots to learn.

My other two images entered into the "Open" category can be seen by clicking on the "TPS Entries" link on the menu bar.

Tygerberg Photographic Society

One of the most educational and rewarding things I’ve done over recent years is to join the Tygerberg Photographic Society. To quote from their website: The aim of the club is promote photography, by bringing together photographers who wish to express their love for photography by taking photographs and by showing, sharing, evaluating and discussing with friends who share the same interests – those willing to learn more about photography from experts willing to share their knowledge – and those willing to share their expertise with others willing to learn more about photography.

Members are divided into 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Star categories according to their level of skill. New members start off as 1 Stars, and move upward over time depending on the number of points they collect from judged competition entries. After 6 months as a member, I am now in the 2-star category.

Competition meetings are held at 19h00 every 4th Wednesday of every month, January to November. There are four categories for entries, namely the month's set subject, in print or digital formats, plus an open category, also in print or digital formats. There is at least one external evaluator at each meeting. Every entry is publicly judged and priceless valuable feedback is given by the expert evaluators during the meetings.

Photographs are evaluated (out of 15 points) on the level of technical, compositional, and artistic ability shown. For a photo to achieve a Gold award, 1 star members need to receive a minimum of 9 points, 2 star members need a minimum of 11 points, and 3 star and above members need a minimum of 12 points.So the more one progresses, the more difficult it is to achieve Gold awards.

This has been (and is) an incredibly rewarding experience, and I am indebted to my good friend Daniel Rossouw, for introducing me to the club.

I have posted a page, TPS Entries, which can be accessed via the blog menu. It reflects all the entries I have posted so far, with the relevant awards received.