Blog from the Western Cape Regional Director
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Cape Town Photographic Society
The oldest photographic club in Southern Africa. Founded in 1890.
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The Cape Town Photographic Society was founded on 30th October 1890 in the St George’s School room in Wale Street, Cape Town. The meeting, attended by 30 men, was convened in response to a newspaper advert about forming a photographic society placed by T. W. Cairncross, who lived at Leeuwenhof in the Gardens, and B. A. Lewis, who was the Secretary of the Gas Company. The two gentlemen had discussed the formation of a society for the growing number of people interested in photography over many a ‘tickey beer’ in the Thatched Tavern on Greenmarket Square.
Her Majesty’s Astronomer, Dr David Gill (later Sir), was elected honorary president. Lewis was the first honorary secretary and treasurer and fellow-initiator Cairncross vice-president. The first committee included prominent Capetonians of the time like Ray Woods, EH Allis, who photographed the Great Comet with Gill, F Ayres (of Starke & Ayres seed and flower company) and EK Green (in the liquor trade).
The first minutes signed by secretary Ray Woods (above) include the signatures of all the gentlemen present.
The chairmanship rotated from member to member, except when there was a prominent visitor, when Dr Gill took the chair.
Despite the cumbersome equipment, members regularly went on photographic outings, with horse-drawn carts or ox wagons transporting the equipment — depending on the length of the outing. On shorter outings they carried their own equipment on public transport.
Due to the influence of the famous botanist, Rudolf Marloth, who was a CTPS council member and founding member of the Mountain Club, the two Cape clubs enjoyed many active outings together.
Read more on this link.
During the foundation years smartly-dressed (male only) members mainly met to share their experiences with cameras they made or adapted, and to discuss fixture recipes, the making of optical lanterns and lantern slides, both wet-plate and commercial and to project their images with ‘magic lanterns’. There is an anecdotal tale that one speaker got so carried away while talking about his slide projected in the magic lantermn that it caught fire.
Perhaps due to the influence of Dr Gill, stars were popular topics for photos. At the July 1892 meeting Ray Woods showed enlargements of three diameters made from six inch plates of Nebulae. The exposures varied from 5 seconds to 12 hours! The long exposures showed beautiful nebulae, which had never before been seen and could not be seen even with powerful telescopes. Dr Gill and Allis had earlier made history by photographing the Great Comet of 1882 by attaching a camera to the powerful telescope of the Observatory, where Dr Gill was His Majesty’s Astronomer at the Cape.
Membership grew rapidly and the club soon had to seek alternate meeting venues, such as the YMCA. Seeking a new venue was a recurring theme until the society bought a building in the 1970s to serve as club house.
The minute books for the period 1897 to 1906 were unfortunately lost and it is not possible to know how the Anglo Boer War affected the club, but during the First World War most of the members had joined the British forces in the war. A Miss Hannah Watkins kept the society going, even when only three members attended, and securely stored assets like the lantern and enlarger.
CTPS had cordial relationships with the early photographic clubs formed in the Cape – Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Kimberley, King William’s Town and Cradock – and members would sometimes meet for outings or share slides.
Members have been creating moving pictures as early as 1890, with the author reading a script while the lanternist moved the slides along. Techniques for creating audio-visual shows improved over the years and in 1948 a group of cinematographers joined CTPS to form the Cine section. The making of AVs is promoted by the club till today.
The society organised South Africa’s first national salon in 1896, followed by an international salon in 1906, which almost resulted in the society being declared bankrupt. Photographers from across the world were invited to send their entries, which CTPS had printed and framed. They expected to cover the costs by charging visitors to the exhibition in the City Hall a shilling entry fee. Unfortunately, their enthusiasm wasn’t shared by the public and when they failed to pay the printer’s and framer’s bills for this ambitious project, the bailiff came knocking. The society was saved by members who bought life membership for 5 pounds.
CTPS regularly produced publications, e.g. the brochure for the 2002 Cape of Good Hope Salon, a glossy full colour catalogue of the award winners in the 125th Anniversary Salon, only a photocopy of Eric Vertue’s iconic 100 year history book survived and the glossy publication summarising the society’s celebration of its 125 year history.
In 1932 CTPS decided to establish a bi-annual international salon called the Cape of Good Hope International Salon of Photography, which later became a national salon. This lasted until 2002, after which salons were held periodically.
CTPS was a founding member of PSSA and Eric Vertue (editor of the first PSSA newsletter) and Robert Bell (the second PSSA President) attended the inaugural meeting in Durban.
Over the years CTPS built up an impressive collection of vintage cameras, magic lanterns and other equipment. Most of these are on display at the Science Centre in Observatory, Cape Town. The society also has an extensive library, which includes many rare and valuable photographic books.
In 2023 CTPS hosted a Celebration of Photography exhibition for 21 Western Cape clubs at Groot Constantia Wine Estate, and again paid for the printing and mounting of all the images. This time there was more than enough money in the bank to cover all costs!
This was made possible by the foresight of the members and committee who had worked tirelessly during the 1960’s and 1970’s to raise funds to buy a building that would serve as a club house and library. They sold cakes, held rummage sales and raffles, relied on donations and steadily built up reserves to pay a deposit in 1971 on the run-down old church at 28 Jarvis Street, which is now in the Cape Quarter. A few more years of hard work by members to make the building habitable followed, before the first meeting was held in the new premises in October 1975.
CTPS members played an important role in the early years of PSSA and the 70th anniversary of the society was celebrated on the cover of the 1960 Camera News. Middle: the CTPS Survey Group published their work in a book called “From the days that are gone”. Right: In 1970 CTPS moved into its building in Jarvis Street.
Part of the funds that contributed to the building fund came from the profits of the sale of a book on old farmsteads, From the Days that are Gone, published by the CTPS Survey Group. The Survey Group photographed historical Western Cape farms and compared the homesteads with the original plans.
Maintenance of an old building, however, proved to be costly and a tenant was found for Jarvis Street to help cover expenses. But, building maintenance remained a huge expense – for example, the minutes of April 2010 indicate that R67 000 had to be spent on repairs. There was also constant bickering when the tenant was perceived to encroach on CTPS storage territory.
Over the years the area where the building was located became unsafe for members to park and walk to the building at night and it was decided to find a another meeting venue. Selling the building had been discussed at committee meetings since the 1990′ and finally, at a Special General Meeting in November 2014, the building was sold to the tenant at the time.
The proceeds, which was wisely invested, enables CTPS to assist smaller clubs in the Western Cape in various ways with donations of equipment. It also made it possible for the club to print and mount the images for the unique exhibition it hosted for the clubs in the region during 2023.
It also remains the largest club in the region, with an annual membership of around 130 to 140. Several of the members are from abroad – Mauritius, Ireland, the UK, Namibia – and also from Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. These members are able to attend meetings via Zoom, which is offered as a hybrid option since the club returned to regular in-person meetings after Covid. Most of the members, however, live in Cape Town and can enjoy each other’s company at the monthly competition meetings, educational talks or workshops and outings.
Click here to read the club’s history in the book ‘Celebrating 125 years‘.
In 1965, the 75th birthday of CTPS was celebrated with a festival of print, slide and cine — 8mm and 16mm cine films and 35mm slide features from members, as well as from photographers across the world – were screened. In addition, 129 prints by members, from experienced to beginners, were displayed in another hall in the building.
This Festival was held over four days at the end of October 1965 in the Union Castle Building in Adderley Street. The historical collection, passed on from one generation of CTPS members to another, was on display in another hall in the building.
The actual birthday was celebrated on 30th October with a smart dinner held in the Lodge De Goede Hoop Banqueting Hall, with toasts by then president Eric Vertue, vice-presidents Horace Lawley and Robert Page and past president Robert Bell.
In 1990, CTPS’ Centenary Year, the society celebrated its heritage in many ways. Eric Vertue, who served several terms as president and was the first editor of the PSSA newsletter, Camera News, recorded the society’s history in a book. The original version, which included many original photographs, is unfortunately missing, and only photocopied versions remain.
The post office produced a commemorative envelope during the year. In a 4-page advertising supplement in The Argus of 11 September, camera shops and other businesses paid tribute to the society. Click here to read.
The programme of the highlight of the year, the hosting of the 1990 PSSA National Congress, was included in the supplement. This congress, organised by Vice-President Ian Levy, was the first profitable congress. This was contributed to the attraction of film maker Ashley Lazarus as presenter and the hosting of the Kodak colour print exhibition. It was opened with a banquet hosted by the Cape Town mayor in the congress venue, the Arthur’s Seat Hotel in Sea Point.
The contacts of Ted Dickinson, a former air force pilot, made it possible to have the congress photo taken in front of a Shackleton plane. An exhibition, One hundred years of photos and cameras, was held during congress, showcasing photos by old and current members, as well as society memorabilia, which were stored in the society’s museum in Jarvis Street. Prominent members who attended the opening of the exhibition are Roy Johannesson, Ray Ryan, Ted Dickinson and Ian Levy.
In 2015 CTPS celebrated its 125th year with a year-long celebration. Outings copied some of the activities from the early days, an exhibition of members’ work was held in the foyer of the Artscape Theatre, and a print and digital exhibition of all accepted images in the CTPS 125th Anniversary Salon was held in the Central Library. A printed copy of the salon catalogue is another keepsake of the celebrations.
In May, the society held a mini-congress in De Hoop, where prestigious speakers entertained and educated members.
The logo was updated to include the 125 year celebrations and members could buy rain jackets embroidered with this logo. The following year a design competition was held to replace the old-style logo with a modern emblem, selected by members and various experts.
The highlight of the celebrations year was undoubtably a gala dinner held on the society’s founding day, which was attended by illustrious guests of honour: Royal Photographic Society President Walter Benzie, PSSA President Francois Rousseau and PSSA Regional Director Johan Kloppers.
Despite the venue having to change at the last minute due to student unrest, it was a grand occasion enjoyed by all.
In 2023 CTPS again made history by hosting the first Celebration of Photography. This print exhibition of 171 works by members of 21 clubs in the Western Cape region (including school clubs) was held when clubs in the region decided to do away with the annual Interclub competition.
The exhibition was held in the Tasting venue of Groot Constantia Wine Estate during the peak tourist season from 11 November to end of January 2024, when as many as 11 000 people per month booked for wine tasting tours.
The morning after he opened the exhibition, top Gauteng photographer and speaker Martin Barber, entertained members with two moving lectures by him, also on the Groot Constantia wine estate.
The names of the esteemed gentlemen who attended the inaugural meeting of the Cape Town Photographic Club almost read as the Who’s Who of Cape Town society. This trend continued and in subsequent years some of the most prominent members in the city served on the CTPS council – including the mayor, Sir Frederick Smith, who was elected CTPS president in 1909 and 1910.
Dr David Gill (later Sir), the first CTPS president who served in this position until he returned to the UK in 1907, was the Astronomer Royal in charge of the Royal Observatory for 11 years. He is credited with assisting with the setting-up of the first photo of the Great Comet of 1882 using the telescope at the Observatory, for using photography to map the Southern Hemisphere skies for the first time and for designing a telescope that was considered the finest in the world. He was knighted in 1900.
TW Cairncross, was the City Engineer of Cape Town and also designed the first water-borne sewerage system. He was the first vice-president. Cairncross’ discussions with B.A. Lewis resulted in the formation of the society. Lewis was the manager of the first Cape Town and District Gas Light and Coke Company who introduced street lights.
Edgar Haggar Allis devised a plan to capture the first sharp photograph of the Great Comet and stars with the help of dr Gill. Ray Woods, the first South African photographer who became a member of the Royal Photographic Society in 1882. He was an official photographer of the Royal Observatory in Cape Town.
Rudolf Marloth (left) was a renowned botanist, who discovered many new plant species. His 6-volume Flora of South Africa publications was a groundbreaking work. Marloth was one of the founding members of the Mountain Club and he organised several joint outings of the two clubs.
Naturalist James Luckhoff, who was CTPS president between 1913 and 1919, successfully campaigned for the establishment of De Waal Park in 1895.
Arthur Elliott was one of the most prominent photographers of the early 20th century. The Historical Monuments Commission acquired his collection of 10 000 photos of Cape Dutch buildings to preserve it as a pictorial record of the city’s architectural heritage.
Baron Albert van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, hailed as one of the world’s greatest land- and seascape photographers in an article in the American Annual of Photography, was CTPS president from 1930 to 1943. He was the first South African photographer to be awarded Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society. The town Oudtshoorn was named after his Dutch aristocratic family.
Click here to read more about the famous early members in the publication Celebrating 125 Years.
During the years 1940 to 1979 several CTPS members not only made their mark in society, but also contributed to the promotion of photography nationally, especially with their contribution to the founding and early years of PSSA.
Robert Bell, who served as CTPS president from 1942 to 1944, succeeded Dr Kin Bensusan as the second PSSA president in 1956. He was also one of the PSSA founding members, as he and Eric Vertue were the CTPS delegates to attend the first congress in Durban in 1954. Bell was a regular contributor to the PSSA publication Camera News, edited by Eric Vertue. He was an accomplished photographer, who was awarded an Associateship of the PSSA. As manager of the Salvation Army Printing Company, Citadel Press, Bell also produced the first printed syllabus for CTPS, covering the activities and topics for the year.
Eric Vertue (left) made a huge contribution to recording club photographic history with a publication to celebrate the centenary in 1990, called Cape Town Photographic Society 100 Years, and as the first editor of the PSSA journal, Camera News. He was elected CTPS president nine times and served on council for almost 50 years until the late 1980’s. He was especially interested in photographing historical buildings and became leader of the CTPS Survey Group, which did much acclaimed work documenting historical West Coast farms. He was invited to join the National Monuments Council and also served on the Tulbagh Restoration Committee after the earthquake. In 1973, Eric and CTPS member Ray Ryan published a book called Cape Homesteads, which is also considered to be Africana. His book, Travels with Eric Vertue, is described as an excellent record of the rural Western Cape. Eric was awarded an Associateship of the PSSA (APSSA) as well as the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) for his photographic work.
Ted Dickinson (left) was another former CTPS president (1990) who was elected PSSA president in 1968 and he also served as chair of the PSSA Honours selection panel. A former RAF and SA Air Force pilot, he specialised in aerial photography, but was accomplished in other genres. These earned him a Fellowship of PSSA, and he was also awarded an Associateship by the Royal Photographic Society and an Associateship by the Institute of British Photographers. The latter panel of prints contained many landscapes, which was one of his favourite genres.
He wrote a photographic column for the Rand Daily Mail’s Camera Page, wrote for The Cape Argus, contributed to various magazines and talked about photography on the SABC’s Women’s World programme. Dickinson also lectured at the Universities of Stellenbosch and Cape Town and at the Ruth Prowse School of Art. Apart from CTPS in 1971, six other PSSA affiliated clubs awarded him Honorary Life Membership, notably the Johannesburg Camera Club, where he played a leading role.
Roy Johannesson (left) is a legendary former member that helped shape CTPS and South African club photography as PSSA president from 1973 to 1975. He served as CTPS president (1969-70) and chaired the property committee when the building in Jarvis Street was bought. In 1978 CTPS made him an Honorary Life Member. The numerous publications, letters, programmes, newspaper clippings, photos, articles and council minutes he preserved is an invaluable source of reference for recording CTPS history. For more than 50 years he worked tirelessly to promote photography, the society and mentoring young talent.
Like anybody who feels strongly about issues, his views sometimes clashed with those of others and CTPS gave him a huge wooden spoon to celebrate his 50th year as a member because he was always stirring. Roy also had a long association with the PSSA, who gave him a medal for service after he served as president, elected him an Honorary Fellow in 1978 and in 1990 rewarded him with the prestigious PSSA President’s Award.
Roy was awarded an Associateship in colour slides, cine (motion pictures) and published works, as well as two Fellowships – in colour slides and for having three Associateships. One of the educational films he made for Caltex, Die Eerste Jaar op Skool was used at teachers’ training colleges. The exhibition of Roy’s Cibachrome prints in The Shell Gallery in the 70’s was the first all-colour exhibition of photographs in Cape Town. He taught at the Cameraland Photo School, which opened in 1972, and promoted CTPS by writing numerous articles for The Argus. To commemorate his 50-year membership of CTPS in 2001, Roy introduced the Golden Apple Award for Service to Photography in the Western Cape, first awarded to Sibyl Morris.
Alice Mertens, who nurtured many young photographers as lecturer in photography at the Fine Arts Department of the University of Stellenbosch and inspired others with her numerous coffee table books, was a CTPS member for 42 years. In 1970 she was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society Educational section for the beautiful photographic books she had published. Early in her career worked as official photographer for the League of Nations.
Sibyl Morris (left) was a renowned concert pianist, who performed with orchestras around the world under her maiden name Sibyl Whiteman. She was also a presenter on Fine Music Radio and a well-known music teacher and lecturer. CTPS members remember her as the editor of Cape Camera from 1997 to 2005, during which time she produced the copy, printed, folded, stapled and mailed all editions of the monthly newsletter. This earned her a CTPS gold medal for service and the first Golden Apple award introduced by Roy Johannesson for those who provide a service to photography in the Western Cape. She also received an APSSA in colour slides in 1999.
Click here to read more about the memorable members during the CTPS Golden Age.
More recently, several CTPS members have also been making a contribution beyond club structures to promote photography in the Western Cape as well as nationally through PSSA.
Detlef Basel received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Jill Sneesby and Francois Roux for his extensive and continued Service to photography and PSSA at the Greyton Congress in 2022. He has been serving South African amateur photographic societies for more than fifty years. When his 8-year term of office as CTPS president came to an end at the AGM in September 2015, he had been serving on photographic association committees, boards and councils for 48 years. He was re-elected as a CTPS council member and served until 2021.
Before joining CTPS in 2007, he served on the committee of the Pretoria Photographic Society for 38 years, including three sessions of two years as president. He also served on the PSSA board for 25 years as salon director, and one year as vice-president during the late 1970’s. During the time he served on the PSSA board, he was awarded an APSSA (Associate of the PSSA) for service in the mid-1980’s and Honorary Life Membership in the 1970’s. He was also awarded Life Membership by CTPS and the Pretoria Photographic Society.
As a former science teacher he promoted photography by forming clubs at the schools where he taught. After his official retirement and move to Cape Town the Cape Town Science Centre made use of his services. He introduced the Grade 10, 11 and 12’s in township schools to science with a mobile science centre — a truck equipped with all the science materials that the average township school lacked. He also arranged for some of CTPS’ valuable cameras to be displayed at the Science Centre.
Nicol du Toit (left) was elected 2nd Vice-president of PSSA in 2023, the same year he was elected CTPS president for a second term. He has served as PSSA Regional Director for the Western Cape since 2017 and among the projects he introduced for the region were the Honours Group. He led a new team for the Western Cape Judging Accreditation Programme (JAP), which served as a blueprint for the current National JAP course, where he is a member of the national committee.
During 2017 he also chaired a sub-committee tasked with formulating a proposal for the formation of the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF), where clubs from the region share their concerns and successes. He chaired the forum for the maximum four years allowed by the constitution.
He is a qualified CA, who added an MBA to his qualifications (including B. Comm) after he left the audit profession to enter general management. Soon after joining CTPS in 2011 he was elected treasurer – a position he held until he became president in 2015 – and resumed after the end of his term in 2017. Assisted by a team that included CTPS members, he organised the Montagu Cape Photographers’ Congress in 2019 and the Greyton Congress in 2022.
He was awarded LPSSA Honours and his salon entries earned him DPSSA in colour and in prints, as well as an AFIAP for international acceptances.
Neels Beyers (left) is a prolific salon entrant who earned EPSSA Honours in 2020 with 500 salon acceptances and the EFIAP/s distinction with 300 international salon acceptances with 100 different works in 10 different countries. He was also awarded an Associateship of PSSA in slides, prints and digital (Vers).
He served as PSSA Regional Director for the Western Cape for a number of years and in this capacity organised the Cape Photographer Congress in Struisbaai in 2010.
Neels served on the CTPS council for 12 years as property manager and secretary and he also ran the AV Group. He organised judging groups in the Western Cape for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 International Challenge 321 AV salons of France and his own AVs received acceptances in national and international salons. In addition, he revived the Cape of Good Hope Salon for CTPS in 2002 and published books with images from CTPS members, for example, the 2010 publication commemorating the society’s 120th year.
Before moving to Cape Town in 2000, he worked in Worcester as an attorney for 18 years, where he served as president of the Worcester Photographic Society.
Kim Stevens (left) is currently the only Western Cape representative on the prestigious PSSA Honours Judging Panel and she also advises members of the Western Cape Honours Group on preparing their Honours panels. Her own Honours include APSSA in PDI and FPSSA in prints. She also gained DPSSA (Vers) for salon acceptances in colour, monochrome and prints. Her international acceptances earned her the EFIAP distinction. She received the Impala trophy for prints in 2020 and in 2023 and has won numerous photographic competitions.
Between 2015 and 2023 she invited and briefed interesting speakers for the CTPS monthly Education and Development meetings. She is always willing to share her knowledge, for example by posting valuable and informative links to online articles on Facebook to help members improve their photographic skills and producing skills improvement tips for the newsletter. This earned her the CTPS President’s Award in 2023.
The workshop tours she leads to scenic European cities like Valencia or Venice are becoming popular as participants return with stunning images.
Evelyn Gibson is well-known to PSSA members as the PRO who communicates with members via the monthly newsletters and as co-administrator of the PSSA Facebook page. Although she is a Gauteng resident, CTPS is now her primary club. She previously served on the Board of PSSA as Regional Director of Gauteng North and then as National Director responsible for the monthly Club Winners Competitions and website competitions, as well as marketing.
She has been a member of the prestigious Honours Judging Panel for several years and has been invited to judge around the country. Her Honours include FPSSA, APSSA (Vers), EPSSA(Mille-Platinum), SPSSA and EFIAP. The Photographic Society of America awarded her SPSA honours for Street Photography in mono, and the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain awarded her ARPS for a mixed panel.
Evelyn became involved in club photography after she completed a two-year photography course at the Open Window Academy in Pretoria in 2001. She joined Pretoria Photographic Society (PPS), where she served on the committee for many years and was president for two years. She subsequently initiated the formation of Midrand Camera Club as she perceived a need for another club in the region and served as president of the club for three years. She joined CTPS, which became her primary club, in 2020 and subsequently have been assisting with the Honours Group for Western Cape members. She also became a member of Centurion Camera Club, closer to her home in Pretoria.
In 2023 she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for her services to PSSA.
Visit the CTPS website at www.ctps.co.za for the most recent information about club activities.
Click here for club contact and meeting details.
Creative Camera Club
Helderberg Photographic Society
Where competitions are informal. Founded in 1954.
Click here to visit the Helderberg Photographic Society website.
Hermanus Photographic Society
Where art and photography meet. Founded in 1997.
In 1996 Dinkie Marais, a photographic club veteran and PSSA director of more than 20 years, retired to his hometown, Hermanus, with his wife, Lettie. He had worked in towns in the old Transvaal, now Northern Gauteng and Mpumalanga, for nearly four decades. There was no photographic club in Hermanus and former PSSA president Roy Johannesson invited him to join his club, the Cape Town Photographic Society. After attending a few meetings in Cape Town, Dinkie found the travelling across the mountain and late hours too tiresome and expensive.
The owner of the Hermanus Fotofirst photographic business, Kees van de Coolwijk, said that a few people in Hermanus might be interested in forming a photographic club and suggested that Dinkie, with his experience, should set the ball rolling. Following Kees’ suggestion, Dinkie contacted John Annandale, a prominent Hermanus resident, and another photographer, Beryl Larkman, who were indeed keen to start a club.
Following an article Dinkie wrote for the Hermanus Times, a meeting was held in the old library hall on 23 April 1997. The 19 people present agreed to form a club and elected Dinkie, John and Beryl to form a club committee. Not all of the members present at the first meeting joined the club, but by the end of the year the club had 21 members. Dinkie and Kees and his wife Marleen are Honorary Life members of the club.
At the first meeting those present decided the name for the club should be Walker Bay Photographic Society, as some members also came from surrounding towns like from Gansbaai, Stanford and Bot River. They held their first competition meeting in May 1997 and in October 1997, the first visiting judge, Wikus Leeuwner, was invited to judge the monthly competition. Eventually, the outlying members drifted away and at the 1998 AGM the name Hermanus Photographic Society was officially adopted.
Dinkie Marais was president for the first four years and under his leadership Hermanus hosted the National Wildlife Photography Congress. Max Leipoldt was president when Hermanus hosted their first Interclub competition – in those years the hosting club was responsible for the competition as well as awards evening. In 2009, when Ronnie Hazel was president, the society hosted a successful PSSA National Congress.
At the end of 2019, then president Elizma Fourie (above) and her team hosted an exceptional Western Cape Interclub Awards evening. This Oscar-themed evening of style and glamour is still considered to be the most successful and enjoyable Interclub awards evening ever … and sadly, it was the last such event to be hosted in the Western Cape. The following three years Covid regulations dictated that the Interclub awards had to be awarded in online ceremonies attended by small audiences and in 2023 clubs in the region voted to discontinue the Interclub competition.
Like most clubs, membership fluctuated – by the end of the first year the club had 21 paid up members, which grew to 31 in 1998. By 2000 there were 45 members, in 2006 there were 94, and in 2007 membership numbers peaked at 107, before is gradually declined to stabilise around 35-40 in the early 2020s. Recently, several new members joined, including enthusiastic young people and some excellent photographers.
Even though it is considered to be one of the smaller clubs in the region, Hermanus regularly came amongst the top 5 in the region’s Interclub competition – and often in the top 3, notably in 2020 when Hermanus shared second place with the much bigger Cape Town Photographic Society.
The Hermanus AV group was formed in 2017/18 by eight volunteers led by Deon Kühn, who discontinued the group due to ill health. The late club president, Elizma Fourie, gained third place on the Impala Trophy log for AVs – with the first AV she made, A smile to remember, after attending one of these workshops. She had no idea what AVs were, nor did she know what salons were, but nonetheless entered her AV in the PECC International Salon, where it was accepted. The following year this AV won the runner-up medal in the CTPS National AV Salon.
The club had been an active participant in the Hermanus FynArts Festival held annually in June since 2017. For the past four years Hermanus Photographic Society also participated in the town’s First Fridays Art Walk (FFAW) and more recently also became involved in the Hermanus Art in the Park with regular exhibitions of some members’ prints at a stall (this). The latter events were instigated by former president David Wilson (below left) to promote the premise that photography is a form of art.
In February 2023 the Hermies Photo Club based at Hermanus High School was formed under leadership of a teacher, Klaradyn Stemmet. Hermanus club members have been assisting the scholars with a basic course and workshops to improve their photography. Some of the scholars’ work subsequently won awards and seven of their prints were included in the Hermanus club’s print exhibition during FynArts in 2023. Hermanus also requested that the school club be included in the 2023 Celebration of Photography, where work by members from 21 Western Cape clubs (including Hermanus) was exhibited at Groot Constantia wine estate for nearly three months over the festive season.
Hermanus has also been active on the international scene and has been one of the 25 international photographic clubs invited by the Welsh club Cwm Rhondha to participate in their annual November international competition, due to their contacts with former Hermanus president David Wilson. Apart from Wales and South Africa, other countries represented in 2022 were Canada, Malta, Ireland, the US, and UK.
In 2022 the club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a very successful exhibition during the FynArts Festival in the Hermanus Station Mall, showcasing nearly 50 print entries from club members. Founder Dinkie Marais was invited to attend the opening of the exhibition, which attracted some 500 visitors over four days. They encouraged visitor participation by requesting visitors to select their favourite three images.
Dinkie Marais (left) had been actively involved in photographic clubs in what was then the Transvaal province since 1962, until he retired to his hometown, Hermanus, in 1996. He was a president and member of clubs in Rustenburg, Nelspruit and Middelburg for 34 years and two of these clubs, Rustenburg and Middelburg, awarded him Honorary Life Membership. Among his contributions were the hosting of the PSSA National Congresses by Rustenburg Photographic Society in 1978 and in Middelburg in 1986. Dinkie joined PSSA in 1970 and was elected a PSSA director in 1976. He remained a Board member until the early 2020’s, even after he retired to Hermanus. He was awarded PSSA Honorary Life Membership, SPSSA (APSSA for Service) and a President’s Award for his services to the society. In 1986 he was presented with the Louis Marais Memorial Plaque for the PSSA Friendship Award. His photographic prowess in colour slides earned him APSSA Honours. It is therefore understandable that Dinkie was so keen to start a photographic club when he realised there was no club in Hermanus after retiring there in January 1996.
Elizma Fourie, who served as Hermanus club president from 2019 to 2021, sadly passed away after a brief illness in 2022. She is mourned by many club members across the Western Cape region, who enjoyed her energy and humour when she was co-opted to serve on the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF) as webmaster and Facebook administrator. The Oscar-themed Interclub awards evening she organised was a highlight for most club members in the region. Elizma was also a valuable member of the committee that organised the successful 2022 PSSA Greyton Congress. She became ill during congress in August and passed away the day before the accreditation ceremony for the Western Cape JAP group. Despite completing the final exam from her hospital bed, she received the highest score in the class from the adjudicators. Elizma was awarded LPSSA Honours for a colour panel in 2021.
Click here to read the tributes to Elizma after she passed away.
Over the years Hermanus was able to boast with stand-out photographers as members – for example, Treurnicht du Toit, who earned EPSSA-Mille with more than 1 000 acceptances in PSSA recognised salons and DPSSA (Vers) in 2019. In 2021 Phil Sturgess (left) was ranked 16th on the national PDI Impala Log – the best achievement of a Western Cape club member in a number of years. In 2022 he was again among the Top 20 in the 18th position. His wife, Carina de Klerk, was among the Top 50 entrants on the Impala log that year and former president David Wilson and newsletter editor Charles Naude are amongst the top Western Cape salon entrants. Both Treurnicht and David regularly win medals in international salons.
Click here to see some of their international medal-winning images.
Click here to visit the Hermanus Photographic Society website.
Click here to read more about the society in their newsletter archive.
Ignite Photographic Club
A virtual photographic collaboration. Founded 2022.
The birth of the Ignite Photographic Club (IPC) was pre-empted by the success of the Level.Up exhibition in Stellenbosch at the beginning of 2022 (see image above). Level.Up was an initiative Lynne Kruger-Haye started for members of Tygerberg Photographic Society, which was broadened to include members of other Western Cape clubs. The idea was to focus on the individual creative journey of every member as they worked towards producing a body of work, which culminated in the exhibition.
This project showcased a need unmet by clubs, which prompted the idea of forming a club that meets this need, explains Lynne, the founder and first chairperson. She describes it as a creative endeavour where they demand technical excellence, along with the firm push towards producing a Body of Work that showcases the member’s individual message or story.
Interest was expressed by people from across the country and it was decided that it would be a virtual club. When the club was officially launched on July 1, 2022, it already had 40 active members. Read more here.
Some of the club members met each other in person at the 2022 PSSA Greyton Congress.
Within a few months club membership grew to 50 with members residing across the Western Cape, in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and abroad. They meet online twice a month for image reviews (competition meetings) as well as skills development meetings.
The club has several unique features: it is a virtual-only club that offers accountability partners to those who are keen to be supported by a club member, they reach out online to members in other countries, and offer an Image Review session instead of the traditional club competition to give members the opportunity for balanced peer review. Images that are submitted for review are exclusive for Ignite and the same image may not be entered at another club.
A council of five members run the club: Lynne Kruger-Haye (chairperson and education), Ohna Nel (secretary), Gary Scholtz (treasurer), Erwin Kruger-Haye (competitions) and Ockert Vermeulen (marketing).
Ignite club’s first year was celebrated with a major exhibition of the Body of Work produced by members during the year in August 2023. It was opened on 12 August 2023 at the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch and the event was attended by photographers from clubs across the Western Cape.
Lynne Kruger-Haye is chairperson of the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF), a platform where clubs from the region discuss their achievements and concerns, as well as Ignite Photographic Club. She was elected the second WCPF chair in 2022.
Lynne is known for her infectious passion and enthusiasm for all things photographic – especially her portraiture workshops. She is a qualified educator who proved her mettle in the tough environment of a national logistics company before becoming an entrepreneur who launched and ran a successful interior design company.
After she discovered photography, Lynne immersed herself in all related aspects: winning medals with her evocative composite images; gaining APSSA Honours; taking Tygerberg Photographic Society to new heights during her term as chairperson (inter alia winning Interclub twice in a row); setting up a website for the Western Cape Photographic Forum; being an invaluable member of the JAP course admin team, presenting the two-year Western Cape judging training course; and forming a new club.
Read more about Ignite here
Kleinmond Kiekieklub
In 1996 Dinkie Marais, a photographic club veteran and PSSA director of more than 20 years, retired to his hometown, Hermanus, with his wife, Lettie. He had worked in towns in the old Transvaal, now Northern Gauteng and Mpumalanga, for nearly four decades. There was no photographic club in Hermanus and former PSSA president Roy Johannesson invited him to join his club, the Cape Town Photographic Society. After attending a few meetings in Cape Town, Dinkie found the travelling across the mountain and late hours too tiresome and expensive.
The owner of the Hermanus Fotofirst photographic business, Kees van de Coolwijk, said that a few people in Hermanus might be interested in forming a photographic club and suggested that Dinkie, with his experience, should set the ball rolling. Following Kees’ suggestion, Dinkie contacted John Annandale, a prominent Hermanus resident, and another photographer, Beryl Larkman, who were indeed keen to start a club.
Following an article Dinkie wrote for the Hermanus Times, a meeting was held in the old library hall on 23 April 1997. The 19 people present agreed to form a club and elected Dinkie, John and Beryl to form a club committee. Not all of the members present at the first meeting joined the club, but by the end of the year the club had 21 members. Dinkie and Kees and his wife Marleen are Honorary Life members of the club.
At the first meeting those present decided the name for the club should be Walker Bay Photographic Society, as some members also came from surrounding towns like from Gansbaai, Stanford and Bot River. They held their first competition meeting in May 1997 and in October 1997, the first visiting judge, Wikus Leeuwner, was invited to judge the monthly competition. Eventually, the outlying members drifted away and at the 1998 AGM the name Hermanus Photographic Society was officially adopted.
Dinkie Marais was president for the first four years and under his leadership Hermanus hosted the National Wildlife Photography Congress. Max Leipoldt was president when Hermanus hosted their first Interclub competition – in those years the hosting club was responsible for the competition as well as awards evening. In 2009, when Ronnie Hazel was president, the society hosted a successful PSSA National Congress.
At the end of 2019, then president Elizma Fourie (above) and her team hosted an exceptional Western Cape Interclub Awards evening. This Oscar-themed evening of style and glamour is still considered to be the most successful and enjoyable Interclub awards evening ever … and sadly, it was the last such event to be hosted in the Western Cape. The following three years Covid regulations dictated that the Interclub awards had to be awarded in online ceremonies attended by small audiences and in 2023 clubs in the region voted to discontinue the Interclub competition.
Like most clubs, membership fluctuated – by the end of the first year the club had 21 paid up members, which grew to 31 in 1998. By 2000 there were 45 members, in 2006 there were 94, and in 2007 membership numbers peaked at 107, before is gradually declined to stabilise around 35-40 in the early 2020s. Recently, several new members joined, including enthusiastic young people and some excellent photographers.
Even though it is considered to be one of the smaller clubs in the region, Hermanus regularly came amongst the top 5 in the region’s Interclub competition – and often in the top 3, notably in 2020 when Hermanus shared second place with the much bigger Cape Town Photographic Society.
The Hermanus AV group was formed in 2017/18 by eight volunteers led by Deon Kühn, who discontinued the group due to ill health. The late club president, Elizma Fourie, gained third place on the Impala Trophy log for AVs – with the first AV she made, A smile to remember, after attending one of these workshops. She had no idea what AVs were, nor did she know what salons were, but nonetheless entered her AV in the PECC International Salon, where it was accepted. The following year this AV won the runner-up medal in the CTPS National AV Salon.
The club had been an active participant in the Hermanus FynArts Festival held annually in June since 2017. For the past four years Hermanus Photographic Society also participated in the town’s First Fridays Art Walk (FFAW) and more recently also became involved in the Hermanus Art in the Park with regular exhibitions of some members’ prints at a stall (this). The latter events were instigated by former president David Wilson (below left) to promote the premise that photography is a form of art.
In February 2023 the Hermies Photo Club based at Hermanus High School was formed under leadership of a teacher, Klaradyn Stemmet. Hermanus club members have been assisting the scholars with a basic course and workshops to improve their photography. Some of the scholars’ work subsequently won awards and seven of their prints were included in the Hermanus club’s print exhibition during FynArts in 2023. Hermanus also requested that the school club be included in the 2023 Celebration of Photography, where work by members from 21 Western Cape clubs (including Hermanus) was exhibited at Groot Constantia wine estate for nearly three months over the festive season.
Hermanus has also been active on the international scene and has been one of the 25 international photographic clubs invited by the Welsh club Cwm Rhondha to participate in their annual November international competition, due to their contacts with former Hermanus president David Wilson. Apart from Wales and South Africa, other countries represented in 2022 were Canada, Malta, Ireland, the US, and UK.
In 2022 the club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a very successful exhibition during the FynArts Festival in the Hermanus Station Mall, showcasing nearly 50 print entries from club members. Founder Dinkie Marais was invited to attend the opening of the exhibition, which attracted some 500 visitors over four days. They encouraged visitor participation by requesting visitors to select their favourite three images.
Dinkie Marais (left) had been actively involved in photographic clubs in what was then the Transvaal province since 1962, until he retired to his hometown, Hermanus, in 1996. He was a president and member of clubs in Rustenburg, Nelspruit and Middelburg for 34 years and two of these clubs, Rustenburg and Middelburg, awarded him Honorary Life Membership. Among his contributions were the hosting of the PSSA National Congresses by Rustenburg Photographic Society in 1978 and in Middelburg in 1986. Dinkie joined PSSA in 1970 and was elected a PSSA director in 1976. He remained a Board member until the early 2020’s, even after he retired to Hermanus. He was awarded PSSA Honorary Life Membership, SPSSA (APSSA for Service) and a President’s Award for his services to the society. In 1986 he was presented with the Louis Marais Memorial Plaque for the PSSA Friendship Award. His photographic prowess in colour slides earned him APSSA Honours. It is therefore understandable that Dinkie was so keen to start a photographic club when he realised there was no club in Hermanus after retiring there in January 1996.
Elizma Fourie, who served as Hermanus club president from 2019 to 2021, sadly passed away after a brief illness in 2022. She is mourned by many club members across the Western Cape region, who enjoyed her energy and humour when she was co-opted to serve on the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF) as webmaster and Facebook administrator. The Oscar-themed Interclub awards evening she organised was a highlight for most club members in the region. Elizma was also a valuable member of the committee that organised the successful 2022 PSSA Greyton Congress. She became ill during congress in August and passed away the day before the accreditation ceremony for the Western Cape JAP group. Despite completing the final exam from her hospital bed, she received the highest score in the class from the adjudicators. Elizma was awarded LPSSA Honours for a colour panel in 2021.
Click here to read the tributes to Elizma after she passed away.
Over the years Hermanus was able to boast with stand-out photographers as members – for example, Treurnicht du Toit, who earned EPSSA-Mille with more than 1 000 acceptances in PSSA recognised salons and DPSSA (Vers) in 2019. In 2021 Phil Sturgess (left) was ranked 16th on the national PDI Impala Log – the best achievement of a Western Cape club member in a number of years. In 2022 he was again among the Top 20 in the 18th position. His wife, Carina de Klerk, was among the Top 50 entrants on the Impala log that year and former president David Wilson and newsletter editor Charles Naude are amongst the top Western Cape salon entrants. Both Treurnicht and David regularly win medals in international salons.
Click here to see some of their international medal-winning images.
Click here to visit the Hermanus Photographic Society website.
Click here to read more about the society in their newsletter archive.
Swartland Fotografieklub
In 1996 Dinkie Marais, a photographic club veteran and PSSA director of more than 20 years, retired to his hometown, Hermanus, with his wife, Lettie. He had worked in towns in the old Transvaal, now Northern Gauteng and Mpumalanga, for nearly four decades. There was no photographic club in Hermanus and former PSSA president Roy Johannesson invited him to join his club, the Cape Town Photographic Society. After attending a few meetings in Cape Town, Dinkie found the travelling across the mountain and late hours too tiresome and expensive.
The owner of the Hermanus Fotofirst photographic business, Kees van de Coolwijk, said that a few people in Hermanus might be interested in forming a photographic club and suggested that Dinkie, with his experience, should set the ball rolling. Following Kees’ suggestion, Dinkie contacted John Annandale, a prominent Hermanus resident, and another photographer, Beryl Larkman, who were indeed keen to start a club.
Following an article Dinkie wrote for the Hermanus Times, a meeting was held in the old library hall on 23 April 1997. The 19 people present agreed to form a club and elected Dinkie, John and Beryl to form a club committee. Not all of the members present at the first meeting joined the club, but by the end of the year the club had 21 members. Dinkie and Kees and his wife Marleen are Honorary Life members of the club.
At the first meeting those present decided the name for the club should be Walker Bay Photographic Society, as some members also came from surrounding towns like from Gansbaai, Stanford and Bot River. They held their first competition meeting in May 1997 and in October 1997, the first visiting judge, Wikus Leeuwner, was invited to judge the monthly competition. Eventually, the outlying members drifted away and at the 1998 AGM the name Hermanus Photographic Society was officially adopted.
Dinkie Marais was president for the first four years and under his leadership Hermanus hosted the National Wildlife Photography Congress. Max Leipoldt was president when Hermanus hosted their first Interclub competition – in those years the hosting club was responsible for the competition as well as awards evening. In 2009, when Ronnie Hazel was president, the society hosted a successful PSSA National Congress.
At the end of 2019, then president Elizma Fourie (above) and her team hosted an exceptional Western Cape Interclub Awards evening. This Oscar-themed evening of style and glamour is still considered to be the most successful and enjoyable Interclub awards evening ever … and sadly, it was the last such event to be hosted in the Western Cape. The following three years Covid regulations dictated that the Interclub awards had to be awarded in online ceremonies attended by small audiences and in 2023 clubs in the region voted to discontinue the Interclub competition.
Like most clubs, membership fluctuated – by the end of the first year the club had 21 paid up members, which grew to 31 in 1998. By 2000 there were 45 members, in 2006 there were 94, and in 2007 membership numbers peaked at 107, before is gradually declined to stabilise around 35-40 in the early 2020s. Recently, several new members joined, including enthusiastic young people and some excellent photographers.
Even though it is considered to be one of the smaller clubs in the region, Hermanus regularly came amongst the top 5 in the region’s Interclub competition – and often in the top 3, notably in 2020 when Hermanus shared second place with the much bigger Cape Town Photographic Society.
The Hermanus AV group was formed in 2017/18 by eight volunteers led by Deon Kühn, who discontinued the group due to ill health. The late club president, Elizma Fourie, gained third place on the Impala Trophy log for AVs – with the first AV she made, A smile to remember, after attending one of these workshops. She had no idea what AVs were, nor did she know what salons were, but nonetheless entered her AV in the PECC International Salon, where it was accepted. The following year this AV won the runner-up medal in the CTPS National AV Salon.
The club had been an active participant in the Hermanus FynArts Festival held annually in June since 2017. For the past four years Hermanus Photographic Society also participated in the town’s First Fridays Art Walk (FFAW) and more recently also became involved in the Hermanus Art in the Park with regular exhibitions of some members’ prints at a stall (this). The latter events were instigated by former president David Wilson (below left) to promote the premise that photography is a form of art.
In February 2023 the Hermies Photo Club based at Hermanus High School was formed under leadership of a teacher, Klaradyn Stemmet. Hermanus club members have been assisting the scholars with a basic course and workshops to improve their photography. Some of the scholars’ work subsequently won awards and seven of their prints were included in the Hermanus club’s print exhibition during FynArts in 2023. Hermanus also requested that the school club be included in the 2023 Celebration of Photography, where work by members from 21 Western Cape clubs (including Hermanus) was exhibited at Groot Constantia wine estate for nearly three months over the festive season.
Hermanus has also been active on the international scene and has been one of the 25 international photographic clubs invited by the Welsh club Cwm Rhondha to participate in their annual November international competition, due to their contacts with former Hermanus president David Wilson. Apart from Wales and South Africa, other countries represented in 2022 were Canada, Malta, Ireland, the US, and UK.
In 2022 the club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a very successful exhibition during the FynArts Festival in the Hermanus Station Mall, showcasing nearly 50 print entries from club members. Founder Dinkie Marais was invited to attend the opening of the exhibition, which attracted some 500 visitors over four days. They encouraged visitor participation by requesting visitors to select their favourite three images.
Dinkie Marais (left) had been actively involved in photographic clubs in what was then the Transvaal province since 1962, until he retired to his hometown, Hermanus, in 1996. He was a president and member of clubs in Rustenburg, Nelspruit and Middelburg for 34 years and two of these clubs, Rustenburg and Middelburg, awarded him Honorary Life Membership. Among his contributions were the hosting of the PSSA National Congresses by Rustenburg Photographic Society in 1978 and in Middelburg in 1986. Dinkie joined PSSA in 1970 and was elected a PSSA director in 1976. He remained a Board member until the early 2020’s, even after he retired to Hermanus. He was awarded PSSA Honorary Life Membership, SPSSA (APSSA for Service) and a President’s Award for his services to the society. In 1986 he was presented with the Louis Marais Memorial Plaque for the PSSA Friendship Award. His photographic prowess in colour slides earned him APSSA Honours. It is therefore understandable that Dinkie was so keen to start a photographic club when he realised there was no club in Hermanus after retiring there in January 1996.
Elizma Fourie, who served as Hermanus club president from 2019 to 2021, sadly passed away after a brief illness in 2022. She is mourned by many club members across the Western Cape region, who enjoyed her energy and humour when she was co-opted to serve on the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF) as webmaster and Facebook administrator. The Oscar-themed Interclub awards evening she organised was a highlight for most club members in the region. Elizma was also a valuable member of the committee that organised the successful 2022 PSSA Greyton Congress. She became ill during congress in August and passed away the day before the accreditation ceremony for the Western Cape JAP group. Despite completing the final exam from her hospital bed, she received the highest score in the class from the adjudicators. Elizma was awarded LPSSA Honours for a colour panel in 2021.
Click here to read the tributes to Elizma after she passed away.
Over the years Hermanus was able to boast with stand-out photographers as members – for example, Treurnicht du Toit, who earned EPSSA-Mille with more than 1 000 acceptances in PSSA recognised salons and DPSSA (Vers) in 2019. In 2021 Phil Sturgess (left) was ranked 16th on the national PDI Impala Log – the best achievement of a Western Cape club member in a number of years. In 2022 he was again among the Top 20 in the 18th position. His wife, Carina de Klerk, was among the Top 50 entrants on the Impala log that year and former president David Wilson and newsletter editor Charles Naude are amongst the top Western Cape salon entrants. Both Treurnicht and David regularly win medals in international salons.
Click here to see some of their international medal-winning images.
Click here to visit the Hermanus Photographic Society website.
Click here to read more about the society in their newsletter archive.
Tafelberg Fotografieklub
In 1996 Dinkie Marais, a photographic club veteran and PSSA director of more than 20 years, retired to his hometown, Hermanus, with his wife, Lettie. He had worked in towns in the old Transvaal, now Northern Gauteng and Mpumalanga, for nearly four decades. There was no photographic club in Hermanus and former PSSA president Roy Johannesson invited him to join his club, the Cape Town Photographic Society. After attending a few meetings in Cape Town, Dinkie found the travelling across the mountain and late hours too tiresome and expensive.
The owner of the Hermanus Fotofirst photographic business, Kees van de Coolwijk, said that a few people in Hermanus might be interested in forming a photographic club and suggested that Dinkie, with his experience, should set the ball rolling. Following Kees’ suggestion, Dinkie contacted John Annandale, a prominent Hermanus resident, and another photographer, Beryl Larkman, who were indeed keen to start a club.
Following an article Dinkie wrote for the Hermanus Times, a meeting was held in the old library hall on 23 April 1997. The 19 people present agreed to form a club and elected Dinkie, John and Beryl to form a club committee. Not all of the members present at the first meeting joined the club, but by the end of the year the club had 21 members. Dinkie and Kees and his wife Marleen are Honorary Life members of the club.
At the first meeting those present decided the name for the club should be Walker Bay Photographic Society, as some members also came from surrounding towns like from Gansbaai, Stanford and Bot River. They held their first competition meeting in May 1997 and in October 1997, the first visiting judge, Wikus Leeuwner, was invited to judge the monthly competition. Eventually, the outlying members drifted away and at the 1998 AGM the name Hermanus Photographic Society was officially adopted.
Dinkie Marais was president for the first four years and under his leadership Hermanus hosted the National Wildlife Photography Congress. Max Leipoldt was president when Hermanus hosted their first Interclub competition – in those years the hosting club was responsible for the competition as well as awards evening. In 2009, when Ronnie Hazel was president, the society hosted a successful PSSA National Congress.
At the end of 2019, then president Elizma Fourie (above) and her team hosted an exceptional Western Cape Interclub Awards evening. This Oscar-themed evening of style and glamour is still considered to be the most successful and enjoyable Interclub awards evening ever … and sadly, it was the last such event to be hosted in the Western Cape. The following three years Covid regulations dictated that the Interclub awards had to be awarded in online ceremonies attended by small audiences and in 2023 clubs in the region voted to discontinue the Interclub competition.
Like most clubs, membership fluctuated – by the end of the first year the club had 21 paid up members, which grew to 31 in 1998. By 2000 there were 45 members, in 2006 there were 94, and in 2007 membership numbers peaked at 107, before is gradually declined to stabilise around 35-40 in the early 2020s. Recently, several new members joined, including enthusiastic young people and some excellent photographers.
Even though it is considered to be one of the smaller clubs in the region, Hermanus regularly came amongst the top 5 in the region’s Interclub competition – and often in the top 3, notably in 2020 when Hermanus shared second place with the much bigger Cape Town Photographic Society.
The Hermanus AV group was formed in 2017/18 by eight volunteers led by Deon Kühn, who discontinued the group due to ill health. The late club president, Elizma Fourie, gained third place on the Impala Trophy log for AVs – with the first AV she made, A smile to remember, after attending one of these workshops. She had no idea what AVs were, nor did she know what salons were, but nonetheless entered her AV in the PECC International Salon, where it was accepted. The following year this AV won the runner-up medal in the CTPS National AV Salon.
The club had been an active participant in the Hermanus FynArts Festival held annually in June since 2017. For the past four years Hermanus Photographic Society also participated in the town’s First Fridays Art Walk (FFAW) and more recently also became involved in the Hermanus Art in the Park with regular exhibitions of some members’ prints at a stall (this). The latter events were instigated by former president David Wilson (below left) to promote the premise that photography is a form of art.
In February 2023 the Hermies Photo Club based at Hermanus High School was formed under leadership of a teacher, Klaradyn Stemmet. Hermanus club members have been assisting the scholars with a basic course and workshops to improve their photography. Some of the scholars’ work subsequently won awards and seven of their prints were included in the Hermanus club’s print exhibition during FynArts in 2023. Hermanus also requested that the school club be included in the 2023 Celebration of Photography, where work by members from 21 Western Cape clubs (including Hermanus) was exhibited at Groot Constantia wine estate for nearly three months over the festive season.
Hermanus has also been active on the international scene and has been one of the 25 international photographic clubs invited by the Welsh club Cwm Rhondha to participate in their annual November international competition, due to their contacts with former Hermanus president David Wilson. Apart from Wales and South Africa, other countries represented in 2022 were Canada, Malta, Ireland, the US, and UK.
In 2022 the club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a very successful exhibition during the FynArts Festival in the Hermanus Station Mall, showcasing nearly 50 print entries from club members. Founder Dinkie Marais was invited to attend the opening of the exhibition, which attracted some 500 visitors over four days. They encouraged visitor participation by requesting visitors to select their favourite three images.
Dinkie Marais (left) had been actively involved in photographic clubs in what was then the Transvaal province since 1962, until he retired to his hometown, Hermanus, in 1996. He was a president and member of clubs in Rustenburg, Nelspruit and Middelburg for 34 years and two of these clubs, Rustenburg and Middelburg, awarded him Honorary Life Membership. Among his contributions were the hosting of the PSSA National Congresses by Rustenburg Photographic Society in 1978 and in Middelburg in 1986. Dinkie joined PSSA in 1970 and was elected a PSSA director in 1976. He remained a Board member until the early 2020’s, even after he retired to Hermanus. He was awarded PSSA Honorary Life Membership, SPSSA (APSSA for Service) and a President’s Award for his services to the society. In 1986 he was presented with the Louis Marais Memorial Plaque for the PSSA Friendship Award. His photographic prowess in colour slides earned him APSSA Honours. It is therefore understandable that Dinkie was so keen to start a photographic club when he realised there was no club in Hermanus after retiring there in January 1996.
Elizma Fourie, who served as Hermanus club president from 2019 to 2021, sadly passed away after a brief illness in 2022. She is mourned by many club members across the Western Cape region, who enjoyed her energy and humour when she was co-opted to serve on the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF) as webmaster and Facebook administrator. The Oscar-themed Interclub awards evening she organised was a highlight for most club members in the region. Elizma was also a valuable member of the committee that organised the successful 2022 PSSA Greyton Congress. She became ill during congress in August and passed away the day before the accreditation ceremony for the Western Cape JAP group. Despite completing the final exam from her hospital bed, she received the highest score in the class from the adjudicators. Elizma was awarded LPSSA Honours for a colour panel in 2021.
Click here to read the tributes to Elizma after she passed away.
Over the years Hermanus was able to boast with stand-out photographers as members – for example, Treurnicht du Toit, who earned EPSSA-Mille with more than 1 000 acceptances in PSSA recognised salons and DPSSA (Vers) in 2019. In 2021 Phil Sturgess (left) was ranked 16th on the national PDI Impala Log – the best achievement of a Western Cape club member in a number of years. In 2022 he was again among the Top 20 in the 18th position. His wife, Carina de Klerk, was among the Top 50 entrants on the Impala log that year and former president David Wilson and newsletter editor Charles Naude are amongst the top Western Cape salon entrants. Both Treurnicht and David regularly win medals in international salons.
Click here to see some of their international medal-winning images.
Click here to visit the Hermanus Photographic Society website.
Click here to read more about the society in their newsletter archive.
Witzenberg Photographic Society
The club with the youthful profile. Founded 2020.
Some of the first Witzenberg club members.
The founding of the Witzenberg Photographic Society in August 2020 was precipitated by an article in the Witzenberg Herald about the photography of Wolseley resident and veteran photographer Phillip de Lange.
Because this generated so much interest from readers who were keen to learn more about photography, Suzaan Opperman suggested that they form a club in the area. Phillip and her husband Gerrit, who used to belong to Worcester Photographic Club, immediately embraced the idea and on 2 September 2020 the Witzenberg Photographic Society had its first meeting at the Ceres Transport Riders Museum.
Phillip’s wife Louise and Trevor Felix were also members of the first committee.
Committee members Gerrit Opperman and Louise de Lange with the first chairman, Phillip de Lange.
When the club was registered on Photo Vault Online in August 2020, it already had nine members.
Another article in the Witzenberg Herald about the formation of the club generated further interest from photographers as far as Cape Town and Worcester. When the first competition evening was held on 8 October 2020, twenty members attended (see above) – despite COVID scaring many people from attending meetings – and 74 images were entered. They had 21 signed-up members at that stage.
“To our great surprise we were contacted by one of the members of the Ceres Fotografiese Vereniging, which showed slides only and closed 42 years ago (in 1978),” says Phillip. “They donated the floating trophy that the club used years ago to us.”
During the following three years Witzenberg managed to retain this number of members, according to their report to the PSSA Regional Director at the beginning of 2024.
Several of these club members are scholars from the Charlie Hofmeyr High School in Ceres, which affiliated with the Witzenberg club under Phillip’s guidance, and Western Cape Youth Photographers, which offers a home to scholars whose schools don’t have photographic clubs.
Many of these youngsters have grown into noteworthy photographers who have won international and local salon and competition medals and compete successfully with adults in monthly PSSA competitions and on the PSSA Impala Log. Subsequently, Witzenberg also helped the Aristea primary school and some of these young photographers also became award winners locally and internationally.
It is no longer unusual for scholars to win some categories of the monthly Witzenberg club competitions. Their fresh insights and enthusiasm brought new impetus to the club and lowered the average membership age considerably.
The first Witzenberg Photographic Society salon, hosted in 2021 shortly after the club’s founding, attracted a very admirable number of entrants – more than 5 000! This placed the club on a sound financial footing.
A popular feature of this salon, and the salons hosted in subsequent years, was that they offered two print sections each.
When a salon slot became available in 2023, Witzenberg secured it for their satellite club, Western Cape Youth Photographers.
Phillip de Lange, who is the PSSA National Director responsible for Youth, has a long and memorable history as a top photographer and club administrator. He was elected to the Board in 2022, where he assists with updating the Impala Log, keeping track of disqualifications in salons and serving as a member of the Youth portfolio. In the beginning of 2024, he was appointed chairperson of the PSSA Youth portfolio.
Phillip is a photographic club veteran in Gauteng as well as the Western Cape. He was chairman of the F-Stop Camera Club in Kempton Park and was also a member of Edenvale Photographic Club and Benoni Camera Club in Gauteng. In 1994 he was awarded the PSSA Meritorious Service Award by the F-Stop club.
After he was transferred to the Western Cape, Phillip and his wife, Louise, joined Swartland Photographic Society in 1996 (to 2000) and rejoined in 2013. They also joined the Worcester club and in 2019 became members of Tafelberg Fotografieklub in Bellville, where they remained members after they founded the Witzenberg club.
Phillip is an accomplished photographer who earned APSSA for colour slides in 1996. As a successful salon entrant he earned DPSSA(Vers) in 2022 and DPSSA(Cls) in 2023. He earned the AFIAP Distinction for 40 international salon acceptances in 2021.
He has been director, or helped organise, several salons for clubs in the Western Cape. Phillip qualified as a JAP accredited judge in 2013 and he offers support and tuition to photographers who are keen to improve their skills.
He was a member of the committee tasked with preparing the ground for the formation of the Western Cape Photographic Forum (WCPF) and subsequently managed the Youth Portfolio for the Forum.
He promoted partnerships between schools and photographic clubs to grow Youth membership. Apart from Charlie Hofmeyer High in Ceres, Youth Photographers from Worcester, is a satellite club of Witzenberg. The Christelike Privaatskool Malmesbury and Aristea primary school in Kraaifontein are being assisted by Tafelberg Fotografieklub, and Hermies, at Hermanus High, formed a link with Hermanus Photographic Society.
Phillip is also in charge of the Wes-Boland Eisteddfod Photographic Competition, where scholars compete against their peers. He helps scholars from across the country to set up Photo Vault profiles and encourages them to enter youth salons, the PSSA Youth Division monthly website competition and international salons and competitions. He also organised various PSSA Youth initiatives. His encouragement made a huge contribution to the excellent performances of our youth members in international salons and competitions (see e-IMAGE of January 2024 dedicated to Youth).
In 2024 he was appointed PSSA Youth Director.
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