Page 15 - Cape-Camera-Nov-Dec-2021

November/December 2021 Cape Camera

New Members & A Warm Welcome

Lorenzo Baartman

All images by Lorenzo Baartman
I have always been vaguely interested in photography but only shot everyone that was willing to be photographed and did the
got into the swing of it when I bought my first camera phone. most basic of edits but absorbed every YouTube tutorial I could
This was not exactly an SLR, but the fact that I had a 1-mega- find to answer my questions.
pixel camera and some control over the settings was a big deal While portrait photography is still my favourite genre, particu-
for me. That interest grew and pretty much became a passion larly candid shots, I recently also got interested in landscape
the minute I received my first DSLR in 2015 as a birthday gift. photography, the reason being that I had taken up hiking as a
There was no specific person or occasion that inspired me, but hobby and was inspired by what I saw and how much I wanted
I had an artistic leaning in my younger years when I used to to capture the beauty around me.
do quite a few pencil sketches in charcoal, manly portraits of One of my most memorable experiences was a trip to Thailand
people that were based on black & white photos. I particularly where I was taking wedding photographs. It was my first time
loved older faces because of the shading and the light playing outside South Africa and had a big impact on me and my pho-
off the subject’s wrinkles. When looking at more sophisticated tography. I was getting finally comfortable with basic edits and
and high quality photographs, particularly those of celebrities showing the images to people. However, it also made me real-
and famous people, I became aware of how the light was set ise have much I had to learn about lighting, not least of all be-
up to create a very specific look, and also of the very particular cause I have never worked with studio lights before.
gear that was used. To this day, I still consider myself an amateur and feel that I
At the time I knew absolutely nothing about the rule of thirds, could do so much better, particularly when it comes to compo-
APS-C, full-frame, medium or large format, I didn’t even know sition and the storytelling aspects of an image. This is the rea-
about shooting in RAW, but it made me wish I could take photo- son why I joined CTPS – to improve my knowledge and to get
graphs like the professionals. feedback from those on the same level of skill and better than
I started taking more and more images and played around with myself. Constructive criticism is most valuable to me because it
whatever editing software I could get my hands on – even used will not demotivate me but help me grow in my photography.
a bit of Photoshop. I fell in love with monochrome portraiture;
Johan Walden

There is nothing more dissatisfying than getting the perfect day or two after a flight for his photos…and they are always
vantage point for a stunning landscape photograph, only to worth the wait!
lack the skill to take it. This is unfortunate, but commonly the In short, I am a total beginner. I don’t aspire to becoming a
case with my attempts. highly-skilled amateur photographer; I would simply like to
My friend David Barnes and I often fly together and he has al- learn how to take better photos of the scenes I see, when I see
ways had the seemingly magical ability to make the picture al- them. David will go flying to take a picture – I will simply take a
most look better than the real thing. I usually pester him for a picture while flying. But that picture may only appear for a few

14 Cape Town Photographic Society