Page 12 - Cape-Camera-Sept-Oct-2021

September/October 2021 Cape Camera

Welcome and Introduction of new members

In addition to Brian Jones (see profile below), the other new members that have joined CTPS since August 2021 are
Johan van Wyk and Tom Goshen. We hope to hear from them in the near future about their individual photographic
journeys.
Brian Jones

All images
by Brian
Jones

I cannot remember when I got eras, and having a family and growing old, about five years ago
involved in photography and I came across a really good special for a Nikon D3200 with two
probably date myself when non-VR lenses. This however lay on the shelf for two years, and
writing that I have a clearly pic- we just glared at each other whenever I opened the cupboard
ture in my mind playing with door.
my Dad's Brownie box cam- What inspired me to take up photography again was when I
era - whether or not there was began hiking in the Cape Town environs with a group of guys
ever any film in it when I took and one of them would often lag behind, and when we back-
the pictures. A few years later tracked we would invariably find him hunched over his Nikon
and in my early teens, I shot taking macro photographs. I told him about my D3200 - and
off a spool or two on his Voigt- that was that. I have since befriended someone else with a simi-
lander and still have some of lar passion and now there is very little that surpasses going for
the slides including one of a a walk with good friends who have their own cameras and a
dew-encrusted Canna flower photographic eye.
of which I was particularly proud. It was taken in early morn- Anthony Morganti is the YouTuber who got me into using
ing light with a shallow depth of field and pin sharp focus. At Lightroom, and now more lately a slow start into Photoshop.
that stage I had little idea about what I was doing, and my dad Until a few months ago I was stuck on using aperture priority,
apparently had even less. He once used a yellow filter together but a recent purchase of a mirrorless APC and a long exposure
with colour film which today even Photoshop would struggle to weekend with Kyle Goetsch and Jon Kerrin weaned me off ap-
come to terms with. erture priority and I now almost exclusively shoot in manual
Soon after I started working as an Electrical Engineer (there was mode. I follow a number of Youtubers and (think) I have learned
little time for any type of art before that), I purchased a Pentax quite a lot.
ME Super with a standard wide angle and telephoto lens. I still
had little idea about what I was doing and always shot on Auto. I mainly shoot landscapes and love finding good compositions,
However, I had a deep stirring to capture beauty and form and but also enjoy close-up photography of nature because I love
tone and texture and colour. In my early twenties I undertook capturing the beauty of the natural world around me. Street
some hiking trips in the Drakensberg and although the views photography is alluring but at the same time terrifying. Studio
were stupendous, the photos I took were always very disap- photography does not grab me at all, but good natural light
pointing. and a good portrait subject are hard to pass by.
The image above (second row left) is one of those 44 year old I love shooting at Big Bay Blouberg, particularly at a time when
faded prints from a slide that was the best I ever took of the a low sun is shining in between the clouds, the tide is far out,
Cathedral Peak Range. The idea of developing my own film no wind, and opposing waves slipping around the island and
seemed just too ghastly to contemplate, and without a mentor, crossing each other in shallow water. It is pure magic in colour!
my interest in photography - as opposed to happy snaps - stag- My reason for joining CTPS is to improve as a photographer
nated. The arrival of digital cameras started to make photogra- and to share in the general enthusiasm for photography. And, I
phy more accessible, and skipping a few entry level digital cam- guess, one day to inspire and help others.

11 Cape Town Photographic Society