Page 22 - Cape-Camera-Sept-Oct-2021

September/October 2021 Cape Camera

Having a teenage son who had learnt photoshop at school was
definitely a kickstart. I am sure I drove him nuts with my ques-
tions, but he was very patient with his dad. I still send him my
pics to give them a once over before I submit them to club.
I still do conventional photography. I like the challenge of get-
ting the settings, composition and lighting right. All the things
you have to think of before you take the shot give me a kick.
Portraits and sport are my other two favourite genres. Sport be-
cause of the action and portraits because of the emotion.
I never bothered much with wildlife because there are so many
excellent wildlife photographers out there, and I didn’t see any
point in trying to compete with them. I have great respect for
them but it wasn’t going to be my thing.
How do I get my ideas, my inspiration? I follow a lot of artists on
different social media platforms. I scour Pinterest and Instagram
and a number of websites regularly. Every now and then I see a
picture that inspires me. I have a folder on my PC with literally
hundreds of pictures aptly called “Photo Projects”.
Every now and then I will choose one and get to work. The first
thing is collecting the props, which can take days and or some-
times months. Getting the model, studio, props etc. all lined up
Whenever I bought a new lens I would tell my wife they cost a takes a bit of effort. I research the subject by getting many dif-
thousand bucks. One day she said that she knows very well that ferent ideas from the net which I take with me to the studio.
they cost at least two thousand. I totally agreed with her. Need I
say that I’m now divorced, happily so, and live by myself?
My favourite genre soon became altered reality as I loved play-
ing with photoshop and manipulating the photos. Initially the
best for me was if someone asked: “How did you do that?”
Black and white also became a favourite, once I learnt how to
do it properly. To me B&W photography has so much more soul.
I think the most rewarding experience in my photographic
journey has been to share my art with other people. Of course I
like it if my picture wins something, but if my picture stirs up an
emotion or get people talking, that still is the biggest reward.

I also wish to add at this point that quite a few of my exciting
projects are far removed from the original idea when I started
planning the photo shoot. They were often born after the shoot
while looking through the shots. Suddenly a picture just jumps
out and speaks to you.
As I see the picture taking shape on the PC I am constantly
amazed when I press a button and something magical happens.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who gets excited when a picture
starts to take on a life of its own and you get that rewarding
feeling that something special is happening. It is this rewarding
feeling that keeps me going. I love to make pictures and I love
There is a lot of discussion about photoshopped pictures as to share them.
opposed to straight out of camera shots or unmanipulated I also go through patches where the photos sit on my PC for
pictures. My answer is that photoshopped pictures are my art. a week or more waiting for me to get some inspiration to do
I tried using a paint brush, but the mouse was easier to push some editing. But luckily that doesn’t last too long.
around, and the ability to erase a mistake was magical. I em- And lastly a short story of a photo shoot the club organized at
braced the computer to express myself. the Allée Bleue Wine Estate at Franschhoek during their annual

21 Cape Town Photographic Society