Page 8 - Cape-Camera-June-2022

June 2022 Cape Camera

Member profiles

Kishore Seegobin

I retired in January 2021 after a teaching career of 40 years in attend this first online monthly competition meeting.
which I taught Biology and Chemistry at a girl’s college. Things changed drastically for me during the May meeting,
My fascination with photography started when I was about 7 where Antenie Carstens judged images on Wildlife. I was in awe
years old. While looking at photographs in the family album, I by the live judging session and enraptured by the constructive
was always intrigued by how everybody, including myself, could criticisms provided by the judge. I admired the quality of the im-
be captured on a small piece of paper. The answer to my queries ages submitted by other CTPS members and learned how my
came when my grandfather showed me the ‘box’ called a cam- images could be improved. Since then, attending monthly com-
era. It was much later that I learnt that the ‘box’ was a Rolleiflex, petition meetings became sacrosanct to me. My photographic
having twin lenses and that the picture to be taken should be skills gradually improved, so much so that I started scoring gold
viewed at the top. At around 11years old, my grandfather con- award points. I also started participating in Salon group on-line
sidered me to be mature enough to use the family’s camera and meetings led by Nicol du Toit. With my newfound confidence,
my photographic journey started. Under the guidance of one of I tried my hand at entering images in PSSA competitions and
my uncles, I learnt how to operate the camera and from time to on my very first attempt, one of my images was accepted at
time, I was allowed to capture family events. Many years later, the 18th PSSA Up & Coming Competition. What an encourage-
the Rolleiflex became no longer functional and was replaced by ment it was to me! My learning curve took an upward trend and
a Kodak Instamatic 110 camera. This camera, with its ease of use I became the winner of the “Best Performance by a Beginner or
was pure bliss to me. This is when my passion for photography Intermediate Photographer” for the Annual Awards 2020. I was
started burgeoning. inspired and motivated to enter for more Salons. In April 2021, I
My photographic journey took a turning point in 1975, when was promoted to Advanced status and during the same month,
my mother gifted me my first 35mm camera, a Minolta Hi Matic another of my images was accepted at the 7th PSSA National
E for my 17th birthday. Being compact, it always accompanied Digital Salon 2021. Looking back, I am amazed by the progress
me during outings with friends and family events. This camera I made in the course of one year, thanks to positive criticisms
was my faithful companion until April 2003, when during my during on-line competition meetings. I am tempted to say that
first visit to Cape Town, the camera failed with a stuck shutter. I COVID-19 restrictions had been photographically a blessing in
still keep it as a souvenir. disguise to me. My aim now is to enter the LPSSA honours panel
With the demise of my Minolta I gave up photography until in July 2023.
2009. Every year, in April and December I used to spend my va- As far as gear goes, I started with an entry level Nikon D3200 in
cations overseas in either Cape Town, Canada, Malaysia, Singa- 2009 which was upgraded to a Nikon D7200 in 2015. In 2016
pore, Bali or Vietnam. To document my trips I purchased my first during a trip to Edmonton, Canada, I came across Sony mirror-
DSLR, a Nikon D3200. At that time, I was shooting only in jpeg less cameras and discovered how convenient they are in terms
and I was not aware of photo post-processing. This changed of weight. After years of lugging around my Nikons, I decided
when, during one of my yearly visits to Cape Town, I hired the to add a Sony A6000 to my photographic arsenal to replace my
services of Peter Haarhoff of Cape Photographic Company, to Nikon D3200 and as from 2019 my other mirrorless addition
take me out on a photographic tour. Peter explained the ba- was a Sony A7II.
sics of photographic composition and made me aware of the In addition to CTPS and PSSA, I am also a member of the Cercle
advantages of shooting in RAW and how my images could im- des Artistes Photographes in Mauritius, Photographic Society of
prove with post-processing. I was convinced and bought a copy America, Global Photographic Union and Canadian Association
of Lightroom 5 while in Cape Town. Since then, every year dur- for Photographic Art.
ing my visits, Peter took me out on photographic tours, the last
one being in December 2017 when we went on a Garden Route
Tour.
All the photos that I had been taking during all these years were
mere snapshots. My photography became more serious in 2019,
when I joined CTPS as an overseas member and started partici-
pating in the monthly competitions. For the monthly themes, I
initially mainly entered photos from my ‘snapshots’ archive. The
photos were entered with minimal post processing. There was
no major improvement in the quality of my photos. With some
luck, I occasionally received a gold award. I continued learning
photographic techniques by subscribing to digital editions of
photo magazines.
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck with its ensuing lock-
downs and restrictions, meeting formats had to change bring-
ing Zoom and Teams into the limelight. CTPS followed suit and
the April Competition was judged remotely by Peter Hardcastle,
via Zoom. The theme was Blue Hour and I entered two images
in the open category. Due to family commitment, I could not

7 Cape Town Photographic Society