More Western Cape photographers have been rewarded for their achievements in salons after the PSSA Honours list was published in March. Since then, Neels Beyers was awarded EPSSA (Mille) (read more) and Louise de Lange and Dave Gordon were awarded DPSSA, which meant that they had achieved 125 salon acceptances (with a minimum of 42 images) in any one of the categories Open, Nature or Monochrome. This was previously known as a 4 Diamond Rating.

Clifford Wyeth of Tygerberg Photographic Society, who last year achieved DPSSA status, was in April this year awarded a 5 Diamond rating in Open. This means that he gained 250 salon acceptances with a minimum of 84 images. He was also recently awarded an AFIAP for gaining 40 international acceptances in 15 salons from 8 countries.

Clifford Wyeth (left) with Christo Gilliomee, who judged at a TPS meeting.

Over more than 40 years as a leading photographer Clifford has earned many awards and Honours. For example, in the beginning of 2016 his colour PDI panel had gained him an LPSSA Honour.

His love of photography started in 1979 when his father-in-law, Frank Birkinshaw, presented him with a 35mm Yashica camera. Clifford accompanied Frank to a Cape Town Photographic Society meeting and “from that day, I was hooked,” he says. “I learned all my father-in-law could teach me concerning darkroom technique. It became such a huge interest that I attended the Ruth Prowse School of Art and obtained a diploma in black and white photography.”

Around 1981 he joined the Bellville Photographic Society (now the Tygerberg Photographic Society or TPS) because it was closest to their home in Tygerdal. His interest in photography also sparked a need to expand his knowledge and after completing a fingerprint technician course, he was appointed as a police photographer.

Changing to digital was a big challenge, which resulted in a trip back to the photographic school in Cape Town to gain more knowledge. “One never stops learning in photography,” he adds. His first experience of using a digital camera was photographing Raymond Ackerman when he opened the Fuji Photographic shop at the old Blue Route Mall.

Clifford won a medal in the PSSA International salon with this image “African Lady”.

His wife, Anne, is also an excellent photographer and after the Wyeths moved to Muizenberg it was closer to attend the Fish Hoek Photographic Society meetings. Years later they moved to the Swartland and joined the Swartland Photographic Society. At that time the club did not have a print entry format and because Clifford wanted to explore more print entries, he rejoined TPS.

In 2010 he started entering digital salons and currently enters as many national and international salons as he can afford.

Black and white work and people have remained his favourite genres. “I have a great love of  people and photographing people in different natural settings, with available light, remains a passion of mine,” he explains. “I love to encourage young people to become interested in this art form and have mentored many people over the years to improve their own photographic skills.”

He is especially proud of the image The African Lady which won the bronze runner-up medal in the International PSSA salon. “BUT, having that image on the front cover of the magazine was an honour and a huge accomplishment to me,” says Clifford, whose next goal is to achieve a 5 Diamond rating in mono.

Louise de Lange with the certificate she received from Johan Kloppers (right) as a graduate of the Western Cape Judging Forum in 2016.

Louise de Lange of Worcester Fotografieklub and Tafklub credits her hurband, Phillip (who gained DPSSA status last year) with her development as a leading photographer. Even though they live in Wolseley, a couple of hours’ drive from Cape Town, they are active participants in regional activities on the WCPF and especially with judging at clubs and salons.

Although she had been taking photos before, Phillip introduced her to a higher level of photography and salons in 1996 when they both joined Swartland Fotografieklub. This was their closest club after they were transferred from Gauteng to the Western Cape.

When she gained her first acceptances in the Edenvale and Swartland Fotografieklub salons in 1998, Louise realised that her photography was better than what she believed, she says modestly. “I then started to seriously focus on photography and learning more.”

Crop Sprayer was a runner-up in the PSSA International salon and a PSSA website winner.

She further improved her skills by sitting in as an observer when Phillip judged salons in Gauteng (where they previously lived) and in the Cape, as well as judged slide Honours Panels  in Stellenbosch. In 2016 she qualified as a judge herself when she completed the Western Cape Judging Forum two-year course, which she counts among her biggest photographic challenges.

The De Langes subsequently joined Worcester Fotografieklub in 2016, which is closer to their home base in Wolseley and they could therefore become actively involved with the club’s activities. In 2019 she joined Tafelberg because Louise felt the greater exposure to top photographers would help her improve her photography.

Her favourite genre is Landscape photography, but she also enjoys Photojournalism. Her landscape image Misty Morning and photojournalism photo Crop Sprayer both did very well in local and international salons. Crop Sprayer was runner-up in the PSSA International salon and also a monthly PSSA website winner.

Although she got her first acceptance in a digital salon in 2013, she only started to participate in salons on a serious level in the second half of 2017 – about 30 months ago. Now, she tries to enter salons on a monthly basis.

Phillip offered to alert Western Cape members about affordable international salons and Louise is now working towards gaining an AFIAP with international salon acceptances. And who knows, a panel to gain LPSSA could also be a future project.

Dave Gordon in action.

Dave Gordon of Edenvale, West Coast and Cape Town Photographic Societies says that while he is proud of the DPSSA he achieved in the Nature and Open categories, he believes that his biggest photographic accomplishment is “being part of a wonderful group of people who share the beauty and exhilaration of photography.” Which would explain why he joined so many clubs.

 “Photographers get to visit places, meet people and have experiences that are missed by many others,” he adds. He feels especially honoured that a commemorative photograph he took of a group of South African firemen with the SA flag is on display at Ground Zero in the US.

Dave enjoys entering salons, foreign as well as local, and encourage others to do likewise. “It’s through salons that South African photographers can increase their knowledge and expertise and have fun.”

He is also proud of being a long-time PSSA member.

His interest in photography started at a young age. “As a young child (in Scotland) I loved seeing Kodachrome slides taken by my parent’s friends, particularly those who had travelled,” he recalls, and when he was nine or ten years old, he began taking his own photographs with a  Kodak Brownie 620.

Swallow This by Dave Gordon.

“Like many other wildlife photographers my love of photography stems from my birding days.” He explains that he had bought a cross-over Canon camera to help him identify LBJs, but soon realised that he enjoyed the photographic aspect so much that he was looking for excuses to practice photography ahead of birding. “This led to a Canon EOS 20D and subsequently a succession of camera upgrades and more lenses.”  Bird photography remains his strongest passion, followed by land- and seascapes.

Frustrated by his initial inability to get the results he wanted, Dave spotted an invitation to visit the Edenvale Photographic Club (EPC), welcoming beginners. He was welcomed  “by a great bunch of photographers,” he says. “This was in the early days of digital and slides and prints were ruling supreme. On my second meeting I was conned into joining the committee and the group investigating Edenvale’s first digital projector.”

He enjoyed the club activities and being with likeminded people so much that he, with some other EPC members, also joined The Benoni Photo Club. “At about that time we had a house in Nelspruit so of course joined the local club. With the arrival of a new baby granddaughter (another passion) in Cape Town the Nelspruit house was replaced by one in Langebaan.”

He was familiar with the history of the Cape Town Photographic Society (CTPS) and was pleased when he was welcomed as a member.  Dave and his wife Barbara now divide their time between Edenvale, where he is still a member, and their house in Langebaan.

“Living in Langebaan, visiting the CTPS club means an overnight stop with our family in Melkbosstrand and a chance to see our granddaughter. Hearing about the West Coast Photograpic Club in Vredenburg, we thought it would be great to have a club just up the street and joined.”

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