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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
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Records show that the
Krugersdorp Camera Club existed as early as 1931. A photograph was entered in a
competition during 1931 under the name of Mr. Cecil Coath ... winning him the first prize!
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The club originally consisted of approximately
five enthusiasts who met regularly in a small room behind the current E.J.
Adcocks-building.
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Cecil Coath was most probably the first convener
and is considered to be the founder of the club.
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Brannie Penny and Alf Shear counted among the
first members of the club. Both played an important role in the history of the club.
Brannie was chairman for many consecutive years and later became the first life long
Honourary President of the club. He was one of the founder members of the current PSSA
and served as PSSA President during the years
1960-1961.
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| Originally, only black-and-white print workers
were active in the club. Later, the movie and slide sections followed. The club bloomed
during those years and more than one monthly meeting had to be held in order to judge the
masses of entries. |
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The club was 75 years old in 2006.
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ABOUT
OUR CLUB’S PAST PRESIDENT
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Pieter Nathaniel Sparks was born on the 11th February
1928 near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. His interest in photography started in his
early teens when he took pictures with his mother’s Box Brownie.
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In those early days fully functional darkrooms were unheard of. Photographers had to
mix their own developers and fixers. Some developers were available in tablet form and even
films were difficult to come by, mainly due to World War II. Piet bought his first camera
in 1949, a Kodak 620 Dual, from a German soldier who was desperate for a packet of
cigarettes.
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Later Piet built himself an enlarger as well as most of the other equipment he needed.
Those days the biggest challenge was to expose the film correctly as the film had
absolutely no latitude towards over- or under exposure. Piet soon mastered all the
technical aspects and decided to join the Krugersdorp Camera Club in 1951.
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Piet’s next acquisition was a second hand Rolleiflex and in order to sustain his
"expensive" hobby, he started doing freelance work for the West Rand Times. He
later became this newspaper’s first official photographer.
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| During 1954 he was elected as a committee member, under the chairmanship of Brannie
Penny. The same year the Photograpic Society of Southern
Africa was founded, with Piet Sparks a founder member. |
| In July 2006 Piet received a Meritorious Service Award from
the Photographic Society of Southern Africa. |
| Piet sadly passed away on 15th October 2011. |
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Tribute
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OLD
FRIENDS |
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Going back to the late fifties, I can
remember a number of enthusiastic camera club members. A 16mm enthusiast
was Ken Sanders - the man with the friendly smile - who often acted as
one of the judges in the ciné section of the club. |
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Another keen photographer was Harold
Theunissen, who lived in Kenmare. On many occasions we gathered in his
study to "talk shop" or discuss some slides. He was a top
judge and had a incredible knowledge of cameras and always gave valuable
advice to the younger members of the club. |
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One of the most enthusiastic chaps in
the club was Jack Burrell, who owned an electrical business in town.
Many judging sessions were held at his home and Mrs. Burrell always
supplied tasty refreshments. Jack produced some fantastic slides -
remember in those days cameras were not as "automatic" as they
are today. Getting a decent exposure was quite a challenge. It was
necessary to use hand-held light-meters and the film had very little
latitude towards over- or under exposure. |
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Who can forget old Alf Shear who
managed the photographic section at Adcocks Pharmacy? Alf was
always able to give good advice on the choice of film or cameras. His
slides were generally of outstanding quality and he produced several
winners. |
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Another photographic specialist was
Will Jacobs, who managed the photographic section of his father-in-laws’
shop, Hinks. Will sold many a camera to club members at a small
deposit and monthly repayments. |
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In the years under discussion, camera
club meetings were held at the Luipaard Hotel. The manager put
the lounge upstairs at our disposal and many pleasant evenings were
spent at this venue.
Roy Reinecke |
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