Club
Our history
From a radio announcement in 1985 to the first digital picture ever shown at a club evening – the story of F-Stop, told by the people who were there.
With thanks to Trudi du Toit, PSSA Archivist, who inspired this page. and Andre de Kock, whose memories (Part 1, September 2026) and photographs of the early years form the backbone of this page.
Do you have photographs, newsletters or memories of the early years? Add your memory or add to the archive.
The first logo
2000 - 2024
2025 -Today
A second beginning, 1985
A photographic club existed in Kempton Park before, but it seems to have stopped meeting sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s. Then, in May 1985, a radio announcement invited photographers to a meeting in a hall in Birchleigh. Several people came, and the club was born again. In time the name F-Stop Fotografiese Vereniging was chosen and the first logo – an aperture with the club name in both languages – was designed.
The first chairman was a police officer who had moved to Kempton Park from Bethlehem. The club grew quickly and affiliated to the PSSA, where Derek Pearman became F-Stop’s link with the national body. Derek and his wife Norma soon held a special place in the club. Derek went on to serve as PSSA President from 1996 to 1998 and as chairman of F-Stop in the early 2000s.
“Always make pictures, do not just take pictures.”
Derek Pearman FPSSA, President of the PSSA — from his President’s Message, March 1998
The Society we belong to
F-Stop affiliated to the Photographic Society of South Africa in its early years, and has been part of it ever since. An article in an early PSSA journal, signed only M.B.C., set out what the founders hoped the Society would become: a body that would bind photographers together and let people of different temperaments, backgrounds and cultures meet on the common ground of “what is good and true and beautiful”. Of those who built it, the writer asked only that they be remembered as people who gave without counting the cost.
That is the body our members’ honours come from, and the reason a small Kempton Park club has had two of its own – Derek and Norma Pearman – made Life Members of the Society.
The archive
Old club magazines, certificates, programmes and documents are kept in the club archive. You can also add something there yourself.
Names in our story
Who was there
-
The first chairman
A police officer who moved to Kempton Park from Bethlehem, 1985. His name is still a mystery.
-
Derek Pearman
The club's link with the PSSA; PSSA President 1996–1998 and F-Stop chairman in the early 2000s. The 1998 PSSA directory lists him with FPSSA (Three Categories), two President's Awards, a Service Medal and APSSA honours in Colour Slides, Colour Prints, Published Works, Documentary & Literary, Audio-Visual and Service. He chaired the PSSA Audio-Visual Division, and he and Norma were made Life Members of the PSSA. By 2001 he had added Hon FPSSA, APSSA Service and the Joint President's Award (Fuji), and he appears on the PSSA roll of Honorary Fellows as Mr DT Pearman, Hon FPSSA FPSSA – one of only eleven names on that list. The PSSA’s Derek & Norma Pearman Rising Star Award, presented since 1991, carries their names.
-
Norma Pearman
Derek's wife, and part of the club's heart in those years. She held APSSA (Colour Slides) by 1998 and was a Life Member of the PSSA alongside Derek. In 1994 she received the Louis Marais Memorial Plaque, the PSSA Friendship Award. By 2006 she had been promoted to FPSSA (Colour Slides).
-
Hans van Zyl
Brought amazing knowledge to the club's outings and workshops. The 2004 PSSA directory lists the chairman as HP van Zyl, almost certainly the same man.
-
Andre de Kock
Slide projector, club scores and the first digital picture ever shown at a club evening.
-
Thinus de Kock
Built the light box for print evenings with Andre.
-
Philip van Zyl
One of the club's children who grew up to do excellent work.
-
Tom Bentley
Chairman in 1998, when the club still met twice a month in the Library Auditorium.
-
Carten Fourie
Secretary in 1998.
-
Cheryl Selborne
Secretary in 2001, alongside Derek Pearman as chairman.
-
Alfred Kerry
Secretary in 2004, when the club moved to one meeting a month.
-
Stefan Jacobs
Chairman in 2013.
-
Marthinus Odendaal
Chairman from February 2014 to February 2017, and still one of our members – see his portfolio.
-
Rickus Barnard
Chairman from 2017 to 2019, then vice chairman for many years, and still one of our members – see his portfolio.
-
Arnold Bester
Chairman from 2020 to 2025, and still one of our members – see his portfolio.
-
Belinda Ueckermann
Webmaster since 2025 and chair since November 2025 – see her portfolio.
Do you remember a name that belongs here? Add your memory or tell the webmaster.
Who served when
The club committee and the members of the club, year by year, from the minutes, the club magazines and the old club lists.
Slides, prints and darkrooms
Like today, the club met once a month, but outings and workshops soon became a regular feature, with Hans van Zyl bringing remarkable knowledge to these occasions. Photography meant slides and prints: focus and exposure had to be right in the camera – Pentax ME Supers, Nikons and Canons were the tools – because a slide could not be fixed afterwards, and a print needed a darkroom.
The club in 1998
The PSSA membership directory for 1998 records the club as F-Stop Fotografiese Vereniging, PO Box 2705, Kempton Park, meeting in the Library Auditorium at the Civic Centre in CR Swart Drive on the first and third Tuesday of the month at 19h30 – twice a month in those days. The chairman was Tom Bentley and the secretary Carten Fourie. The same directory lists Derek Pearman with PSSA Diamond ratings for slides (2 pictorial, 3 nature) and audio-visual, and Norma Pearman with 2 pictorial and 3 nature.
The club in 2001
By the 2001 directory the club was writing to PO Box 9335, Edleen, still meeting in the Library Auditorium at the Civic Centre on the first and third Tuesday at 19h30. Derek Pearman was now the chairman, with Cheryl Selborne as secretary. Derek’s honours had grown to eleven – APSSA in Colour Slides, Colour Prints, Published Works, Documentary & Literary, Audio-Visual and Service, FPSSA Three Categories, the Service Medal, two President’s Awards, the Joint President’s Award (Fuji) and Hon FPSSA – and his Diamond ratings stood at 2 pictorial and 4 nature slides plus audio-visual. Norma held APSSA Colour Slides and a President’s Award, with 3 pictorial and 4 nature slides. The 2004 directory shows both of them unchanged: they had reached the top of what the PSSA ladder of the day could give them.
The club in 2004 and 2006
Three years later the club’s address was 46 Springboklaan, Birchleigh and the committee had changed hands: HP van Zyl was chairman and Alfred Kerry secretary. The meeting place stayed the Library Auditorium at the Civic Centre, but the club now met once a month, on the first Tuesday at 19h00 instead of twice – the pattern that has carried on, in one form or another, to the club evenings we hold today. The 2006 directory repeats the entry word for word, so this committee and this rhythm held for at least three years.
Where we have met
The club’s address changed as its officers changed – in those years the postal address was usually the chairman’s or secretary’s own. The meeting place stayed remarkably steady.
| Year | Postal address | Meeting place | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | — | A hall in Birchleigh, then the small hall next to the old library in the town hall complex | — |
| 1998 | PO Box 2705, Kempton Park 1620 | Library Auditorium, Civic Centre, CR Swart Drive | 1st & 3rd Tuesday, 19h30 |
| 2001 | PO Box 9335, Edleen 1625 | Library Auditorium, Civic Centre | 1st & 3rd Tuesday, 19h30 |
| 2004 & 2006 | 46 Springboklaan, Birchleigh 1618 | Library Auditorium, Civic Centre | 1st Tuesday, 19h00 |
| 2014 to 2016 | — | Girl Guide hall, Aberfeldy Street, Aston Manor | 2nd Wednesday, 19h30 |
| 2017 to 2021 | — | NG Kerk Kempton Park Noord, 99 Highveld Road (entrance in Gardenia Street) | 2nd Wednesday, 19h00 for 19h15 |
| 2022 to today | info@fstopphoto.co.za | NG Church Bonaeropark, Malpensa Avenue, Kempton Park | 2nd Wednesday, 18h30 |
A family club
Meetings moved to the small hall next to the old Kempton Park library in the town hall complex. Members brought their children, who were asleep under the tables and chairs by the end of the evening – and who later became photographers themselves; Philip van Zyl in particular produced excellent work. Soon the club had 5-star workers in both slides and prints. In those days five salon acceptances took you from 3-star to 4-star, and twenty made you a 5-star worker. Later, members earned APSSA honours as well.
Scoring and judging
Andre de Kock ran the slide projector and kept the club’s scores; his wife wrote a dBase III system to track scores and promotions, and Andre and his nephew Thinus built a light box for showing prints. F-Stop judged with a panel of three, each scoring out of five – usually one or two visiting judges plus senior club members, which quietly trained F-Stop’s own judges. Before long they were judging at other clubs, as far afield as Heidelberg.
The first digital picture
To include members without darkrooms and to encourage younger members, a commercial prints category allowed even postcard-size photographs. Then Andre was given a hand-me-down digital camera. One club evening he set a digital projector next to the slide projector and, when his turn came, quietly switched over. The judges commented on focus and exposure as usual – until he announced that it was a digital picture. The stir reached the PSSA, which had to write rules for digital images. Today, of course, almost everything is digital.
Stars, prints and categories
By the Highveld Road years the club ran on a star system: a beginner started at one star and worked up to five on accumulated points. Members entered prints, digital images or both, three photographs and a theme each month, in Nature, Pictorial, Altered Reality, Photo Journalism and Portrait. The star grading is still how members progress today; the categories and the entry rules have changed since.
What the club has always said about itself
The club magazine of those years carried the same welcome: “F-Stop is not just a club for serious photographers or people with expensive cameras; it is a club which has been specifically designed to help beginners to progress with their photography. Our aim is to bring people together to learn, share and have fun with photography.” It is still true.
Then and now
Andre stepped down from the committee when his career changed, stayed a member even after moving to Canada in 2007, and rejoined F-Stop on his return about three years ago. The club still meets on the second Wednesday of every month, now at the NG Church Bonaeropark – still PSSA-affiliated, and still proud of its members.
Our timeline
The club year by year, from the minutes and the magazines, together with the stories and photographs our members have sent in. Oldest first – scroll sideways for more.
A notice on the radio called a photographic meeting in a hall in Birchleigh. The club started again there and later took the name F-Stop Fotografiese Vereniging.
The club affiliated to the Photographic Society of South Africa. Derek Pearman became its key contact with the Society, and he and Norma Pearman were central to club life for years.
The constitution was unanimously accepted at the AGM at the Kempton Park Civic Centre. It set out nine committee posts, including a Grading Secretary and a Print, Slide and E-Photography Coordinator.
Andre de Kock emigrated but stayed a member of the club for some years afterwards.
The committee was reduced to at least five members, the AGM moved to January, and the club year was set from February to January.
At the year end Marthinus Odendaal was Best Print Worker and Rickus Barnard Best E-Photo Worker.
A new committee was elected. Stefan Jacobs and Mike McLaughlin stood down and Janet Hartley took over the magazine.
The club ran the salon with the Springs and Benoni clubs. More than 3,500 images were entered and F-Stop members took 80 acceptances.
Twenty-eight paid-up members, with an average attendance of twenty-three. Ron Cox became the magazine editor.
Thirty-one members went, and Arnold Bester, then a junior member, was Photographer of the Year.
The first AGM at the NG Kerk hall in Highveld Road. Marthinus Odendaal stepped down after three years in the chair.
The weekend included the club's first mini photo rally.
Chairman Rickus Barnard welcomed the clubs and PSSA National Director Anne d'Oliviera opened the congress.
Introduced at the weekend away at Tussen 'n Bome. The club had twenty-four paid-up members that year.
Rickus Barnard moved to vice chairman and meeting host.
Meetings moved online and judges joined from all over South Africa. There was no CERPS that year, and the weekend away went ahead at Weaver's Roost in September.
The new owners let the club carry on meeting there while it looked for a new home.
The club moved to the NG Kerk at 32 Malpensa Avenue, meeting on the second Wednesday of the month, where it still meets today.
Accepted at an AGM at the Bonaero Park church.
Deidre Schnetler started the club's online meetings in August 2023, so that members who could not get to the hall could still take part in a club evening.
Told by Deidre Schnetler
The weekend away was at Rebellie farm, with astrophotography led by Ivan Sonnekus. F-Stop came second at CERPS, behind Edenvale.
Thirty-three paid-up members that year, with an average attendance of twenty in the hall and two online.
The 1st F-Stop Fotografiese Vereniging National Digital Salon, on Human Portraits, with Arnold Bester as salon director.
A hundred and twenty people from eighteen clubs came to Shed and Silo in Benoni, organised by a team led by Maureen Fourie.
The club took the CERPS trophy at the congress hosted by Boksburg Camera Club. A new logo, a new website and member-hosted Zoom workshops followed the same year.
Pictures and the story of the day: https://fstopphoto.co.za/2025-cerps/
A new name for the club's monthly magazine.
Every issue from 2025 is on the site: https://fstopphoto.co.za/2025-newsletters/
After six years in the chair and many more on the committee, Arnold Bester and Rickus Barnard announced their retirement from those posts.
Belinda Ueckermann stepped in as chair and Fraser Bryce as vice chair, and they were confirmed at the AGM in February 2026.
Arnold Bester and Rickus Barnard received PSSA Meritorious Awards for long service to the club.
Fraser Bryce took Best Image of the Year.The full year-end results: https://fstopphoto.co.za/2025-year-end-results/
Agreed at the AGM, due to church regulations for 10pm closure.