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FRANK WARD started his relationship with a camera more than seventy years ago. He remembers watching as his mother made contact prints on the sunlit lawn, and borrowed her camera from time to time. He soon developed an interest for photography – as well as a few negatives of his own.
      He pursued the hobby until World War II, when a very young Frank joined the Coldstream Guards, a foolishly impetuous action which he says he tended to regret from time to time during the following years. He realised, too, that the protracted hostilities were keeping him from his photography and resolved to win the war as quickly as possible. With typical unselfishness, he felt that it would have been wrong to prolong the war just because it presented an opportunity for a little photo-journalism.
      Soon after he had arranged for peace to be declared, Frank emigrated to South Africa because he had heard that the light was better for photography, and shortly thereafter decided to join the Johannesburg Photographic Society so that he could (in his words) improve his modest talents.
      He disagreed strongly with the concept of competitive photography (and still does). After noticing that his blood pressure soared alarmingly at every judging session, he left the club after a very short membership. Nevertheless his interest persisted and some twenty years later (after switching to better medication), he felt that he might, at a more mellow age, be able to tolerate the judging of photographs. That did not happen, but this time instead of leaving the club, he decided to try to alter the system. The result is that to this very day JPS does not judge prints, but discusses them instead. The members obviously like the system, and continued for thirty years to vote for Frank as President of the Society.
      In his private life, Frank spent his working years owning hotels, but says that "working" is perhaps too strong a word, insisting that he was born lazy (he recalls one of his managers telling people that when Mr Ward felt like working he would lie down until the feeling passed). That left much time for photography and with several hotels containing darkrooms, callers were frequently told that Mr Ward was "in a meeting".
     In later years, as digital photography became a viable imaging method, Frank speedily traversed the necessary learning curve and soon became an accomplished practitioner of the new medium.
      A few years ago, aware that digital photography was receiving much criticism and opposition from the photographic "establishment", he decided for the first time in his club career to enter the Salon scene in order to test the acceptability of digital images. He proved his point by winning the national Impala Trophy by a margin never seen before!
     Until his death in November 2009, Frank Ward continued to be a dominant figure in the world of club photography.