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travelling with them.

During these extensive journeys some five of their children were born – in or under the wagon,

or in the veld, according to Mrs Ravenscroft. Eventually. schooling and other domestic
requirements led them to make their home in Robertson in a large Victorian corner house where

a room was converted to a photographic studio. Here they stayed until the 1890s when they
moved to Claremont in Cape Town and he had a photographic studio in Rondebosch. The

family grew and eventually there were 12 children.

He was befriended by Rhodes who was impressed by his portrait work and was the only person

whom Rhodes allowed to photograph him. He was a regular visitor to the Groote Schuur

residence and photographed its interior while the children had the run of the extensive grounds
and rode ponies. Many other prominent people booked sittings with him to record their families

and special occasions like weddings and christenings.

It was probably through Rhodes that he was commissioned to photograph the 100-odd rail
stations and towns along the Cape Government Railways network and farther afield. These

photos are the only ones that exist of Platteland scenes at that time. When photographing a

town he made a point of taking panoramic views from surrounding high points, thus placing it
in its larger landscape setting, and then photographing its detail elements such as important

public buildings and spaces, agricultural activities, roads, and people.

By the 1890s the carte de visite – forerunner of the picture postcard – was becoming popular
and Ravenscroft moved into this field with great success – both in black and white as well as

colour-tinted photos. A lot of skill was required in colour-tinting and he contracted this out to

printer-publishers in Cape Town, Johannesburg and England. He apparently made a fortune
through post-cards and his photo of the oak avenue in Government Avenue Cape Town was

apparently the most popular postcard and sold thousands of copies. (Fig. 2.3). Overseas postage

cost a penny and national a half-penny.

Technically, he was a master of the art of infinity focus in which the whole picture is in focus.
In this aspect of photography Ravenscroft surpassed all his peers in technical excellence and

the quality of his photos. (F. Pople, pers comm.) He had an eye for composition, mood,
observation of people and social behaviour, and humour. He was energetic and climbed