Ruphin
Coudyzer came to South Africa in 1971 and took up a job in a
stockbroking company.
In
1973 he took up photography and got a job as darkroom operator with the
Argus Africa News Service.
During
this time he compiled a documentary on Kliptown, a coloured township next
to Soweto, an exhibition of
which was held at The Photographers Gallery
in London in 1977.
He
also started an ongoing series ''Focus on People'', a candid reportage
on people in their everyday
doings, exhibiting some of this work at the Market Theatre and the
Carlton Centre.
In
1977 he joined The
Star Newspaper's news photographers team for two years, both years
winning
the Star-Picture-of-the-Year award, as well as being highly
commended in the News Picture Category of the
Shell Press Pictures of
the Year Awards of 1978 and 1979.
During
1978 he was commissioned to provide the slides for the Audio-Visual of
The Star's ''Newspapers in
Education'' project headed by William Smith.
In
1979 he became The
Star Tonight! magazine photographer.
In
the same year he held an exhibition at the Market Theatre Photo Gallery
entitled ''Le Plat Pays'' of work
done during various visits to his home
country Belgium.
In
1982 he won a World Press Photo Contest Award in the art section (see
Photo Categories page: Dance).
In
that same year he also got six entries in the book ''A Day in the Life
of South Africa''.
In
1984 he furnished the picture of Santarama Miniland for the front cover
of the Johannesburg Telephone
Directory.
In
the same year a documentary on him and his work was screened on SABC TV
as part of a series on top
photographers in the country.
In
1986 forty-eight of his prints on people were selected to form part of
an exhibition entitled ''The Soul of
Johannesburg'' and presented at the
Total Gallery by the South
African Institute of Photographers.
He
became a Licentiate member of the SAIP in 1981 and was awarded the rank
of Associate in
November 1986.
In
the same month Ruphin Coudyzer held an exhibition of some of his Theatre
Production Photographs at
the Market Theatre Art Gallery.
During
most of 1987 he worked on the colour photography for the Argus Company's
book ''Like it was - The
Star 100 years in Johannesburg'', for which he
also provided the front cover photograph.
In
November 1987 he took part in the highly acclaimed ''The Star
Photographers Off-Beat'' exhibition at the
Shell Gallery.
In
February 1988 he was appointed Pictures
and Graphics Editor of The Star newspaper. Under his
editorship The
Star produced, for the first time in six years, the Press Photographer
of the Year in the Illford
Press Photo Awards (the late Ken Oosterbroek).
During
1988 The Market Theatre's book ''Best of Company'' appeared, for which
Ruphin did the front cover
and most of the photography in it.
In
February 1989 he resigned from the Argus Company in order to devote
himself on a
self-empoyed
basis
to various photographic projects and some eminent clients
including The Market Theatre, Sun International,
Pieter Toerien
Productions, The Civic Theatre, The Sibikwa Players, The People's
Theatre, Pieter-Dirk Uys,
The Adele Blank Dance Company Freeflight, The
Johannesburg Dance Foundation, The Moving into Dance
Company, The
Johannesburg Youth Theatre, Radio 702, Hello Johannesburg Magazine, The
Goodman
Gallery, Adele Lucas Promotions...
In
the 1989 Profoto Awards Ruphin
Coudyzer won the category Portraiture with a Silver Award and the
category Editorial People also with a Silver Award. In the latter
category he was also runner up with a Highly
Commended Award.
In
July of the same year he was invited by the 1820 Settlers
Foundation to cover the Grahamstown
Arts Festival with the aim of
producing an exhibition.
In
December of 1989 he received the Fellowship Award from the SA
Institute of Photographers,
based on a presentation of 20 works from his Grahamstown Festival coverage.
In
July 1990 the 20 works were subsequently exhibited during the
Grahamstown Arts Festival and during the
''Hot from the Fringe'' run at
The Market Theatre Gallery.
In
August 1990 he took part in the ''Excellence in Photography'' show, a
highly prestigious exhibition of
selected works by members of the SAIP,
and was singled out as one of the three most noteworthy
photographers by
the SABC magazine program ''Antenna''.
In
the 1990 Profoto Awards Ruphin Coudyzer received eight awards in the
categories Commissioned
People and Commissioned Portraiture.
For
the 1991 Grahamstown Arts Festival he was asked to be the
official 1820 Foundation
Photographer.
In
November 1991 a permanent exhibition
of pictures depicting local actors and musicians was launched at
''The Coffee Society'' in Rockey Street, Yeoville, a bohemian type
coffee bar under ''The Black Sun''
Theatre.
In
August 1992 a small exhibition of twenty works of the last three years
in theatre photography was
presented during the ''Open Week Festival''
at the new Johannesburg Youth Theatre complex.
In
the same month the SAIP selected 7 of his works to form part of the 25
images for the ''Man of our Times''
exhibition, a project by world
acclaimed British photographer Lord Patrick Litchfield.
During
the 1993 Pot-Pourri season of PACT at The Windybrow Theatre Complex,
Ruphin held an exhibition
entitled ''Highlights'' with works from the
last 14 years of his photography in the theatre and entertainment
world.
In
July of 1993 he was again the official 1820 Foundation photographer for
The Grahamstown Festival.
In
May 1994 he was sponsored by Benetton to hold an exhibition at The
Market Theatre of works chosen
from the most momentous Market Theatre
productions over the last
15 years, representing one of the most
important one-man exhibitions Coudyzer has held.
These
works are now permanently displayed in the foyer of The Market
Theatre complex.
In
February 1996 the newly formed arts
magazine ''Vuka SA'' (Vol I, No 3) devoted it's front page and a
six-
page article on Coudyzer's work.
In
1997 he contributed 33 photographs as well as the front cover picture to
the autobiography ''Just the
Ticket'' by Computicket magnet Percy
Tucker.
His
photographs also appear in many local and overseas books and
publications on South African theatre.
In
recent years Ruphin
Coudyzer has expanded his activities by covering functions such as
product
launches, award ceremonies, Christmas parties and the staff
portraiture for such corporations as 3M South
Africa, Coca-Cola, The Standard Bank, Total
SA, MTN,
Gensec, The Wanderers Club, Microsoft SA, The Franchise Association
of
SA, Bayer and Agfa SA.
He has
done
the photography for brochures for companies such as Price Waterhouse
Coopers, SA Breweries
and Amalgamated Beverages Industries.
He
also does photography for industrial theatre companies like The Blue
Moon Company, Industrial Theatre
Company, Jumping Dust, The Event
Company, Howling Wolf and Shoestring Productions.
With the
acquisition of AVMIN (Anglovaal Mining) as a client since the beginning
of 2000, he has now also ventured
into the realm of Industrial Theatre.
In the newly reinstated 2004 ProFoto Awards – Industrial Category - he
entered nine images from his industrial portfolio and scooped one Gold,
one Silver, two Bronze and one Highly Commended Award.
He also won the portfolio in
this section with a Silver Award.
In 2004 he acquired the clientele of the
Nelson Mandela Foundation.
On the 30th March 2006 (his birthday) The
Market Theatre launched their 30th anniversary celebrations by opening
Ruphin Coudyzer's exhibition "Stages Calling" of 40 works illustrating
some of the most prominent plays since 1979. This is his second
permanent exhibition at The Market Theatre (see May 1994).
Since 2006 he has been documenting the new
listings on The Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
During June, July and August of 2007 he was commissioned by Soul City to
do the stills photography for the popular SABC "Soul Buddyz" series.
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