The history around photography and photographers active in South Africa during the mid-1880s to early 1910s remains a vastly untapped field of research.
This article came about after receiving a photograph of Carl Wundram from a great grandchild of his, Johann Basson. Images of earlier photographers themselves are scarce. The primary reasons for this may be two-fold, namely that earlier photographers clearly preferred to stand behind the camera and not in front of it, or that their names were not recorded on either the photographs that may have been taken of them or in photo albums itself.
German immigrants arrived in Natal as early as 1848 with many of their countrymen following in their footsteps. They mainly arrived in their capacity as missionaries, farmers or tradesmen. Many of these German families subsequently settled in some of the smaller Natal towns and villages such as Piet Retief and nearby Paulpietersburg and Lüneburg where German influences are still evident today.
One such settler was Carl Friedrich Adolf Wundram who arrived in Natal during 1885. Born on 8 January 1863 in Beckedorf, Prussia (lower Saxony), Germany, Wundram emigrated to South Africa at the age of 22.
On his arrival in Natal, Wundram was not a practising photographer. He only took up this trade some years later. It is not clear what he did during the first 5 years after arriving in South Africa. It is assumed that he picked up the skill as a telegraphist during this period in that during April 1890...
