Author Archives: GAR

Photographer’s Choice – Lou Nachman

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Lou’s Homage to Howard Fogg

CSX Coal Train - Lou Nachman

CSX Coal Train – Lou Nachman

A site you won’t see in the High Country but common in Gaston County – a powerful diesel engine delivering coal to Duke Energy’s 1929 Riverbend Steam Station on the Catawba River. This image is similar in style to the many watercolor paintings created by Howard Fogg in the late 1940’s, ’50 s and early 60’s. Fogg would probably be classified as a photorealistic painter.
Going against the grain of the many Nikon and Canon lovers, Lou is a dedicated user of Pentax. “We Pentaxians are dangerous, fly under the radar, and shoot manually,” says Lou. The ACC has at least one other Pentax owner – Phyllis Baynes. The above well framed image was taken on March 26, 2013 with the following settings:
Focal Length: 25mm
Lens: smc Pentax-F 35/70mm f3.5-4.5
1/500 sec @ f/9
ISO – 400

Photographer’s Choice – Betty Rembert

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Why Is This Native Wildflower Neglected?

Dwarf Larkspur - Betty Rembert

Dwarf Larkspur – Betty Rembert


Images of the trout lily, trillium or ladyslipper and others are common spring subjects for local photographers but the dwarf larkspur seems strangely neglected. It is difficult to capture without background clutter and the color is a challenge to reproduce on film or digitally, or on a monitor or print (the deep blue is often “out-of-gamut”). But a challenge is often the impetus that gets the juices flowing and more attempts. Is it not widespread in the County?
Betty did an excellent job here, with a pleasing background and sharp focus, with most of the stem and blossom in the plane of focus. She used a gray card to help set the color balance on a cloudy day.
Below is a cropped version of the above showing more of the delicate detail.
Cropped Dwarf Larkspur - Betty Rembert

Cropped Dwarf Larkspur – Betty Rembert


Canon EOS 5d w/100mm macro lens
1/50 sec @ f8.0
ISO – 400
Tripod used