Category Archives: Gaston County

Photographer’s Choice – Lou Nachman

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 – Lou Nachman

Devil’s Signature Over Mount Holly?

Lou Nachman - Mt. Holly Contrails

Lou Nachman – Mt. Holly Contrails

Lou Nachman makes his debut appearance in this series with a dramatic sunset image captured in the skies over Mt. Holly, in Gaston County, northwest of Charlotte. The contrast between the darkening earth and brilliant sky serves to bring these artificial clouds into sharp relief. With the strong winds aloft, it was only a short time before the pattern became a memory. Lou utilized a 4 times neutral density filter to help balance the overall density of the scene but even with that, the foreground remains a silhouette. The high cloud formations add the perfect finishing touch.
Pentax K-5 camera fitted with a 55-300mm lens
Focal Length: 55mm
Shutter: 1/125 sec
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 200