A Thousand Words
By Jock Lauterer
One of the very best photographers in Chapel Hill back in the ’60s was a quiet, intense young fellow named Tom Rogers who shot for the UNC yearbook, the Yackety Yack. Just the other day I was admiring his work in an old “Yack†when this lovely photo arrived in my email inbox, along with Tom’s description: “I hustled over to an isolated, out-of-the-way station on the old Baltimore and Ohio Metropolitan Subdivision to shoot some snow scenes for a ‘Rail-Fan Video’ I was producing. The helper set approaching are a couple of CSX SD40-2 engines that have just completed their assignment by shoving a 160-car coal ‘drag’ up Barnesville Hill in Maryland. The engines are approaching Tuscarora Station near Point of Rocks, Md. They are heading back to Brunswick Yards where they will no doubt get behind another coal train to shove up Barnesville Hill again.â€Â With a little prodding, Tom described his career trajectory: “On leaving Carolina, I went to work for WBTV in Charlotte in the News Department. Stayed there four years, then found my way to an educational film company in Northern Virginia. Worked there for a couple of years, then … moved to The Xerox Training Center in Leesburg, Va., where I produced instructional TV for 25 years. I›ve been producing rail-fan videos for the last 10 years or so since retiring from Xerox in ’96. Just wanted to keep my hand in the video business since then and didn›t want to work for anyone else.†For all you photo-wonks, Tom says he shot this winter scene with a Nikon D200, using ISO 800 and a shutter speed of 1/320th of a second and an aperture of f/5.6. Rail buffs can check out his work at youtube.com/watch?v=_0X-nl0LAhU and youtube.com/watch?v=R2gf0A-Qg8c
A THOUSAND WORDS
Do you have an important old photo that you value? Email your photo to jock@email.unc.edu and include the story behind the picture. Because every picture tells a story. And its worth? A thousand words.
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