Gallery Opening for Photographer Ray Lemar
Penn Camera Laurel
Friday, May 28th
5pm-7pm
Ray Lemar is a retired detonation physicist who has had a 47 year obsession with photography. Although he dabbled in photography in his teen years, he first became seriously interested during his sophomore year at the University of Illinois when he joined the photo staff of the Daily Illini, the university’s student newspaper.
Working on the Daily Illini was a great experience for a beginning photographer since photo staff members had to not only shoot the photographs for the paper, but also to process film, make prints and even produce the plates that were used on the newspaper’s printing press. Ray continued working on the newspaper throughout the rest of his undergraduate years, becoming a night photo editor during his senior year.
A sampling of the images you will see at Ray's gallery:
When Ray entered graduate school, he set up a temporary darkroom where he processed black and white and color slide film, and produced black and white prints. After Ray married his wife Linda, they moved into a larger apartment and he started also processing color negative film and making his own color prints.
After Ray finished graduate school, he and his wife moved to Pullman, WA, where he taught and did research in the Washington State University Physics Department for eight years. Throughout those years he continued to expand his photographic skills.
In 1980 Ray moved to Laurel, MD, and took a job at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, first at White Oak, MD, and then at Indian Head, MD. He retired in May 2009, but still does some consulting work through the Energetics Technology Center in La Plata, MD.
Over the years he has used mainly 35mm and medium format cameras, but has also shot with cameras ranging from a Minox B subminiature camera up to a 5X7 view camera. In 2001, Ray bought my first digital camera, a Nikon CoolPix 990, and followed that with a Nikon D100, a Nikon D200, and finally a Nikon D700 and a Canon G11. The Nikon D700 and the Canon G11 are now his primary cameras.
While Ray enjoys taking many types of pictures, his favorites are macro shots of small wildflowers and insects.
