An Artistic Approach

Sometimes I take an artistic approach to photography. Mabry Mill, on the Blue Ridge Parkway, is the most photographed site on the Parkway, and is likely the most photographed mill in the country. Because the color of the mill is a weathered gray, I decided to experiment. I used a Hoya Sepia B filter to turn the gray shingles back to a brown color, and then adjusted the white balance to reduce that effect a bit. I seldom use post, and when I do I prefer to use it minimally, because I prefer to get the image as I want it in camera. I used it on this image for two things. I reduced the gamut a little to soften the colors. The image was blown out in the sunlit grass by the fence in the lower right, and I corrected that. I find the resulting image quite pleasing. Some people who have seen the image thought it was a painting.

Pentax K-70, Pentax-DA 18-270mm at 48mm, f9, ISO 5000, 1/160 sec, Hoya Sepia B filter, 21-Apr-2019

Note to UK members -

The Blue Ridge Parkway is part of the US National Park Service. It runs along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Virginia south to North Carolina, a distance of 469 miles. It stretches from the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the eastern end of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. I have loved the Parkway since I first rode down it as a boy, with my family. For almost 40 years I have lived in Roanoke, VA, a few miles from a Parkway entrance, and I continue to enjoy the Parkway as a senior citizen.

You are clearly getting value from your tax dollars and as long as you can do so - keep on enjoying it!

What a beautiful old mill and the way you have executed your photo is fantastic

The mill is actually not all that old. Edwin Mabry began to build it about 1903 as a blacksmith and wheelwright shop. He later expanded it to include a gristmill, and a sawmill which included woodwright machinery. He had to buy more land, to expand from one small creek to three to provide enough power. The mill was completed about 1910. In dry seasons the water was insufficient, and he added a kerosene engine about 1934.

At that time many mills had already coverted to steel roller mills, and used steel wheels, so Mabry Mill was a throwback when built.

As for execution, I had been a 35mm SLR photographer for about 40 years when I bought my DSLR, and I tend to do many things the way I did with film, trying to get the image I want in-camera. Of course, that is easier with a DSLR, with all the features it includes such as a histogram, and the ability to review images on the screen.

As a comparison, here is Mabry Mill from another angle, on a later occasion, to show what color it actually is:




I have a variety of equipment and techniques, dervived from film photography, to achieve the image I want in-camera. I am equipped to do black-and-white photography using colored filters. I prefer that to simulating colored filters during post. I developed my filter flip book to make it easy to choose the best filter for a b&w image.