My new project is photographing old mills of southwestern Virginia, beginning with Floyd Co., inspired by my visit last year to Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway (3rd row right below). The shot of Mabry is the only finished image in the montage below. The others are preliminary images shot in the last two weeks during scouting trips, and offer only suggestions of what the final images will look like. I prefer cloudy days for scouting trips so I don't have to deal with a misplaced sun or unwanted shadows. My new Floyd Co., VA mills page at:

Star City Photos - Old Mills of Floyd Co., VA

has larger images and some information about the mills. I began in Floyd Co. partly because it is close to home, partly because it is a rural county that has perhaps more standing old mills per capita than any other county in Virginia, and partly because it has some of the most complete mills documentation of any county in the state.

[normhead]

What cool project. I'm not sure we have enough old mills around here for me to photograph. We were well into steam powered mills by the time the area I live in was settled. And the one I've come across are just foundations. Anything that could have been photographed was dismantled years ago.

[Dale H. Cook]

I am on my way back to Floyd Co. this afternoon for a second scouting trip. Thanks to the local historical society I have accurate locations for two mills that I could not find on my first trip there last Tuesday. I also now know of three more standing mills plus two mill wheels of which I was previously unaware.

[BigMackCam]

Awesome project, Dale, and a nice collage of photos