Mill – Page 13 – Dan Routh Photography

Mill Machinery

Stone milling equipment at the Old Mill of Guilford near Greensboro, North Carolina. The old mill produces a complete line of stone ground flours and mixes on water wheel powered machinery. Below a young lady bags up the products.

Loading Feed

fashion, Greensboro, Mill

Photograph of a model working during a denim casual clothing shoot at an old feed mill south of Greensboro, North Carolina.

Brower Meadow Feed Store

Mill, Randolph County

My older son Tristan and I were out Saturday morning looking to buy some chickens. We stopped by a neighbors place on Brower Meadow Road south of Greensboro. Besides raising chickens, my neighbors used to run a feed operation with a mill and a feed and fertilizer store on their farm. The old buildings still stand, empty but still interesting. It was a little early in the year to pick up chickens, but we put our order in for a half dozen production red hens.

Old Mill of Guilford

Greensboro, Mill

I went out yesterday to the Old Mill of Guilford to stock up on grits and bran muffin mix. The mill is a local Greensboro landmark and is a fully operational, water-powered, 18th century grist mill founded on Beaver Creek in 1767 to grind grain for the early settlers of northern Guilford County. The mill continues to produce all-natural, stone-ground, whole grain flours and mixes. It’s an interesting place to visit and produces great stuff to eat. Annie Laura Perdue works the mill.

For info, go to: http://www.oldmillofguilford.com/

Old Farm Truck

Automobile, Mill

Today’s image is a still-life study of an old farm truck I pass on my way to Greensboro. I see things daily that strike me as possible photos and I make mental notes to catch them when the light is right. Add a little lensbaby style post processing.

New Digital DSLR Camera

Equipment, Mill, Photography

I haven’t spoken a lot about camera equipment on this blog, because for one thing I don’t think it’s really important which camera you use. What is important is how you use it and what kind of photographs you produce. I do want to make a couple of comments about a new camera body that is available and how it changes the way I think photographically. Nikon introduced their D3 about a year ago and then recently they brought out the D700. I bought a D700. Both of these cameras bring to digital photography the ability to shoot very good images at very high ISOs.

The D700 allows me to shoot in very low natural light and produce stunning files. It has changed the way I approach things in a positive way. I’m not a tripod kind of guy. I find they slow me down and get in my way. The new camera lets me hand hold situations I could never shoot before. Frees me up to move and explore an image. It also allows me to use the available light more without having to light scenes. Believe me, I have spent almost 30 years lighting images, and there is nothing wrong with artificial lighting done right. But available light can be more natural, more real, and more moving in a photograph. Couple all this with the ability of digital cameras to shoot at variable ISOs on the same card, no longer having to worry much about filtration, and the recent advent of VR or vibration reduction lenses, and we have reached a revolutionary period in low light/available light documentary-style photography.

Photograph is of an old seed cleaner at Julian Milling Company in Julian, North Carolina.

Julian Milling Company

Mill

I’m doing a lot of location scouting now, which is good because it means I have work coming up. Julian Milling Company is an old feed mill south of Greensboro still in operation. They still use the old mill machinery to grind feed and clean seed for local farmers. Old mills fascinate me; must be in my blood. My grandfather and his father and grandfather were all millers. They ran grist (or flour) mills, but they are very similar to feed mills. Some of my fondest memories are of going to the mill with Grandpa to grind our feed. We actually used this mill and I still buy hay and farm supplies from them.