Metal spools. Nikon D750, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, ISO 400, f/2.2
A few weeks ago I had a chance to return to Lonaconing MD to photograph the abandoned silk mill there. The three years since my last visit have not been kind to the place. There are more leaks, more decay -- it is clearly several steps closer to ruin. Who knows if it will remain standing (and safe to enter) long enough for me to shoot there again?
This time I paid less attention to the bigger picture and focused on little things. For me, these details to evoke a sense of the past occupants and their work as much as -- perhaps more than -- the rows of silent machines.
Forgotten shoes. Nikon D750, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, ISO 400, f/16
Job tags. Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 @ 110 mm; ISO 400, f/5
Several of the images here were taken using my (relatively) new Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 lens. Previously I had used this lens almost exclusively for candid people pics (grandkid shots). At Lonaconing, I enjoyed how this lens allowed me to play with shallow depth of field as a way to direct the viewer's eye and to isolate a subject. The more I shoot with this lens the more I like it!
Silk spool. Nikon D750, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, ISO 320, f/2/2
Oil cans. Nikon D750, Nikkor 85mm f/1.8, ISO 400, f/2
My existing Lonaconing gallery has been updated with these new images. Selections from that gallery will become part of an eight-image Lonaconing portfolio that I am assembling as an entry into a juried portfolio exhibition at Image City Photography Gallery in Rochester, NY. I have no idea whether a Lonaconing portfolio (I have four candidates at the moment) will be strong enough to be accepted. However, the process of selecting only eight images (specified by exhibition rules) that can both stand on their own as photographs and tell a story when viewed together has stretched my brain in new directions. We'll see how this turns out.
Spindle detail. Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 @ 70 mm, ISO 100, f/4.
Fire bucket. Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 @ 98mm, ISO 400, f/11