The Kiln, Preston Mill Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is another picture of Preston Mill, near East Linton and one of my favourite buildings. This picture is taken from the opposite direction to this one. If you click on the link, you will also be able to read more about this beautiful little place.

Preston Mill is one of the oldest meal mills in Scotland with its machinery still in working order. It lies close to the River Tyne (a different River Tyne to the one in north-east England) a few hundred yards downstream of East Linton. Since 1951 it has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland and it remained in use as a commercial mill until 1959.

The mill complex comprises three main buildings: the kiln, seen here, the mill behind it, and the miller's house which is off to the left outside the picture. Externally, the mill stands to the east of the mill-pond which you can just see in the right of the picture. This in turn is fed via a mill-lade bringing water from the River Tyne.

Picture taken in early evening in April. Shot in RAW and converted and edited in PSE6.

All comments/critiques/advice welcome!

lrw1966, messenger1, avishek_khan, Morac, bakes888, graffer, dougie, saxo042, jean11-3 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

lrw1966 (1628) 2008-07-02 15:17

John Hi;
An amazing presentation of this old mill. Excellent composition of POV, color and clarity. I like this alot. Excellent educational note, as well. Congratulations, very well done.
Larry
USA-tfs

windosil (668) 2008-07-02 15:28

A very pretty picture, John. Unusually soft and lovely colours for this much-photographed and -painted building. Realistic, too, at this time of day. Interesting the way the tree is reaching out towards the mill and the mill seems to be trying to get away! The shadow across the foreground is a valuable feature. Well done,
Winifred

colinb (1351) 2008-07-02 16:13

Great shot. This looks straight out of Lord of the Rings, like the Shire. Nice balance and composition and well captured details. Thanks for sharing!

messenger1 (1027) 2008-07-02 19:18

Hello, John -
Very eye-catching shot. Your POV shows many details of the unusual architecture and features a lovely natural background. You managed the tricky lighting quite well. The colors are warm and everything is sharp. Well done.

avishek_khan (416) 2008-07-02 20:59

Hi John,
A typical vintage scottish flavour - this is all what I can say about this snap in a nutshell. The structure of this mill is very interesting. The surroundings are also nicely put together in the frame to illustrate the nice lazy atmosphere out there.
Regards
Avishek

Morac (16860) 2008-07-02 21:54

Hello John
An amazing presentation of this old mill.
Excellent color and clarity.
Regards
Marc

pablominto (35953) 2008-07-03 0:06

Hello John,

I guess something happened to the wings along the road..!
A very picturesque building and so nicely located in this beautiful surroundings...
A well balanced composition showing fine details, an attractive colour palette!

Greetings,
Pablo -

bakes888 (16566) 2008-07-03 0:25

Hi John. Great photo. Wonderful light and colours that show off the kiln to its best. Nicely balanced composition also. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers, Paul.

ku-fotak-chtik (1120) 2008-07-03 7:54

Hi John,
very nice picture. Clear, sharp and unusual POV of the mill.
I prefer more the first one because this one has on the background some modern house (roof) and it doesn't match with character of this place.

Kind Regards Jiri

graffer (1624) 2008-07-03 8:04

Hello John,

A very satisfying composition - The lane leads the eye in from the bottom left, towards the mill pond - then the roof line of that amazing building takes our gaze diagonally upwards to the cone and into the sky. Presumably that top bit rotates according to wind direction - just like the oast houses of southern England.

A fantastic bit of roofing to keep all those pantiles attached at such a steep angle.

A wonderful luminosity that so many of your images have, and a fine perspective with the distant low hills, against the sky.

Clear, sharp and lovely soft colours.

The choice of subject and the composition is very similar to some of John Constable's paintings.

One of your best!

Regards,

Peter.

dougie (2905) 2008-07-03 11:19

Hi,
Very well presented John. I like the warm colours of this place and the jumbled collection of rustic shapes with the shadowy light adding depth to the frame. It reminds me of a wizards hat carelessly thrown to the ground! Thanks.
Dougie.

chawax (4335) 2008-07-04 12:28

Hi John,
What a strange building ! I never saw such a roof, tending to the left. Has it always been like this, or something happened to the building ?
Thanks for posting,
Olivier

saxo042 (12152) 2008-07-06 4:09

Hi John,
A unique building, no straight angles anywhere! A beautiful composition and a hint of a beautiful landscape in the background.
Greetings from Gothenburg
Gunnar

jean11-3 (2799) 2008-07-06 12:58

Hello John, I love the 'higgledy piggledy' nature of this building!It has to be the strangest building I have ever seen.
I like the composition with the building off centre and the details of its surroundings clearly visible.The light is lovely creating interesting shadows.
Excellent notes.
Tfs, regards Jean.

romanaa (2502) 2008-07-17 13:09

Hello John,

interesting crooked roof of the picturesque house - it is like from a fairy tale, I expect a hobit to come out of the strange building. Nice light and colours too.

Best regards
Romana