Mabry Mill, a photo from Virginia, South

Photographer's Note

One of my favorite trips is along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. The Blue Ridge is an eastern spur of the Appalachian Mountains, which is the eastern mountains in the US running from Maine to Georgia. When added to Skyline Drive the parkway stretches from Front Royal in Virginia to Cherokee, North Carolina, 579 miles (924 km). Mabry Mill is located at mile 176.2 of the parkway. Ed Mabry built the mill starting in 1903 some 30 odd years before the parkway when this area of Virginia was very rural. It served this area of Floyd County area as a blacksmith forge, saw mill and grist mill. Ed was my wife's grandfathers brother.
Although the parkway is a 2 lane road with a maximum speed of 45 mph it has about 18,000,000 visitors a year.

trevormoffiet has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jadesgran (3365) 2012-09-25 21:43

Hello Robert
I`m not surprised this is one of your favourite places to visit.It is idyllic. With the trees framing the scene, the waterwheel in the background, the little bridge and to top it all some ducks on the water, it is perfect
Beautiful composition!
Best Wishes Gladys.

trevormoffiet (927) 2012-09-26 2:03

Hi Robert,
I like this image. It is well composed, has nice contrast, colour and sharpness. It creates an atmosphere that could easily belong to the early 1900s. However, I am not sure that the image needs so much of the log at the bottom. It dominates the image at the expense of the mill. In my opinion the image improves when most (or all) of the log is cropped. That leaves the grasses and rocks at the edge of the pond plus the stumps to provide foreground interest without dominating the main subject.
Regards,
Trevor