Not an Exit

OK, I get it!  But, if it’s not an Exit, what is it?
[Open the page up to see what’s behind these doors]

These are the remains of the restrooms at the Lindale Mill textile factory in Lindale, Georgia.  If you are brave enough to venture in, you can see that there were also showers for the employees but as you can see, it’s not the kind of place that you would want to walk around barefoot these days.

The crumbling decay and the neat colors make for interesting visuals even if you would be crazy to try a shower in this place.  Makes me think there could be ghosts of factory workers wandering through the place at night.  What do you think?

Lindale Mill
Lindale, Georgia, USA

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
16mm @ f/18 – 0.8 sec – ISO 100

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #washroom #restroom #bathroom #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron #wideangle

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Textile Machine skeletons

All the guts have been taken out but, the machinery is still cool to look at.  This was a new perspective for me.  I usually pull out the wide-angle lens when trying to capture a wide horizontal scene like landscape.  In this case, I wanted to get a close-up of the whole machine and the surrounding building structure.  To do this, I got as close as I could without getting my toes in the shot.  I turned the camera to more of a vertical but tilted it to get everything in the foreground at floor level and the bank of windows behind the machines.

This kind of stretches the perspective but the neat thing is that my Tamron 10-24 lens gives me minimal distortion even at an exaggerated perspective like this.  You see the wide view but the lines of the window panes and the wood floors look straight and not curved as you might expect.  I really like this lens!

Lindale Mill
Lindale, Georgia, USA

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
11mm @ f/16 – 1 sec – ISO 100

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron #wideangle

Detroit RotoGrate Stokers

The Lindale Mill is a great source of photo subjects.  The interior and exterior architectural elements are great but I find the remaining industrial equipment the most interesting.  These machines are part of the furnace and boilers in the building with the big smokestacks.  I’m not sure how old they are (could go all the way back to the turn of the century when it opened or as late as the 1970’s when the plant closed.

The company that made them is still in the business and continues to make these items:

The Detroit® RotoGrate Stoker is a continuous ash discharge, traveling grate, spreader stoker that is perfect for a broad range of applications. It is recognized worldwide for its efficiency in generating steam and power.

The industrial grunge is just so cool!

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
12mm @ f/18 – 2 sec – ISO 320

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron

How’s it look outside?

These twin smokestacks coming from massive industrial boilers are the main landmark of the Lindale Mill plant. This is a view is from the other main building that housed the weaving and dying machinery through a transom window with painted-over green windows.

It it easy to imagine what this must have looked like when the plant was operational.  This was certainly a hub of activity, with people and machines buzzing away.  Now, it’s a ghost town except for the occasional group of photographers and workers cleaning out the broken and abandoned bits of the old facility.

This is quite a piece of history and one of those things that can serve to remind us of the past.  I hope that it continues to be a place for people to go and connect to how things were in days gone by.

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
10mm @ f/16 – 1/125 sec – ISO 100

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron

Workman’s Desk at Lindale Mill

I made a return trip to the Lindale Mill in Lindale, Georgia with the North Georgia Photography Club on Saturday.  It was a lot of fun to wander through the industrial site and look at the machinery and the remains of the plant that once produced denim fabric and other textile products.

Someone left this book and hard hat as a photo-op and I took the bait.  If you look closely, you can see that the book is a history of the mill.  What was neat here is that there was a shaft of light coming in through one of the windows that illuminated the scene but left the background in the dark.  It is very interesting to see how the light moves around inside this big old factory as the day goes by.  In this case, it was just after noon so the light was coming from almost straight overhead.

The mill is an amazing place to visit but if you want to catch the abandoned/grungy look you better hurry.  The site is in the process of being “cleaned up” so that it can be used for weddings and other events.  While it is not un-safe at this point, I’m sure there would be an awful lot of safety concerns in letting large groups in so things like lead paint, asbestos and broken glass are being removed.  I know the location will continue to be a great backdrop for photography, film and just general gawking but, it will become more sanitized as time goes by.  As long as they keep the character of the place, that’s OK but don’t expect it to stay untouched for long.

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
24mm @ f/18 – 1/10 sec – ISO 320

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron

Details

Sometimes, it’s the details that are most important.  When visiting Lindale Mill, I spent most of my time looking at the vast, industrial spaces and the interesting light patterns that came in through the windows.  It would have been a pity if I had not also been paying attention to the details.

There were so many interesting small things in this place.  Items like the gears and pipes shown here and all the amazing detail of the texture and color that was all around.  One of my greatest pleasures as a result of being into photography to notice these things.  So often, we pass by the details without paying any attention.  Try to focus on this more often and you will be rewarded with many amazing things that other people miss!

Lindale Mill
Lindale, Georgia

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AF Micro-Nikkor
105mm @ f/22 – 1.3 sec – ISO 800

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #macro #pipes #gears

Overhead machines

Not sure exactly what this machinery did but it was very interesting to see.  There was obviously some king of process that took textiles or fibers from one end of this room to the other on an overhead track.  Through out the room, there were these silver wheels that must have turned or spun materials.  I’m guessing maybe for drying but that’s only a guess.

This big room was a great spot to watch the sunlight coming in.  The patterns and colors created by the seeming random pattern of painted-out window panes are wonderful.  So much texture, color and light to take in.

Lindale Mill
Lindale, Georgia

Nikon D7100
Vanguard Altra Pro 263 AT tripod
Tamron SP 10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II
19mm @ f/18 – 1/10 sec – ISO 200

#LindaleMill #LindaleGA #TextileMill #industrial #machinery #UrbanDecay #texture #detail #decay #abandoned #WithMyTamron