One of my favorite local areas to photograph is the Old Mill, located in the T. R. Pugh Memorial Park in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Built in 1933 as a recreation of an 1880s era water-powered grist mill, it was in one of the opening scenes of the classic movie Gone with the Wind. The mill is a popular location for wedding and portrait photography as well as spending some time outdoors with the family, and this is especially true when the weather is nice.
In Spring, when the conditions, and your timing, are right, the park is a magical place to be. The flowers and trees are in full bloom, and the Old Mill will be engulfed in shades of reds, yellows, pinks, and other colors. Everywhere you look, compositions will absolutely leap out at you.
But, when the conditions are less than ideal, the photography becomes a bit more challenging. That’s when I back away from trying to capture the “grand” landscape and begin focusing more on finding the subtle details Mother Nature has to offer. That was how I discovered this image.
I had made the short drive to the Old Mill one day a few years ago with the idea of photographing the mill with the flowers and trees in full bloom just as I had the previous year. Just as I normally do, I arrived just before sunrise and waited for someone to unlock the gate to the park so I could go in. Arriving early accomplishes two goals: avoiding high contrast lighting for as long as I can and avoiding the crowds that may show up later.
On this particular day, however, no one showed up to unlock the gate. After waiting for 45 minutes, the sun had risen high enough in the sky to create a terribly contrasty photographic situation. I decided I would go home and come back the following week to try again.
The next week, I woke up to an overcast sky and no wind — perfect conditions for landscape photography. I excitedly headed back to the Old Mill. But, about halfway to the mill, the clouds parted, and the sun began shining brightly. I decided to continue on, and when I arrived at the mill, the flowers were in full bloom just as I had been waiting for.
Apparently, it was what a lot of other people were waiting for, as well, because there were people everywhere, including at least three busloads of schoolchildren! The lighting I could deal with. But 40 or 50 kids (or more!) running around all over the place getting in the way of my shots? No way! I decided to keep going and try again the following week.
I went back the following week for what was now my third attempt to photograph the Old Mill in all its Spring time glory. Again, Mother Nature cooperated by providing a nice overcast sky that was the precursor to an impending storm, so I knew my time was pretty limited. Arriving at the mill, I found the crowd problem was nonexistent as there was only one other person there sitting quietly on a bench reading a book. But, I was dismayed to find the color, which I had been so excited to see the previous week, was now gone. But, I didn’t want to squander the great weather conditions, so I decided to see what I could discover.
I stayed at the mill for about an hour experimenting with a number of other ideas. I ended up getting several nice images, but it wasn’t until I was leaving that I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, the irises that were still blooming. With my 70-200mm lens and a couple of extension tubes, I filled the frame with this single iris.