A few weeks ago I took a second trip back to the Lonaconing Silk Mill in Western Maryland. When ‘time was up’ there last summer they practically had to drag me out. I knew there were many more subjects left to photograph and I wasn’t done! Having shot a lot of the machinery and wider scenes on my first visit, I decided to focus on more of the details this time. The shoes that workers had left behind when the plant closed in 1957 intrigued me. As the story goes, the silk mill workers went home from work one day unaware that the company would cease operations overnight. The next morning they were not permitted back in the building and personal items and tools of the trade were simply left in their places. For many of the subjects I composed both horizontal and vertical versions. I processed and worked on a variety of images in both color and black & white in order to explore their potential before settling on the collection to post here. I hope you will enjoy this trip back in time, when so many Americans worked in home town factories to make their living.

Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)

Prints For Sale at Fine Art America (link top right)











