Another blue door at the Malden Mills.
I don’t know what I like most about this image. Maybe its the fact that the gable above the doorway is slightly askew or maybe its the very inviting and polite, “Please Come In Thank You” sign. It could be the textures of the brick and peeling blue paint.
It could be just the fact that I found this little second hand store, tucked away in a remote corner of an otherwise empty mill complex. And it had all of the above working for it..
When I shoot at the mills I am always concerned about where I leave my car. I don’t like to leave it in plain sight for a couple of reasons: I don’t really want it to end up in my frame and then have to go move it and; I am not always “authorized” to be where I am, so I don’t want to call unwanted attention to myself. I was more worried about the former yesterday.
When I arrived, I instinctively pulled in between these two trailers, at Loading Dock 13, figuring my car will be out of the line of fire. As I was pulling in I quickly realized I was driving into my first shot of the day. I parked in front of Loading Dock 15.
I have a tendency to neglect my Friday image, so I’m posting it early.
As I was leaving the Stone Mill in Lawrence the other morning, I stopped to look up the spiral staircase. Between the decades old paint cracking and peeling off of the wood and the spiral pattern of the stairs, I had to grab a shot.
I was running a little late so I didn’t bother setting up my tripod. I shot a series of five bracketed exposures, hand held, to get this HDR image.
More commonly known as “The Old Worthen,” the historic Worthen House is the oldest restaurant and tavern in Lowell, Massachussetts.
The Worthen House was established in 1898. The bar’s most notable features are the belt-linked fan system, which is the only existing set in its original building in the country and the 19th century pressed tin ceiling. A few notable patrons are said to have included Edgar Allan Poe, Jack Kerouac, and Jimmy Breslin. In 1989, “Lowell’s Oldest,” was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
I decided to photograph the Worthen on my most recent “drive-by”. That’s where I drive home and decide to stop somewhere to photograph something. Some drive-bys are more fruitful than others. Drive-bys are also easier in any season other than winter. Between the sun setting around 4:00PM and temperatures often in the teens, it’s tough to get motivated to shoot – especially after a day at work.
Anyway, as I was getting off the highway, I decided to drive to Lowell’s Historic District and check out the Old Worthen. I was thrilled to see there were no cars parked in front. I shot the exterior then, hoping it wasn’t too crowded, decided to ask if I could photograph the bar. There were only a hand full of people at the bar and the barmaid was happy to let me shoot.
The results are in this post.
As a student at the University of Lowell (many years ago), the Worthen was THE place to go after finals.
After the last final exam we would migrate to the Worthen and (depending on academic prowess) either celebrate or drown our sorrows. Not surprisingly, whichever end of the IQ scale we were, the results were the same. Pass or fail we all crawled out of the bar.
At that time the tables were booths. The booths were carved with peoples names dating back decades. In the early 80’s (if I recall correctly) the bar underwent a renovation. The booths were removed and replaced with tables. The decor changed too. They actually hung plants. Much to our chagrin, the Old Worthen became a “Fern Bar.” It had a decidedly “yuppie” feel to it.
Last night was my first visit to the inside of the Worthen since the early 80’s. I was happy to see that it more closely resembled the Worthen I knew in college. The highlights of this gem are clearly the old tin ceiling and belt driven ceiling fan system.
UPDATE:
Since that night, I returned to the Worthen to meet the owner and take more pictures. The full gallery:
You can purchase any of these images at my Smugmug Site.
You can check out more of my HDR work on my SmugMug site.
Every once in a while I revisit some older images to see if I got everything I can out of them. When I started shooting in RAW format a couple of years ago I did not know its potential. I also had not yet discovered HDR processing.
In the summer of 2006 I went to Lowell to photograph the Pawtucket Falls. If I recall correctly, that was the year of the floods. It is very unusual to see the river raging like that in the middle of the summer. The images in this gallery (all but the three beneath the gate house) were shot on that day.
The full gallery is here.
The Pawtucket Falls were built in in the early 1800s to harness the power of the Merrimack River. The resulting hydroelectricity powered the textile mills that ushered in America’s Industrial Revolution.
ALSO … Check out the Wallpaper section. By request, I added a new image from the Wood Mill Boiler House.