Cheesden Old Mill – 12 Significant Images Project

I added Cheesden Old Mill as a location to my project quite early on in the selection of sites but I haven’t had the chance to revisit it since that first visit. This last weekend I did just that. It is situated near Ashworth Moor Reservoir and is on the road from Edenfield to Rochdale. I parked my car outside The Owd Bets Pub and followed the OS Map app until I could see the Old Mill in the distance. It was a misty and murky old morning but that can add to the image and maybe add some atmosphere.

This is maybe the forth or fifth time that I have been able to get out with my new Sony Alpha 7 iv camera. I’ve recently purchased a L bracket from Smallrig that is designed and built or the A7iv. This allows the camera to operate as it was designed and allows the articulated screen to function properly and allows it to be used properly. I have to say I’m thrilled how my kit now operates and the images that it allows me to produce.

This is the composition that I had in mind when I thought about coming back to this location the night before. The image I was actually looking for has a wind turbine above the mill in the distance but the mist made sure that I couldn’t see them. I though it was a good mix of old and new. That will be for the next visit in slightly better weather. I do think this is a well balanced image with the mill on one side and the waterfall and tree on the other, with the brook and lines in the old wall leading you through the initial part of the image. There is actually an old bench sitting in the broke just to the right of the big stone but I cloned this outing Lightroom. I do find it hard that folk do leave their rubbish out in the countryside, but a bench is really a bit much

Having taken several different compositions of the first image I started to think about what else would make a good composition from this location. It struck me that the waterfall would make a good subject for another image and I spent some time looking to get an image that I was happy with.I have to say that I’m more than happy with this scene, its well balanced with an interesting subject and the image flows from front to back. I was able to slow the shutter speed through using a Lee Little Stopper, and that has given the water a smoother look than would otherwise be the case. The locals around this neck of the woods say that there is a mermaid dancing within the waterfall, and if you look hard at this image you can see (ish) that there is a shape that looks like a dancing mermaid.

You get a sense from this image of the misty and murky morning that I was out in, but also shows the mill from the other side. In actual fact there are some rolling hills behind the mill but you cannot see them due to the mist and murk of the morning. was stood hard up against the fence that surrounds this side of the mill, which I think this is more to do with stopping folk falling into the brook rather than stopping folk getting to near the mill.

I decided that I would look for other subjects in and around the mill. To my surprise I found that there are a few others things to get images of and this next two images are the results of that bit of exploration.

Im sure there is a name for this, and any folk who work for the water treatment industries would know, but I think this is meant to collect the water that flows off the hills, and needs directing down the valley rather than doing its own thing. It’s unusual for me to take an image that doesn’t have any sky within it. Strictly this image doesn’t have subjects that are equal weight within the image, but I do like the bridge in the top left and this is offset by the hills on the top right of the image. I moved my tripod around this scene quite a lot, and found this composition as a little more pleasing than the others that I took that morning. The Lee Little Stopper allows the slower shutter speed, and the water looks a little more milky that they would otherwise be the case.

This was the last image that I took that morning, and the tripod was stood on the wall of the overflow, and whilst it doesn’t include the whole overflow within the image, I do think this is a very well balanced and composed image. It brings into play the mist in the distance as well as allowing the viewer to see a little more of the source of the water flowing through what is Cheesden Brook.

I do think that two of these images are contenders to be part of the final 12. I do think this is a good position to be in as it was an anxiety early in this project that I wouldn’t be able to get some compelling images that would be worthy of a body of work that I will publish as part of my zine and website, in the near future.