The first cotton and textile mill built in North Providence was completed in 1811 when former US Supreme Court Justice David Lyman bought large tracts of land along the Woonasquatucket River to house his industrial enterprise. The mill remained in operation through the Civil War and into the 20th Century. The complex as it stands today was reconstructed in 1884 and expanded to include seven buildings sprawled along the river. As the economics of the textile industry crumbled in the north, however, this mill - like the other mills in Rhode Island - hit difficult financial times and eventually folded. In 1957, the mill complex was sold to the Ronci Realty Company and the property was leased to numerous smaller businesses mostly involved in the costume jewelry industry. Jewelry was one of the primary industries in Rhode Island until free trade agreements sent much of that business overseas. The mill complex is now vacant, although construction is underway to turn the complex into condominiums was still maintaining the historic exterior symbolic of the Industrial Revolution.
Today's photo is an HDR image produced using 10 bracketed images across a 9-stop exposure range. I had the unexpected pleasure of being given a tour of the interior of the mill today thanks to a generous custodian on the grounds that saw me taking my exterior photos. Watch for those photos to be posted as soon as I've finished processing them.
Post processing today started in Photomatix Pro where I combined 10 images across a 9-stop exposure range and tone-mapped the resulting composite image. The TIF was saved and brought into PSE. I then applied a classic filter in my Topaz B&W FX plug-in and adjusted color sensitivity sliders, adaptive exposure, regions, contrast, boost black, boost white, protect highlights, and details. A levels adjustment was also added in PSE.
