["Many years ago, while traipsing around through the Great Smoky Mountains in western North Carolina, I came upon an ancient mill." So begins E. L. Moore's article Mountain water wheel mill that appeared in the Spring 1961 issue of Model Trains.]
Of all the E. L. Moore photos that I've seen so far, this is my favourite. It didn't appear in his Spring '61 Model Trains article, Mountain water wheel mill, and I'm surprised because it's highly evocative. I was lucky to have seen this model in person at the meet-up, so if I ever want to try and colourize the image I'll have some reference material.
In this composite image, that's his photo of the prototype on the left, and the model is on the right. The model's built from balsa as was his custom, and you can see it's a good representation of the prototype.
Here's a different scene with some backwoods farm buildings. This is a charming photo, and illustrative of the care he exercised in making his images, but I like the opening photo better because the composition is more focused and less busy.
And what about that funky lopsided cabin in the back? Have we seen that before?
ReplyDeleteI mean the one WAY in the back. The swaybacked cabin is nice but there's one against the backdrop that's even weirder.
ReplyDeleteThat little cabin near the mountain peak, way back in the scene is very similar to a little cabin that appeared in his Rowland Emett diorama: https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca/2016/02/e-l-moores-ode-to-emmett.html
DeleteTake a look at the cabin that is on the right hand side, that is to the right and below the ship overhanging the peak. However, I'll see about blowing up the images, extracting some detail shots with the cabins, and posting the results at the blog - please stay tuned :-)
It would not surprise me a bit if that cabin in the far background wasn't a drawing stuck to the backdrop strategically placed to look like an actual structure. Has it been photo'd from any other angle?
DeleteI think it is indeed a model. It was also used in his Rowland Emett diorama. I'll check my other photos today.
DeleteNeat. I'd say they're from the same plans, but maybe different models. Hard to say for sure.
ReplyDelete