Continuing efforts to preserve it have been aided by Gunnison and Aspen Historical Societies, residents of Crystal and Marble, and interested individuals caught by the spectacle of the old Mill.The Crystal Mill is located 6 miles east of Marble, just before the ghost town of Crystal. It’s owned by the state of Colorado and run by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. 2. Marble happens to be a hidden, wild, rustic wonderland that is every bit as enjoyable as the mill itself.While it’s possible to hike to Crystal Mills from Marble, I opted for a Jeep Tour, booked through Queuing up next to the black, dust-encrusted Jeep with the other tour attendees, I saw a bowlegged older gentleman in a purple baseball cap sauntering toward us. Believed to be the most-photographed waterfall in Colorado, North Clear Creek Falls is an impressive waterfall that surges nearly 100 feet down into a deep canyon.
Getting up close loses a lot of that narrative.So, to try something unique, I went back to the second spot, hopped over the rope that guarded the trail down, and stepped just a few feet forward. Its precarious perch on an outcropping of rock just above the Crystal River, framed by beautiful aspens and a backdrop of stunning mountains, gives it an undeniable visual appeal. And while I didn’t go down there myself, I looked at more than 100 photos by people who had and the angle didn’t appeal to me. It’s located above the Crystal River in Crystal, Colorado, between the towns of Glenwood Springs and Aspen on Highway 82, seven miles southeast of Marble. Its rugged appearance gives it a ghostly haunted feel. The Mill can also be accessed by horseback, but on a busy summer or fall day, riders will encounter many vehicles and the route is very rocky. The Crystal Mill (Old Mill) or historically known as the Sheep Mountain Mill, is one of the most beautiful, picturesque and reputed to be the most photographed area in Colorado state. So, you want detail—lots of it.This is tricky, though, because you want a very wide shot to get the full picture of the surroundings. The 'Old Mill at Crystal', which is 8 miles east of Marble (via a 4 x 4 only road) is reputed to be the most photographed site in Colorado, and is practically an icon for Colorado. Post-processing is like adding spices to a meal—people have different tastes and this is a lot about what makes your signature flavor, or look, in photography.
As it turns out, though, Crystal Mill is not really a mill at all.The turbine and shack that surround it were originally built in 1892. So, with that as an inspiration to come see it, I could not possibly let go of it in deciding how to shoot it.When you arrive at the stop where Crystal Mill is, there are two main areas where people are taking photos, and you can see in these photos how they differ. Nobody seemed to have a problem with me doing that, and it was perfectly safe.
The penstock powered the air compressor. The longer I can keep the shutter open, the more of the image hits the sensor for detail. It’s one of the few waterfalls in Colorado that doesn’t require a long, sweaty hike for viewing, so there's no excuses to miss this one. Driven by the flowing water of the Crystal River, the facility was used as an air compressor that powered pneumatic tools and helped ventilate local mines. I soaked in the Colorado air and wondered—in that way that sometimes changes the course of rivers—what When visiting popular spots like Crystal Mill, there’s usually the shot that pretty much everyone gets, and then there’s the one that’s a little more unique—the one I can call my own. Today it is known as âThe Crystal Millâ.The mill, constructed in 1893, harnessed the river adjacent to the mill to power the air compressor housed inside. Both were quite nice, and photographers were casually strolling back and forth between them, chatting about settings and glare. I had my ISO settings as low as possible (with my camera, that’s under 100), as this gives me the highest fidelity image (higher ISO, more noise), and my shutter was very slow (and on a tripod). While the Maroon Bells are touted as the most photographed place in Colorado, pictures simply don’t do the peaks justice. Filter effects can look good, but are applied to every part of your image equally. For those who want even more features, you can pay for software like PTGUI Pro or AutoPan Pro. I didn’t know how much of my camera’s memory card I’d filled up, but it hardly seemed like it could be enough to capture this unnatural wonder. As a viewer, you get a larger sense of this edge that the mill sits on and the flow around it.
Birds of all kinds flew by and distant rain clouds were only just beginning to gather behind the far off peaks.We climbed back into the Jeep and continued on. Once the dynamite was detonated, the miners removed the ore.The mill closed its operations in 1917. I also start to get a semi-long exposure of the water, which gives it a nice flowy look at parts. There’s no denying it’s a fairly perfect photo—so the question is, can you do something different?You can head into town and buy the ticket (and sign the waiver) that allows you to climb down to the river and take shots from down there. As the Jeep lurched forward, Tony handed me a binder of photos he’d collected of overturned cars—ones that weren’t prepared for the journey.Between dodging divots in the trail, Tony added even more texture to the already rich landscape. Not to mention, more detail than any single shot could ever grab. …