Photo by Michelle Crefasi
It was a detour, really. Michelle Crefasi and her husband had plans to visit Lake Martin during a spot of warm weather until their route was disrupted by traffic and the couple was sent spiraling south toward Plaquemine. The spirit of exploration was resilient. “My husband wanted to go by the sugar mill,” said Crefasi. “He had done work there many years ago.”
Located in Brusly, the Cinclare Sugar Mill, established as “Marengo” in 1855 and renamed “Cinclare” by new owner James H. Laws upon purchase in 1878, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill, an amalgam of four former plantations, once acted as a “company town,” with housing for managers and workers on the premises. Operations ceased in 2005, but the remaining structures still invited plenty of curiosity from the visiting couple. “I tend to see things differently with my camera around,” said Crefasi.
Tactile elements often catch her eye as she roams a landscape. That delight in detail comes through in her photographs. “It was all essentially one color,” said Crefasi of the barn pictured above, “but with so many different textures.”
Crefasi admits to being particular about each composition. “I don’t like spending a lot of time editing, so I’m a little preoccupied to get things right as I take [the photograph].” Her husband, an outdoor enthusiast who frequently accompanies Crefasi on her photo trips, takes his wife’s diligence in stride. Crefasi laughed: “He says, ‘You just make sure you give me credit as being the pack mule on your outing.’”
Details on Relics 2016, our ongoing photography series, can be found here.
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