Michael Whitmore

 On one of my hikes on the Clearfork of The Brazos, near the Bartholemew ranch, I spotted this old hay rake with trees growing up through it and decided to get a photo.
As I was setting up my tripod this doe jumped up from her bed and ran about ten feet then stopped, looked and back as if to say well here I am take my picture.



Michael Whitmore

The sign says it all. Not long ago this area of Texas was the frontier, and every year about one quarter of the residents put on an outdoor musical to remember this Frontier.
I moved here about 15 years ago, and it really is the most incredible show I had ever seen.

FORT RICHARDSON BARRACKS

Cheryl and I went to FORT RICHARDSON to get some photos of the old fort. The people there were very nice and have done a great job keeping the frontier heritage alive for our future generations.
This photo is of the restored barracks. As I was walking around the inside thinking of the best way to photograph this scene, I could hear the Texas wind whistling in the pickets that made up the walls of the structure. In my mind I could just imagine what it must have been like to be in my late teens far from home, serving in the military and making this barracks my home.
I took my sound recorder out and recorded the sounds of the wind and took a couple of photos, and with a little computer magic was able to get the effect I was looking for.

Early one sunday morning not to long ago. I went out to Fort Griffin State Historical Site to get some sunrise photos. As I was walking through the old stone remnants of the fort I tried to imagine what it must have been like for the residents here. It's been told some of the officers had their families with them and it made me think... well there had to be children here also. Up to now I hadn't heard of the children being mentioned in any of the tales of the fort or the town down on the flat. As I was backing up the photos I had taken I remembered thinking of the children when I took this photo and thought this photo needs a child.
Back in October I had gone to the Living History Days At the fort and had a photograph of a little girl dressed in period costume and decided to she was the one. With a little digital trickery I was able to get the effect I was looking for.
In doing so I sincerely hope that this photo will be seen by descendants of these outpost fort children and they will contact me with stories past down through their families.

This Photo was taken many years ago in 1984 when I had a minimum wage job, two children and a wife at home. Needless to say I did a little hunting. I had tracked and stalked this one for about two weeks, found his patterns and paths and the time of day he would be in different areas. This cool September day I put some meat on the table. I was 29 years old fixing to be the big 30.

I took this photograph at night with the stars shining bright and could

almost feel what it must have been like to live here at the time of Fort Griffin

and Hide Town,  on the flat below.  It was called by  this name by the buffulo skinners

 who came to the town. Under this tree with a little imagination you may hear the

early morning bugle from the fort or maybe sounds of the town below.

Old Serpent

SPRING IS AROUND THE CORNER, and this old serpent will be out to share a bottle with his guitar playing cowboy, drinking buddy and might even catch a game of cards with him. It happens every year the last two weeks in June here in Albany, Texas.         "I seen it myself."

This is what a Fort Griffin sunrise looks like. I went out yesterday before sunup to capture some of the beauty that most people never see. I was there at the lookout, getting a silloette of a large live oak, which I had photographed at night earlier this winter, when the sun came rising from the horizon. True Texas Beauty.
Cudos to the people who take care of our heritage at FORT GRIFFIN TEXAS, IT WILL BE A MUST SEE ATTRACTION THIS SPRING MORE THAN USUAL. They have done a control burn and removed all the old growth on the entire site. When it greens up over the next couple of months, It will be like a "BEAUTIFUL LADY IN HER DANCING DRESS."

CALLAHAN CITY TEXAS GHOST TOWN

Ghost Towns of Texas
 My wife and I have decided to try to find all the little and not so little ghost towns in Texas and try to get an idea of what it must have been like to live in that era.  Callahan city is located about 9 miles south east of Baird. It was established in 1858. It grew into a small town with two stores and a post office. It must have had a church, the  cemetery is nearby. There isn't much history to be found about this little town. It was the county seat for a little while. It's been told that it was close the the WESTERN CATTLE TRAIL to DODGE CITY and a good watering hole. There is no sign of a town being there now except the cemetery.
 This photograph is looking west towards BELLE PLAIN, another ghost town that I will visit later. The final deathblow came when the railroad bypassed the city in summer 1878.
The highlighted area of the photograph is where CALLAHAN CITY  originally stood.

Ever hear the phrase" I AM SO HUNGRY I COULD EAT A SKUNK?" Well this redtail hawk was!!!
Cheryl and I were out for a short road trip to photograph a little known Texas ghost town named CALLAHAN CITY, near Baird.
I spotted this redtailed hawk feeding on some roadkill.
Cheryl was driving so I told her to slow down, I wanted to try to capture him taking off, I never dreamed he would take his lunch with him. 

Fort Griffin Gunfighter

As children do we all played cowboy and indians.  Well last October in 2010 at the Fort Griffin Living History Days, I met this actor/ gunfighter and had a flash back to childhood. I told this gunfighter to point his gun at me like he meant it.  I took this photo then thought,  REAL GUN, COULD BE  LOADED,DIDN'T KNOW THIS MAN. Now I call That LIVING HISTORY.

ALBANY TEXAS SNOW STORM

This is the morning after a snow storm came over  Albany Texas, January 2011. The wind was blowing about 40 miles per hour creating wind chill temperatures near 0. The fog in the background is actually snow being blown by the wind.
I often think about the first settlers in this region, what it must have been like when the temperatures one day will be in the 60's or 70's then a norther like this would blow in.

PORTRAIT OF A HONEY BEE

Michael Whitmore

This little slideshow was a challenge, the bees wouldn't slow down a bit. I'll back up a little. During the cold snap last week, here in Albany Texas I ran out of regular bird food, and bought wild game bird feed, well, unbeknown to me it has a small amount of molasses in the ingredients. The birds didn't like it much, but it really helps the starving honey bees, you see there are no flowers this time of year. The bees came by the hundreds and would dig in the powdery feed, collecting the powder like pollen then fly back to the hive.
  Back to the challenging part, working with a cannon 55-250mm lens with the camera set on macro my depth of field is only about a half inch. To catch
a honey bee that can fly up to 15 miles per hour, in a half inch of space is the challenge.
You can learn alot from a HONEY BEE.

SNOW BIRDS ALBANY TEXAS STYLE

   I took these Photos during a severe snow storm here in Albany, Texas January 2011. To get the right angle  and position I crawled under a porch, and laid on the ground for about an hour. I came out pretty cold, but my wife took pitty on me a brought me a hot chocolate while I was backing them up. These photos are well worth the discomfort to get them.

                                                 I hope you all enjoy them.