Abandoned History
We found this abandoned schoolhouse during a hunt for wildflowers and supercells one Saturday this past May. We were enjoying the wildflowers in West Texas while waiting for thunderstorms to form in Oklahoma.
This used to be the public school for a community called Whiteflat in the Panhandle of Texas. There is little left in the area other than farms, ranches, and wildland. It has become a ghost town, just like many of the other small communities in the region which thrived in the early part of the 20th century (before the Dust Bowl).
In a perfect world, I would have been able to capture the old school building and a sky of clouds a little closer to the horizon. But, as we all know, we seldom find just that “perfect” shot. To try to make the sky a little more interesting, I experimented by adding some texture. I’m not completely happy with the final product, but it’s definitely more interesting than the original. Too bad there was a barbed-wire fence surrounding the property, or I would have braved entry and probably discovered a mine of far better photo opportunities. Maybe one day I’ll go back and explore the area a little closer.
Too bad it was left to the elements, but well preserved in the desert too I guess.