Authentic Texas Spring/Summer 2021

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LIFE

d e e p i n t h e art

Putting Words to Photographs Ambrotype Photography and Fort McKavett

by Tammie Virden

DON’T MISS Visit Menard menardchamber.com Fort McKavett State Historic Site

066 FM 864 Fort McKavett, TX 76841 (325) 396-2358

Cody Mobley, Collodion Artist facebook.com/ RubyAmbrotypes

Photos Courtesy Steven Lyons

W

hen you step onto the grounds of Fort McKavett, you are met with a sense of nostalgia. You can almost imagine soldiers marching, horses’ hooves thundering and the bustle of an 1850s Infantry fort. State Historic Site Manager Cody Mobley is doing his best to preserve that same nostalgia. Mobley began researching period type photography and seeking someone to document the fort using the process that would have been prevalent back in the 1850s. He ended up teaching himself the process of ambrotype wet plate photography. Documenting history has been a passion throughout his life. As a young boy growing up in Olfen, a small town in Runnels County, Mobley had one of the best influencers of all things historic. His Mamaw, Norma Jones Lee, along with his great Aunt Clara both assisted with the creation of the Wichita-Brazos Museum and Cultural Center in Benjamin.

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MENARD

FORTS TRAIL REGION


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