GRAHAM WHATMOUGH
“The best thing about Fort McMurray is the spirit!”
“I want to try to change the people’s perceptions of Fort McMurray,” said Graham, and by dint of a new hobby, an artistic eye and the fortune of being in the right place at the right time, he has been doing that quite successfully. It was sometime in 2015 when Graham’s panoramic high-resolution high view pictures started showing up on social media in YMM. It was clear he had an eye for a picture, and the work he did with his drone camera was exciting and innovative. The port work he was doing was described by some as high art, and although he wasn’t making a fortune, he was enjoying his work, and wondering whether there was way to make a living from it.
Then there was the fire, and Graham was one of the few people in town able to tell the story visually. What was most striking were his ‘after’ shots showing the blackened forests and the devastation bordering and encroaching into the community. To a world already sympathetic to the plight of Fort McMurray, Graham’s imagery bore silent testimony to the devastation.
From St. Thomas, Ontario, Graham has been here nine years now. His aptly titled Facebook page and website, ‘Where the Highway Ends’, have some captivating photos and videos, especially the river break up from 2016. There is one part where the drone barely skims above the ice between the two bridges that is absolutely breathtaking. If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, then every shot that Graham takes is a book in itself showing the beauty of our land, and the beneficiaries are the people of YMM.
