I was born and raised in the hills of southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia. Soon I found that I would have to make do with what was available in the surrounding area. Large cities and other countries were just things that were found in books and on TV .

Perhaps it was the best way to begin my journey in this physical life. People in this area have always bonded into tight knit groups, but unlike in some other areas, all came together when needed.

My Father was raised during the Great Depression and told me that his family never knew of the depression, for everyone around them were just as poor as they were!

In a sense, it was the same for me. I didn't know of the bitterness of the struggle for different races before equality became a catch word. Some of my school friends were black, some had red hair, some were short, some were tall...I never paid much attention to it.

When I found this wonderful hobby of PHOTOGRAPHY, I discovered that I could see the world through others eyes. I wanted to see how they lived. What was IMPORTANT to them. I wanted to know how they lived their everyday lives. I also wanted people to see what I saw, and how it affected me.

With this in mind, you will find everyday events of a HILLBILLY in my pages on Flickr. Occasionally, I'll slip off to visit another area and hopefully convey what I see there and how I feel about it.

Sometimes, I'll post things that make me laugh...people tend to do far to little of that. Sometimes, I'll post things that make me sad. Sometimes, I just post photographs so people can see themselves.

I hope that you enjoy visiting my photos as much as I enjoy seeing a small part of your world and watching how you capture it.

For Explore and other diddies on Big Huge Labs, you can go to:

bighugelabs.com/dna.php?username=17082153@N00

A note to those that fav. my photographs; if I see nothing on your pages, or feel that you are collecting for weird reasons, you will be blocked.

I'll help anyone that asks for it, for I have learned much from people on flickr myself.

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An update: I now have my business license in the state of West Virginia. My company name is MICHAELS PHOTOGRAPHY de NEMOURS. Believe it or not, many hours are spent on taking and editing the photographs that you see on these pages. It's nice to know that you enjoy them so much, that you just have to copy them, but remember...Copying and printing images that I have under copyright protection without my permission is stealing.

YOU asked me to take my time and equipment to produce a quality product, and I've done so. Now it's time for you to decide which images you would like to have.

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Update as of 2011:

I am now officially calling myself a professional photographer. To visit my website where you may order prints, please go to www.MICHAELSPHOTOGRAPHydeNEMOURS.COM/