Bodie Ghost Town
If you look at the rest of this Abandonedscapes gallery, you will find that I approach photographing an abandoned place with a fair amount of research trying to understand the history. Then I photograph the location with an effort to artistically honor that history. That didn’t happen in Bodie. Bodie ghost town is a large abandoned 19th century mining town that the state of California preserves as a historic site. The buildings are not restored, they are stabilized only.
As we walked around the town I found little interest in the details of the history. I was only noticing scenes. As someone who is fascinated by history almost as much as photography, it was surprising that I didn’t want to immerse myself in the story of this onetime nearly lawless and remote western mining town. Why? One the reason was that this story is big and has been told many times, but the better reason is probably that I just didn’t “bond” with the history, but I did bond with the Place and here is the result.
Clicking on any photo below will open the gallery.
Around Bodie
Bodie Interiors
Bodie Art
Sometimes, composition, shape and texture for a more artistic, even abstract view of Bodie.
