From a recent trip... I was surprised, actually saddened, by the degree Bodie has degraded over the past 35 years. When I first started photographing there 35 years ago, the entire focus of the park rangers was to maintain Bodie in a state of "arrested decay." At the time this meant preserving it in the state it was then in. To this goal, the rangers would delicately blow dust and straighten out or clear objects that had been moved or broken by wind, settling or the occasional earthquakes that hit the surrounding areas. It remained in that state for about the first 7 or 8 years I photographed there. Then sometime later, I'm guessing about 16 or so years ago, they simply stopped doing anything. Perhaps state budget cuts, I don't know, but the lack of care is definitely showing. This time around, the place looked sad enough to me I decided this will likely be my last photographic foray into Bodie's interiors. I offer these here simply for whatever they're worth as a sort of sad goodbye to a place I essentially cut my photographic teeth on.
Jul 15, 2025 at 03:18 PM
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