Bodie! Post your images!

[Preston]

Merg, John, and Peter,

Beautiful work, gents!

--P

[tgtaylor]

For those who have been there in the winter, I'm curious how you got there. When I tried a couple winters ago (March) I was able to drive a short distance on the road and then encountered a sign saying the road and Bodie itself were closed for the winter. I was tempted to hike but then I was afraid that when I got there someone would tell me I couldn't make photographs while it was closed.

I've visited in the summer and it wasn't all that crowded though I did encounter a woman who was standing in front of a building I wanted to photograph. She obviously saw what I was trying to do so she just stood there doing nothing until I gave up. I guess she considered herself the winner.

I haven't been there in the winter but a few years ago several of us were contemplating a winter visit. At the time I had visions of renting a snomobile.

Unless they changed, Bodie is open year round but they don't plow the road in the winter. I think you could make it in with snow tires and/or chains.

Thomas

[Merg Ross]

Thank you Kirk and Preston.

Brian, as Thomas notes, open all year but sometimes only accessible by snowshoes, skis, snowmobile and perhaps snow tires. Not a good place to get stuck, a long (and expensive) way for help!

[Randy]

One of those places I would like to visit before I die. Great pictures all.
When I was a young Airman stationed near the Black Hills of South Dakota back in the late 70's, some of us in the photo lab would spend our weekends finding old abandoned mining settlements from the late 1800's and early 1900's. I wasn't doing large format at the time, just 35mm and medium format. Sure would like to revisit those old places.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Merg, Repaired Window is beautiful. Thank you.

[dperez]

[View Large]
4x5 Arca-Swiss, 150mm f/5.6 Schneider Symmar-S lens, Provia 100F QL. Converted to B&W & bronze toned in CS3.

From Bodie.com: The Donnelly House - Charlie Donnelly was a butcher who married English artist Annie Pagdin. Later this house was occupied by E. W. Billeb and his wife Dolly, daughter of James S. and Martha Cain.

Mr. Billeb was the last superintendent and manager of the old Bodie and Benton Railroad (later the Mono Lake Railway & Lumber Company). The garden in front of his house used to be the only green spot in town; the hops that grew there were said to be the only green plants that could survive in Bodie.


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From Bodie.com: The Conway House - This was Bob Conway's home in Bodie. The Conway's owned a freight wagon business. Their wagons would travel from Carson City, Nevada, to Bodie and back, probably continuously during the non-winter months. If you've driven on the road to Bodie, imagine what it must have been like going down that 13 miles on unpaved, rocky, bumpy, cold, windy, and sometimes dark road.

By the time World War II began, most of the Bodie residents had left town, but Bob Conway was one of the few who stayed in Bodie.


[View Large]

The last two were made with my Ebony RW810, 300mm f/5.6 Rodenstock Apo-Sironar-N, Arista .EDU Ultra 100 8x10
Processed in a unicolor drum, Kodak Tmax RS 1:9, Bronze toned in CS3.

-Daniel

[dperez]

[View Large]


[View Large]


[View Large]

All of these were made with my Ebony RW810, 300mm f/5.6 Rodenstock Apo-Sironar-N, Arista .EDU Ultra 100 8x10
Processed in a unicolor drum, Kodak Tmax RS 1:9, Bronze toned in CS3.

The last one is my most recent, view them large.

-Daniel

[tgtaylor]

Nice images Daniel. I think that the house immediately above the Swazee (sp) Hotel was the residence of the last resident of Bodie. He moved out in the 40's or 50's leaving Bodie a complete ghost town until the State saved it. If it wasn't so far off the beaten path, Bodie would have surely succumbed to vandalism before the State of California discovered it and made it a protected State Park.

I got to go back soon!

Thomas

[dperez]

Thanks Thomas, that's one of my favorite buildings in the park. I've added some additional info below the images.

Nice images Daniel. I think that the house immediately above the Swazee (sp) Hotel was the residence of the last resident of Bodie. He moved out in the 40's or 50's leaving Bodie a complete ghost town until the State saved it. If it wasn't so far off the beaten path, Bodie would have surely succumbed to vandalism before the State of California discovered it and made it a protected State Park.

I got to go back soon!

Thomas

[mandoman7]

Nice work Daniel.