Bodie, California: An American Ghost Town Slideshow
“Goodbye God. I am going to Bodie.” So wrote a little girl in her diary when she found out her family was taking her to the infamous gold mining town of that name. It was a rough-and-tumble town of some 10,000 that sprang up literally overnight after gold was discovered in 1879. Living conditions always were difficult, and often brutal. Violence was commonplace, but riches were to be had and for a number of years the town flourished. Eventually, however, the gold ran out and Bodie proved itself not too tough to die.
There are stunning images of this quintessential American ghost town to be found from fellow photographers Bill Fortney, Jim Begley, Richard Small, Raymond Jabola, Kendall Reeves, Bill Pekala, RC Concepcion … the list of friends who shot this desolate location with me in June of 2012 goes on and on. But I am not about to get into a photo shootout with such a talented group, no matter if the town’s history would approve of that method. I have put together a slideshow of some of my images that gives them a bit of a different look and feel, my small contribution to this iconic town of the Old West. I hope you enjoy it even a small bit as much as I enjoyed the company of my fellow photographers on that His Light Ministry photo tour.