Arrested Decay by bmac62
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Description
The Swazey Hotel. Please zoom...
Yesterday we visited Bodie, California...or rather the remains of Bodie. It was founded in 1859 when gold was discovered in the surrounding hills. Between 1879 and 1880 the population grew from about 20 to 10,000. Only about five percent of the buildings it contained in its 1880s heyday remain. Today, it stands just as time, fire and the elements have left it...a genuine California gold mining ghost town. There were 2,000 buildings in the 1880s...today 110.
The mill for working the gold ore closed in 1938. The town survived until sometime in the 1940s. In 1962 the State of California turned the town into a State Park. A great deal of preservation and stabilization was done and today the town is maintained in what California calls a state of "arrested decay".
Comments (34)
debbielove
I am guessing in not much more time, nature and the elements will claim these old buildings as their own.. Super shot mate! Rob
photosynthesis
I visited there decades ago & honestly don't remember it well at all. This is a fantastic shot - I love the POV, the crispness of it, the rich wood textures & the deep blue sky - an outstanding composition in every way...
jgeorge
Thanks for the piece of history... Your picture make me think about the films we call 'western'...
anahata.c
Well I've been here 90 minutes, and I'm going to have to go back to sleep. It's no reflection on your work: Your work kept me going in the middle of my night, which is a compliment! But if I have to end---for now---this was a good place to do it. Here you show your sense of 'just the right hues', 'just the right amount of light', that spice-sense you spoke of: It's like fine cognac, where the power is in the subtlest details; the specificity, the sharpness of each taste, is total and beautiful. You have such beautiful tones here! Yes, pieces like this speak of care, of someone who slaves over a shot to coax it to perfection, like a great leather-maker who tans, dyes and buffs the leather until it has a hue and texture that's heavenly, thus paying homage to the grand beast who once wore it. Maybe 'homage' is a good word for part of what you do, total respect for your subject...Beautiful tones on the house. And a fine pov, angling it amidst all those rolling desolate hillocks. With the left-most window (our left) winking at us. And the total contrast of the shadow on the building's right side, with its facade. Or the strong detail of the grasses on the far left. And the crystalline shadow-play on the right side. Then you have that deep night-blue on top, morphing into a lighter blue below: The darker blues give great contrast to those orangey browns and sepias. (Those are complementary colors---they're opposite each other on a color wheel, thus creating strong contrasts.) They contrast beautifully. This is about contrasts, but also about desolate detail; and the almost detail-less shadow on the side of the house makes it seem almost unreal---which is what I assume these old relics feel like, when you come upon them. A beautiful use of the detail of your camera (and lenses); it would've been very hard to get this clarity with a lesser camera. But it fed into your eye which has always seen these kinds of displays, found them, nurtured them, etc. Eerie, desolate and beautiful. It hit me the minute it went up. I'll be back for more (it's 4:45 my time), but it's been a pleasure once again!