Goin' Back To Bodie, Bodie ... I Think So

Wow. Bodie and Yosemite in one day. And what a long day it was. Driving about four hours to get to Bodie was long enough, but I will be doing it at least one more time. More on that in a bit. And then two more hours in the car after that to get to where I wanted to shoot in Yosemite. Whew. But the day was worth it, and I got what I wanted in both locations.

At Bodie, I got the interiors of the some of the buildings and homes of the ghost town. It wasn’t easy at first – it took me a little while to figure out how to shoot inside the buildings with windows without getting all the reflections from the glass. I saw other people trying to avoid the nightmares of shooting through the windows, but they couldn’t quite figure it out. And that’s a secret that’s going to stay with me for a while, unless you want to go with me one of my Bodie workshops (I’m sure other pros have figured it out though).

What a fun day it was in Bodie. I got see areas of the town I didn’t see the last time I was there, and a highlight was the jail. I’m not sure why – probably because it didn’t resemble anything you see in a western movie jail. No bars – just locked doors. I was bummed the I couldn’t get a shot of the interior to bring back. There were bars on the outside windows, and I couldn’t compose a good shot of the inside with the bars in the way.

But, I did find one of the left-behind cars I was looking for last time I was there, and I made some great images of it. The car was one of my big reasons for wanting to go back. It took some searching, but I found it – and a couple of others too.

When I was making images of the inside of buildings, I couldn’t quite pull off the ones I wanted inside the school house, so I’ll be going back for that, and I also want to reshoot the outside of the firehouse. I didn’t like the way mine turned out after this trip. So at least one more trip is in order for me, and I hope to do it soon before the snow starts to fall up there. Bodie is 8,000 feet up in the eastern Sierras.

I was after one thing in Yosemite, and that was a picture of Half Dome from Glacier Point, and I got it. But I will tell you, pictures don't do the scenery justice. You have to go there. It is awe inspiring to look out across the valley at this monster rock. No photograph can do it justice – it doesn’t matter who the photographer is. It has to be experienced to fully understand it.

Driving to Glacier Point, I entered Yosemite on Highway 120 from Highway 395. I’ve never seen that side of the park, but I have seen many photographs of Tuolumne Meadows, and I was hoping to see some of that awe inspiring scenery from the road. I didn’t. It was unfortunate. From most of the photographs I’ve seen, the meadows looked green and plush. I guess it was the wrong time to the year – the grasses were yellow and appeared to be dried out. I kept on moving, but I would like to go back after next spring’s snowmelt. I look forward to it.

I’m not sure what my next big photo project is going to be, but I’m really liking the eastern Sierras. Maybe this winter I’ll get up there after a few snowfalls and get some of those awesome mountainscapes.