Inside Bodie

page 4 of 4

Stephen Fischer Photography

I was very pleased with helpfulness and demeanor of the docents and state park employee escorts. They were both educational and flexible in how they worked with us.  Their attitude was positive and trusting, giving myself and others enough flexibility to get good shots without being too heavy-handed or overly restricted. I can also see that one would have to be careful about allowing such access to a typical tourists due to the delicate nature of these settings.  The level of management and their approach seems appropriate and only added to the positive experience for this visit.

Making use of the availble light, it was quite interesting to come up with pleasing compositions.  When one of the other photographers in the group wanted to use the on-camera flash a few times I cringed, but bit my tongue.  I found the light coming through the windows to create a much more natural and attractive look. Sometime sunbeams through the windows would illuminate certain subjects to could be used to put the focus in the right place and tended to help create a more powerful composition. 

While immersed in the photography of these building interiors I was surprised how quickly time flew. By noon the light had become less interesting anyway, and I was starting to feel fatigued, having been up since about 4:30 am that morning with only a small breakfast that I was able to conjour up in my motel room. Walking away from this experience I felt good with what I had captured, but at the same time felt intrigued to explore more ghost towns and what interesting compositions I could come up with in the future.

- Stephen Fischer