Dennis Ariza has been a photographer since 1969, going from black-and-white photography to color, and then making the jump to digital.
While he's primarily a wildlife photographer, there's one static subject that keeps drawing him back: Bodie, California.
Ariza went to Bodie with a friend a decade ago and was instantly smitten by the eerie ghost town. He's been back at least once a year ever since.
"I find something intriguing about the place every time I go," he told Insider, describing a town so frozen in time that looks like its residents were "abducted by aliens."
Keep scrolling to see some of his most intriguing shots.
Photographer Dennis Ariza has been documenting the ghost town of Bodie, California, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, annually for over a decade.
It was a notoriously dangerous Wild West town, infamous for the violence that accompanied its many saloons, brothels, gambling dens, and red-light district.
While the town's mines opened in 1861, Bodie's decline started in 1879. It was fully abandoned by 1942 when the last mine closed, and it became a State Historic Park in 1962.
"When the town closed, there were still six residents," Ariza said. "All but one perished under strange circumstances."
The Boone Store and Warehouse still has canned goods on its shelves.
Dennis Ariza
Ariza said that often when mines closed back then, people would simply pack up their personal belongings and leave everything else behind in order to beat others to jobs elsewhere.
They'd find the next gold mining town and search for a new gig, as well as an abandoned home to move into.
People often took their personal belongings but left behind furniture.
Dennis Ariza
"The first time I went to Bodie, it was really an odd experience, eerie, because I got the feeling that the people were abducted by aliens," Ariza said.
An outhouse that fits the whole family at once.
Dennis Ariza
"They just packed up right in the middle of dinner," he added, citing homes that he found "with food on the table and pots on the stove."
Ariza said it looks like people were "abducted by aliens."
Dennis Ariza
In the school, he said he's found open homework assignments and half-eaten apples left on desks.
The school still has homework assignments on the chalkboard.
Dennis Ariza
"There's a lot of photographic opportunities," Ariza said of what keeps him coming back. "Every time I go I see something different, something that I didn't see before."
Some of his favorite spots are the general store, which he said still has canned goods and bags of coffee on shelves, as well as the instantly recognizable barbershop and doctor's office.
While he's not looking for anything specific to photograph when he goes, Ariza said he automatically always starts at the church, and sort of does the same route every time.
Ariza also mentioned the "curse of Bodie," which claims that anyone who takes anything from the town will have bad luck. He said "souvenirs" people have stolen keep getting sent back to the local ranger's station with letters of apology.
Ariza figured that he couldn't be alone with his fascination with Bodie, so he decided to self-publish a photography book on the town "to tell its story."
The "curse of Bodie" claims that taking "souvenirs" brings bad luck.
Dennis Ariza
"People say, 'Oh, I would love to go there. It sounds so interesting,' but they never go, they'll never see it," he said. "To me, it was a chance to let other people see it."
