Photographer Nick Carver has produced a semi-popular “Photography on Location” video series on YouTube.
Recently, Carver traveled to the Route 66 town of Ludlow, California, deep in the Mojave Desert. I’m not a photography junkie, but I found Carver’s video from the near-ghost town interesting and engaging.
In a follow-up video, Carver reviews the images he took in Ludlow on two film media. This video is interesting, as well:
The Ludlow video has racked up more than 27,000 views, and the follow-up more than 12,000. They’re not in viral-clip territory, but those are healthy numbers regardless.
Ludlow is one of my favorite Route 66 towns. The Ludlow Cafe remains a 1960s time capsule, and the adjacent Ludlow Motel is clean, quiet and inexpensive.
Ludlow also remains an ideal spot to begin or end the day of exploring Amboy Crater less than 30 miles away.
(Screen-capture image from video of Nick Carver shooting an abandoned house in Ludlow, California)
Watch out for the hillbilly in the blue Ford pickup truck labelled “Ludlow Maintenance and Security”. He seems to hate people, cameras, and life itself. He delights in harassing photographers and doesn’t understand that there are boundaries between the private land he is supposed to protect and county/state/federal land which is not his to patrol.
Ditto for a guy named Mitchell in Amboy, except he’s got a silver pickup truck and carries a handgun. He’ll tell you he used to be a NY cop, but he doesn’t have an accent at all. Reality is he’s a retired security guard from San Bernardino.
Grumble.
I just became a better amateur photographer, just by watching these videos. Wow! That guys is both a scientist and an artist. But what the hell is left to guard or protect in Ludlow, California?