I was in California with a few friends, all of us arriving on the 9th of September 2001. These photographs were taken a couple of weeks later as we made our way through Yosemite from west to east. It's a stunning part of the world and remarkably different from the landscapes we have in the UK.

This abandoned mining town in western California has been protected since 1962 when it was made into a State Historic Park. By all accounts it would have made a pretty cold existence given its altitude but at the time I visited, the weather was kind. It was a great place to visit, and even better to photograph as there were so few tourists.

I really liked the car that had decayed so much that it seemed to sink into the landscape, but it was a very difficult shot to take as the angles were limited and the sun made it hard to get. I didn't realize that I had one shot with everything in place, albeit only half the car, but I really like how it came out.