Photo Assignment: Yosemite, B&W, 1985
Forty years ago, I packed a camera and a few rolls of film for a trip to Yosemite. Revisiting those images today brings back the wonder and surprise of that journey.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I’ve been scanning several thousand negatives and slides from the mid-70s to the 90s. Yes, it’s a bear, and I still have a loooong way to go.
But some interesting things have come up during that process, and in today’s Photo Assignment post, you’ll see a roll of film (mostly) that I took during the summer of 1985 in a brief trip to Yosemite Park. Over the years, I’ve been there at least three times: twice on my own; once was planned, and the other was spontaneous when I left San Francisco after staying with a friend in Santa Cruz, and I just decided, what the hell, and turned east, away from the setting sun. That was a nutty trip. I had no plans other than to drive to Yosemite.
I arrived around dusk and managed to get inside the park and slide my car off the road into a small area and sleep until dawn, when I started to explore the park.
However, in 1985, my girlfriend, Lori, and I traveled to Santa Cruz and planned a couple of days in Yosemite. I'm pretty sure we camped out for a couple of nights and did a fair amount of hiking. I took several rolls of color film on the trip, but upon reviewing the negatives, I was surprised to find a series of black and white images, many of which captivated my senses. Just enough to fit on one small roll of film.
In the photos, you’ll see that it was a somewhat hazy day, and the light and haze seemed to make the sky vanish. But the shapes that came through: trees, El Capitan, Half Dome, and many others, came through boldly, even though at times they were faint. I mean, these are shapes etched into the national consciousness.
I hope you enjoyed this little visit to Yosemite National Park in 1985 as much as I did!