Ahwahnee Hotel 1/2014Southside Drive 10/2014Julia Parker, Basket Weaver 1/2014Wawona Hotel, Flag Raising 6/2014Curry Village Amphitheater 7/2014Jeffrey Pine, Sentinel Dome 10/2014Lake Tenaya 8/2014Ranger Ben Cunningham-Summerfield 5/2014Cook’s Meadow 11/2014Wawona Hotel, Early Morning Mist 11/2014Curry Village 7/2014Glacier Point 10/2014View from Glacier Point 10/2014Tuolumne Meadows Stable, Yosemite Wrangler 8/2014Tuolumne Meadows Stable, Corral 9/2014Tuolumne Meadows Stable, Mule Train 8/2014Dana Fork, Tuolumne River 9/2014Curry Village, Main Parking Lot 11/2014Lower Yosemite Fall 7/2014Half Dome, Trail View 10/2014Half Dome Cables 2014Half Dome Summit 10/2014Mist Trail 10/2014
Tunnel View 2/2014Valley View 12/2015Wawona Golf Course 12/2015Curry Village 12/2015
26 Comments
This site and the photos captures the true beauty and tranquility of Yosemite! Bravo Jonas!
Your work is brilliant and I appreciate the fact that you’re not trying to be Ansel. I have a very similar portfolio from 1996 when I visited and shot 35mm. Great work.
Beautiful pics Jonas-I worked in the YNpark in 1964 @ Degnans and the Ahwahnee…wish I’d been the amateur photographer I am now. I remember my co-workers as “characters” in this fishbowl of a stage for visitors from all over the world. Memories never fade of that year
Many changes and yet …..
Wonderful work that has transported me back to family summer trips in the 1950’s. Camping in the valley on the Merced, Mule train trips and climbing Half Dome. Thank you.
During 1974 and 1975 I worked summer college jobs at the Village Store in Yosemite Valley. It was probably the best crossroads in the park to see “yosemite people” of every ilk. And I noticed them and enjoyed interacting with them all, along with all of the other splendors of the park during my free time. In the Fall of 1975, I landed my dream job at the Park, employed for the next 12 years by the Yosemite Association, now the Yosemite Conservancy. On my first week in that new job, my dear new boss, Marie, who I was in line to replace, informed me of an evening “assignment” we would be participating in. She wanted to introduce me to park personnel I would be working with. The park’s Chief Ranger had recently been assigned a transfer to a new position in a different park, and I was to accompany her to his farewell party. During his goodbye speech he noted how much he was going to miss the park people. I was agast; no mention of Half Dome, El Cap, the Falls!!! 12 years later I left my early career at the park and to this day I miss all of those geologic and natural treasures. But the bonds I made with people, both visitors and staff, then and there have lasted as strongly as any sunset alpenglo on the peaks of Tuolumne Meadows or the scent of springtime in the air at Happy Isles.
And it was delightful to see my dear friend Julia Parker featured in today’s photo selection. For several years my office looked out into the Indian Garden where she and her daughters and others demonstrated the crafts of the Natives.
Beautiful and nostalgic. May this heavenly place always be preserved for the people who want to come and enjoy the majesty. Privatize no. Protect yes. Please.
My husband and I met there in the summer of 1964. He was a bus boy and second year a waiter. I was only there one summer and I was a maid in camp curry, tent cabins. Frieda did not like me but i loved the gig, cleaning cabins on the route young men took to boys town. I was looking for a friend and all the men stopped to talk with me on their way home from their various shifts. My husband became a doctor and I became a social worker. We are in our 70s now but that year marked a turning point in our lives. We had a son together. All from a chance meeting in Yosemite and our days off hiking together in the high country or watching the fire falls. We can’t make it up there any more but our son continues to love to hike in the high country in Yosemite. What a great blessing to this earth! Thanks for the memories.
Thank YOU for sharing your great memories Ms. Bianchini! In addition to my photographs, the book includes memories from Ruth Ann Adams who was a nurse in the valley in 1959 as well as reflections on summers working his way through college from Kevin Starr, California State Librarian emeritus. Enjoy!
Your photos really capture the many moods of the park. I spent my first summer out of high school in 1972, hiking in the high country and camping in the valley, then worked at The Lodge as a maid for about a year. I lived in the dorms at Degnan’s where there were fewer rules and more parties! I always wanted to write a book with a chapter about each wild character I met along the way. The valley felt like a womb to me. I left my heart there along the trail, or maybe in a meadow somewhere.
This book represents the true spirit of Yosemite. It represents so succinctly the reason the park names should never be changed. Well done, beautiful images,
I arrived at age 18 to Yosemite and got a great job at The Ahwahnee Hotel in the dining room and thus began my adventure of backpacking and hiking on every set of days off. The other employees were from many different countries – Germany, England, Peru, Switzerland, and more and we hiked and laughed our way through Yosemite. Your book looks wonderful and is right on: It’s all about the people here!!!
I still live nearby the park, and after drawing on all those backcountry trips, today am a professional fine art painter. 54 years of greeting the dawn in Yosemite Valley! I am so grateful. Bravo on the book!
I thoroughly enjoy your work! Viewing these images transports me back in time – precious moments with family, hiking with friends, learning alongside students and many periods in awe. Thank you for evoking memories of time passed and inspiring adventures yet to come.
1949, 1950 I worked my summers between 10th, 11th grades at the Ahwahnee Hotel & it was the most beautiful place I have ever worked in my 87 years. It was so wonderful staying in the Camp Curry tent cabins and each night watching the Fire Falls cascading down the cliff of El Capitan. It was a most wonderful time of my life. From there to Sequoia National Park for my Senior year break after Junior Year. Have never forgotten either place and they hold a very special place in my heart.
This site and the photos captures the true beauty and tranquility of Yosemite! Bravo Jonas!
Ugh this is so gorgeous and makes me miss this terribly. Thank you for this Jonas.
Your work is brilliant and I appreciate the fact that you’re not trying to be Ansel. I have a very similar portfolio from 1996 when I visited and shot 35mm. Great work.
Beautiful pics Jonas-I worked in the YNpark in 1964 @ Degnans and the Ahwahnee…wish I’d been the amateur photographer I am now. I remember my co-workers as “characters” in this fishbowl of a stage for visitors from all over the world. Memories never fade of that year
Many changes and yet …..
“…characters in a fishbowl” I love it! Thank you!
Wonderful work that has transported me back to family summer trips in the 1950’s. Camping in the valley on the Merced, Mule train trips and climbing Half Dome. Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Cole: You paint a wonderful picture with just one sentence…sounds like great times–Yosemite and family.
The B
The B&W photos of people and land take me back to the 50’s and 60’s when I spent time in Yosemite. Thank You so much.
Thank you! I hope you can enjoy the book in August!
During 1974 and 1975 I worked summer college jobs at the Village Store in Yosemite Valley. It was probably the best crossroads in the park to see “yosemite people” of every ilk. And I noticed them and enjoyed interacting with them all, along with all of the other splendors of the park during my free time. In the Fall of 1975, I landed my dream job at the Park, employed for the next 12 years by the Yosemite Association, now the Yosemite Conservancy. On my first week in that new job, my dear new boss, Marie, who I was in line to replace, informed me of an evening “assignment” we would be participating in. She wanted to introduce me to park personnel I would be working with. The park’s Chief Ranger had recently been assigned a transfer to a new position in a different park, and I was to accompany her to his farewell party. During his goodbye speech he noted how much he was going to miss the park people. I was agast; no mention of Half Dome, El Cap, the Falls!!! 12 years later I left my early career at the park and to this day I miss all of those geologic and natural treasures. But the bonds I made with people, both visitors and staff, then and there have lasted as strongly as any sunset alpenglo on the peaks of Tuolumne Meadows or the scent of springtime in the air at Happy Isles.
Thanks for this great reply Richard-glad to spark some memories…with hope, the book will spark more!
And it was delightful to see my dear friend Julia Parker featured in today’s photo selection. For several years my office looked out into the Indian Garden where she and her daughters and others demonstrated the crafts of the Natives.
Thank you Richard! Ms. Parker is a gem for sure. The book includes an interview with her nephew, Ranger Phillip Johnson!
Beautiful and nostalgic. May this heavenly place always be preserved for the people who want to come and enjoy the majesty. Privatize no. Protect yes. Please.
Protect indeed. Thank you!
Ah, to be there, NOW! In winter snow, or river water, whatever. I want a lover in Curry Village.
My husband and I met there in the summer of 1964. He was a bus boy and second year a waiter. I was only there one summer and I was a maid in camp curry, tent cabins. Frieda did not like me but i loved the gig, cleaning cabins on the route young men took to boys town. I was looking for a friend and all the men stopped to talk with me on their way home from their various shifts. My husband became a doctor and I became a social worker. We are in our 70s now but that year marked a turning point in our lives. We had a son together. All from a chance meeting in Yosemite and our days off hiking together in the high country or watching the fire falls. We can’t make it up there any more but our son continues to love to hike in the high country in Yosemite. What a great blessing to this earth! Thanks for the memories.
Thank YOU for sharing your great memories Ms. Bianchini! In addition to my photographs, the book includes memories from Ruth Ann Adams who was a nurse in the valley in 1959 as well as reflections on summers working his way through college from Kevin Starr, California State Librarian emeritus. Enjoy!
Your photos really capture the many moods of the park. I spent my first summer out of high school in 1972, hiking in the high country and camping in the valley, then worked at The Lodge as a maid for about a year. I lived in the dorms at Degnan’s where there were fewer rules and more parties! I always wanted to write a book with a chapter about each wild character I met along the way. The valley felt like a womb to me. I left my heart there along the trail, or maybe in a meadow somewhere.
Looking at these photos with the Park now on fire, you’ve captured a Yosemite that will never be again.
I forgot, the resort and stables at Tuolumne were destoyed by heavy snows as well.
This book represents the true spirit of Yosemite. It represents so succinctly the reason the park names should never be changed. Well done, beautiful images,
I arrived at age 18 to Yosemite and got a great job at The Ahwahnee Hotel in the dining room and thus began my adventure of backpacking and hiking on every set of days off. The other employees were from many different countries – Germany, England, Peru, Switzerland, and more and we hiked and laughed our way through Yosemite. Your book looks wonderful and is right on: It’s all about the people here!!!
I still live nearby the park, and after drawing on all those backcountry trips, today am a professional fine art painter. 54 years of greeting the dawn in Yosemite Valley! I am so grateful. Bravo on the book!
I thoroughly enjoy your work! Viewing these images transports me back in time – precious moments with family, hiking with friends, learning alongside students and many periods in awe. Thank you for evoking memories of time passed and inspiring adventures yet to come.
1949, 1950 I worked my summers between 10th, 11th grades at the Ahwahnee Hotel & it was the most beautiful place I have ever worked in my 87 years. It was so wonderful staying in the Camp Curry tent cabins and each night watching the Fire Falls cascading down the cliff of El Capitan. It was a most wonderful time of my life. From there to Sequoia National Park for my Senior year break after Junior Year. Have never forgotten either place and they hold a very special place in my heart.
Sounds like sweet memories Ed. Sounds like you are bonafide Yosemite People!