WISH you were here? To mark the centenary of the US National Park Service this August, the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, is hosting an exhibition that looks back on photographers鈥� depiction of the parks, from the early days to their tourist-laden present.
Photos from the late 1800s invited people to visit the still-wild places and encouraged politicians to set them aside for conservation. A silver print captures a rugged canyon in Arizona, while聽Yellowstone鈥檚 Sponge Geyser around 1883 figures聽(both below). There is also聽a 2014 print of waterfalls in Yosemite. Symbolic images like these influenced people鈥檚 expectations for the parks, says Jamie Allen, the exhibition鈥檚 curator. 鈥淪omehow, it means as much to us as the actual landscape,鈥� she says.
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By the mid-20th century, the US had reshaped its parks for motorised tourism. At top right, a 1940 lithograph by Deseret News shows an idealised Zion National Park accessible by the family car.
More recent work focused on examining the people using these landscapes. One of the photographs below聽from 1974 focuses on a young person looking out over endless canyons, while a campsite ranger at Tuolumne Meadows looks right into the photographer鈥檚 camera. In the featured photo above, taken by Roger Minick in 1980, the image of Yosemite鈥檚 Inspiration Point on a woman鈥檚 headscarf takes precedence over the real Inspiration Point in the background.
There is also a聽snap of a tramload of visitors armed with cameras at Tunnel View in Yosemite. The tension between preservation and popularity is a constant for America鈥檚 parks, says Allen. 鈥淚n order to love and protect them, we have to change them,鈥� she says.
The exhibition runs until 2 October. Its artwork features in a new book, Picturing America鈥檚 National Parks, published this month by the museum and the Aperture Foundation.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淧arks and recreation鈥�
