Original 1916 Photograph of Three Young Women in Yosemite Posing on a Rock at Mirror Lake with Half Dome in the Background. Made by Yosemite Photographer Julius Theodore Boysen (1868-1939). In 1916 young women hiking and traveling unchaperoned in the rugged Sierra Nevadas was a powerful, modern cultural image. These women chose to be photographed in this way, taking home an archetypal lifestyle souvenir of their pioneering Yosemite exploration.

The silver gelatin photograph is mounted on a cream card mount embossed with Boysen Yosemite. The mounted photo is attached on the verso into a textured grey paper folder embossed with Boysen on the cover and with the penciled date of June 11th, 1916 on the back of the rear cover. The grey textured paper folder is 12" x 10", the cream card mount is 12" x 9.75", the silver gelatin photograph is 7.75" x 5.75" The image has a small white 510 on the rock next to the three women, this is his studio inventory number etched into the glass plate indicating tourist configurations taken along the banks of Mirror Lake. VERY GOOD Condition: the photograph is clean and clear with just a touch of solarization to the margins. The mount has small spots of foxing. The folder has light edgewear, and a small finger size smear of white paint (?) with a penciled G beneath it on the rear. Overall a beautiful Yosemite portrait of three young adventurous but anonymous women.

Julius Theodore Boysen, San Francisco born early American landscape photographer and amateur botanist who operated a photography studio in Yosemite Valley from 1900 until the 1930s. In 1913 he pioneered a famous genre of souvenir portraiture, he was the first to photograph people reflected in Mirror Lake, turning the location into a hotspot for tourist portraits. He and his wife made friends with many indigenous people of the valley, including Paiute families who let Boysen take candid photographs of their daily routines.