Sunset Photographs

NPS Photo

Our park archives include an extensive collection of photographic slides documenting various events in park history. Among the photos of construction sites, tours, and major events, two sleeves of multichromatic skies emerge vibrantly from the stacks. Rows of oranges and purples populate the series, sunrises and sunsets all captured between 1965 and 1968 along the shores of the park. These fleeting, and now distant, moments still retain the energy and detail that the anonymous photographer was witnessing.

Since the inception of the medium, photographing sunsets has been commonplace and the oversaturation of sharing these images online can numb the subject’s beauty. Here in our archives, these colors emerge alive and the scenes, while recognizable, are inimitable. The sense of wonder and focus of the photographer is familiar, and the urge to preserve that wonder is intuitive. Decades of sunrises since, the many colors along the Sitka’s shore continue to captivate, and be new every time.

Sunset alongside the park's shore

NPS Photo

NPS Photo