National park life: the 1861 photographs that safeguarded Yosemite – in pictures

Mining and logging companies were interested in taking over Yosemite Valley, with its vistas such as Mirror Lake and Mount Watkins (pictured), but this series of images led to the signing of the Yosemite Grant, which kickstarted the conservation movement
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Watkins photographed ravines, rivers, waterfalls and monumental trees to secure the grant that allowed this vast wilderness to be kept 'for public use, resort, and recreation' forever. Here is River View down Yosemite Valley (looking west-southwest toward Cathedral Rock)
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Bridalveil Fall. Watkins preferred to work at dawn or dusk, and many of the compositions have tell-tale shadows that reflect these times Photograph: J. Paul Getty Museum

Vernal Falls, an awesome example of Watkins's waterfall photography, where cascades flow over scree as if from the sky and leave halos of mist on the ground
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

The photographs were first shown in New York in 1862, giving many Americans the opportunity to witness these staggering sights – such as Sentinel Rock, View Down Yosemite Valley (pictured) – for themselves, rather than reading about them
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Up Yosemite Valley from the foot of Mariposa Trail. To mark the 150th anniversary of Watkins's trail, the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is publishing a book of the images
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Photography curator at the J Paul Getty Museum, Weston Naef, has been a lifelong champion of Watkins's work. He talks about their poetic beauty and influence: 'The photographs elicited in people who saw them a belief that what he showed must be protected from harm, and as such they are the very beginning of a movement that had not yet been named'
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Today, Yosemite is one of the top tourist destinations in the US, with visitors revelling in the world-famous natural features such as Cathedral Rock (pictured), Vernon Falls, Mirror Lake and El Capitan
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Watkins often picked high vantage points for his panoramic landscapes, such as Cathedral Rock (pictured), which took him above the canopy
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Mount Broderick and Nevada Falls
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

This series has long been celebrated for capturing an innocent, ethereal state of existence before human interruption (such as the placid Nevada Falls, pictured)
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Humans are only found in two images in Watkins's entire series. The first is of Galen Clark, the Guardian of Yosemite Valley who offered guided tours and has since been hailed as the world's original conservationist. Here, Clark stands by the Grizzly Giant sequoia tree that is the starting point of any Yosemite trail
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

The second – Grizzly Giant, Mariposa Grove (unidentified figures standing at base) – captures members of Los Mariposa mining estate, which, ironically, had hired Watkins to help them survey the area
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Yosemite Falls from the Upper House
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

Smoke on the water and vast plains of rock in this cascade between Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls Photograph: J. Paul Getty Museum

North Dome
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

View on the Merced
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum

The Three Brothers
Photograph: J Paul Getty Museum