Our National Parks seen 'day to night' in National Geographic

In March 1868 a 29-year-old John Muir stopped a passerby in San Francisco to ask for directions out of town. "Where do you wish to go?" the startled man inquired. "Anywhere that is wild," said Muir. His journey took him to the Yosemite Valley in California's Sierra Nevada, which became the spiritual home of Muir’s conservation movement and, under his guidance, the country’s third national park. "John the Baptist," he wrote, "was not more eager to get all his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God’s mountains." Today around four million people a year follow their own thirst for the wild to Yosemite. less In March 1868 a 29-year-old John Muir stopped a passerby in San Francisco to ask for directions out of town. "Where do you wish to go?" the startled man inquired. "Anywhere that is wild," said Muir. His journey ... more Image 1 of / 28 Caption Close Our National Parks seen 'day to night' in National Geographic 1 / 28 Back to Gallery

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, National Geographic magazine is leading their January issue with a unique image of Yosemite.

"Yosemite Park is a place of rest, a refuge from the roar and dust and weary, nervous, wasting work of the lowlands, in which one gains the advantages of both solitude and society," naturalist John Muir wrote in 1938. "Nowhere will you find more company of a soothing peace-be-still kind."

Nearly 80 years later, around four million people visit the park each year, yet it continues to inspire generations. That is "the power of the park," as National Geographic puts it.

To illustrate the beauty of our parks, photographer Steven Wilkes, a Connecticut-based fine art photographer, has created seamless composite photographs of a specific park locations that combine imagery from both day and night.

A pullout from the January issue of National Geographic...

Wilkes describes the process as "compressing" the day into an image.

"Wilkes selects a vista, sets up his camera and computer gear, and establishes a fixed camera angle. Based on sun directions, moon phases, weather, and more, he chooses an hour to start. He then continuously shoots thousands of images through day and night, in whatever conditions nature gives him," writes the magazine.

The process takes weeks to complete from the initial setup to the final post production. Read more about Wilkes' process here.

See the rest of the images in National Geographic's January issue.