Until El Capitan, if I had a folder with hundreds of pics in it, if I was browsing half way down that list and then closed it, when I reopened it tomorrow it would be in same location half way down. Now it just defaults to the top of the file list.
I had this issue too - but it has gone away during the past few updates - not sure which one and don't know what fixed it - but I can open folders even on external drives with many files and folders and folders reopen with same view as last time closed. El Cap 10.11.2 Are you using an older version of El Cap?