Horsetail Fall, Yosemite

[Juergen Sattler]

I am in Yosemite right now and Horsetail Fall has hardly any water. We have rain in the forecast for this weekend, so it might change but right now it doesn't look like there will be much of a picture here.

[tgtaylor]

I am in Yosemite right now and Horsetail Fall has hardly any water. We have rain in the forecast for this weekend, so it might change but right now it doesn't look like there will be much of a picture here.

It's always iffy as the condition must be right: The sun must not be obscured and the temp must be high enough to melt the snow pack on the top. Also, according to Michael Fry and Keiths post above, it's a little too early right now so hang in there.

Thomas

[Sideshow Bob]

Do you think a 720mm on a 4x5 would be a long enough lens?

Gale

[Keith S. Walklet]

The conditions necessary for the "firefall" effect are:

1. Clear to the west at sunset.
2. Snow at the summit of El Capitan
3. Warm temperatures to melt the snow so that there is a waterfall
4. A proper angle of view (draw a line from the fall to El Cap picnic area and extend it across the Valley).
5. Wind helps move the water around for a more expressive, unique image
6. And if you are interested in color, the middle two weeks of February, when the light on the falls at sunset is the richest

Your equipment needs will be dictated by the vantage point you choose to photograph from. From the north side of the valley, a 150mm lens will fill the frame with a 35mm camera. From the south side of the valley, it is a 300mm lens on a 35mm camera.

As for time of day, it can be beautiful all day, with the backlight becoming more pronounced around 3 pm. The peak color happens between 5 and 5:45 pm.

[Lenny Eiger]

The conditions necessary for the "firefall" effect are:
As for time of day, it can be beautiful all day, with the backlight becoming more pronounced around 3 pm. The peak color happens between 5 and 5:45 pm.

Keith, Hi there. I think we have a different idea of what photography is. A shot that a million others have taken has no intrinsic value, other than a technical exercise. When I think of Walker Evans, and those portraits in Georgia, I see something where Walker had to stretch, those people had to stretch, there is an emotional connection that is revealed by the photo, and anyone looking at it can see deeply into the life of those people. It reveals their humanity, and one's own. I could make the same analysis of almost every photographer in the History. For landscape, one can look to Paul Caponigro, for one example.

Where is the depth in a purely technical exercise? If we have anything to share with others that has anything to do with us, then it is likely a unique vision. That means we don't immediately pull off the road when we see a sign with a camera on it (I wish they'd take them all down). I mean, what's the point?

I was in Yosemite last summer, when we met at the gallery, and I took my camera to the river, certainly nowhere near the valley, or on the overpopulated trail to BridalVeil. I don't think I will return again, and if I do, it won't be with a camera.

Just my opinion...

Lenny

[Drew Wiley]

Lenny - I'm somewhat like you. Even though I have property only half an hour from
Yosemite, I probably haven't taken even five shots in the Valley itself in my life. But light is always changing, and things can be relatively quiet in the off season. Within the greater park boundaries there is terrain where you might walk for several days without seeing another person, but I'm not going to publicize where that is. At my
former dentist I'd try to distract myself by looking at the pictures on the wall - he even
put them on the ceiling for his patients! He had one of the usual AA posters of Grand
Teton behind the Snake River, with a cloud overhead - everyone knows it. But I'm
thinking to myself, I bet if there were thirty professional photographers standing within
a fifteen foot perimeter of AA at the time, not one of them would have gotten that
shot. They might have gotten something OK, but that particular image had to be
immaculately timed and precisely printed to get that kind of poetry into it. Of course,
most of us would go nuts if a number of people are hanging around us when we shoot.
And I don't like cliches eiter. I've been to the Grand Canyon three or four times and
never unpacked my camera. A nature photographer friend of mine begged me to drive
him to the "Wave" in Utah because I have a 4WD and he doesn't. I told him my philosophy is to study all the famous photography spots around, and then consistently head the opposite direction!

[Preston]

"I told him my philosophy is to study all the famous photography spots around, and then consistently head the opposite direction!

Classic, Drew!

--Preston

[tgtaylor]

Keith, Hi there. I think we have a different idea of what photography is. A shot that a million others have taken has no intrinsic value, other than a technical exercise. When I think of Walker Evans, and those portraits in Georgia, I see something where Walker had to stretch, those people had to stretch, there is an emotional connection that is revealed by the photo, and anyone looking at it can see deeply into the life of those people. It reveals their humanity, and one's own. I could make the same analysis of almost every photographer in the History. For landscape, one can look to Paul Caponigro, for one example.

Where is the depth in a purely technical exercise? If we have anything to share with others that has anything to do with us, then it is likely a unique vision. That means we don't immediately pull off the road when we see a sign with a camera on it (I wish they'd take them all down). I mean, what's the point?
Lenny

Everything has been shot to death. Especially if it's on on near a road! What's the point you ask? You already answered it:
"If we have anything to share with others that has anything to do with us, then it is likely a unique vision."

I think it was Edward Weston who said "I can make a photograph looking down at my feet."

[Drew Wiley]

Yes, some things have been shot to death. But that's why I made that AA comment.
In my own case, last week I printed an 8x10 neg of a famous waterfall right off the
road in the Columbia Gorge. It's near my in-laws place, so I kept driving past it for
several days studying the light and noting the time of day crowds weren't around.
I set up practically under the fall and wrapped my camera in Goretex and kept the lens
cap on. I had about two second to pull of the cap, take one exposure, and then everything would be soaked. But I did it. After that, the lens had to go into a dessication chamber for two weeks. Yet even though tens of thousands of shots have
no doubt been taken of that particular waterfall, many by noted photographers, I am
quite certain none are like mine. I got a classic, I believe; but that's largely contingent
on how it's printed too. My own Horsetail Falls incident was quite a bit more harrowing.
I was directly underneath it when completely frozen, and huge chunks of ice were
flaking off and basically gliding and crashing. I had dragged my Sinar up there with an
ice axe. But then the wind stilled, and a slab of ice about thirty feet wide landed about
fifteen feet away. So I got the hell out of there and never did get the shot!

[Brad Rippe]

I can see the points Lenny and Drew are making about over-photographing scenes such as Horsetail Falls. However, while I think its important to encourage each other on this forum to try to find their own unique vision, it can be just as valuable photographing known scenes to help us understand the photographic difficulties of those who have gone before us. Many on this forum are here to gain insights and ideas and I think it could make someone proud to have their own version of Horsetail Falls, El Cap or Half Dome.

I think Keiths knowledge about Yosemite, and his willingness to share it with us, is very open minded and generous. If one wants to make photographs of remote hidden places, or photographs of iconic Yosemite waterfalls, I would like to see all of them because it helps me find and expand my personal vision. Its also very interesting to see different interpretations of the same subject.

If you haven't seen the book "First Light" it has photographs by Keith and 4 other photographers of Yosemite, some known places, some not. There is a photo done by Keith that I think is one of the most amazing images I have seen in awhile. Its taken by moonlight of a river (Merced?) with mist rising. It reminds me of an impressionist painting. Great job Keith!
-Brad