"Horsetail is so uniquely situated that I don't know of any other waterfall on earth that gets that kind of light," said Michael Frye, who wrote the book The Photographer's Guide to Yosemite.
"How many are perched on a high open cliff? Most are in an alcove or canyon and won't get the sun setting behind it. Yosemite's special geography makes this fall distinctive," he said.
Four decades ago, photographers had only to point and shoot to capture another famous Yosemite firefall — a man-made cascade of embers pushed from a bonfire on summer nights from Glacier Point.
But photographing Horsetail is a lesson in astronomy, physics and geometry as hopefuls consider the azimuth degrees and minutes of the earth's orbit relative to the sun to determine the optimal day to experience it. They are looking for the lowest angle of light that will paint Horsetail the colours of an iridescent sunset as rays reflect off granite behind the water. It materialises in varying degrees of intensity for the same two weeks every year.
"If you hit it at just the right time, it turns this amazing colour of gold or red-orange," said Frye, a photo instructor with the Ansel Adams Gallery in the park.
Adams photographed the fall, but his iconic black and white images do not capture its fiery quality, and it's unclear whether he ever noted it.
To be successful in photographing the watery firefall, it takes luck and timing, and the cooperation of nature. Horsetail Fall drains a small area on the eastern summit of El Capitan and flows only in the winter and spring in years with adequate rain and snow, which is scarce this year. Experts say it doesn't take a lot of water for the fall to light up.
Most important, the south-western horizon must be clear, and February is the time of year when storm clouds often obscure the setting sun.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weath ... z1mxRga8M2
Yosemite on fire.
Yosemite on fire.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Yosemite on fire.
The late Ansel Adams is THE definitive Yosemite photographer, IMNSHO.
(Not to take away from your post, Gob)
B&W is alright!
(Not to take away from your post, Gob)
B&W is alright!
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Yosemite on fire.
I love Adam's work, he was the quintessential landscape photographer...
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Yosemite on fire.
If Adam had married Linda Eastman, her name would have been Linda Eastman West.
Re: Yosemite on fire.
He would've had free film for life too...
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: Yosemite on fire.
Ansel Adams' birthday today.
According to WA, he meant to be a concert pianist, but for his 14th birthday his parents gave him a Kodak Brownie and a trip to Yosemite.
The rest is history.
According to WA, he meant to be a concert pianist, but for his 14th birthday his parents gave him a Kodak Brownie and a trip to Yosemite.
The rest is history.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
~ Carl Sagan
Re: Yosemite on fire.
I tohught it was a hash brownie
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: Yosemite on fire.
bigskygal wrote:Ansel Adams' birthday today.
According to WA, he meant to be a concert pianist, but for his 14th birthday his parents gave him a Kodak Brownie and a trip to Yosemite.
The rest is history.
Well kick me in the f-stop!
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Yosemite on fire.
Nasty!
Some 10,000 visitors to California's Yosemite National Park could have been exposed to a deadly virus that kills one in three victims and cannot be treated, officials say.
So far, six cases of the rare hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) have been confirmed - two of whom have died - while a "multiple" number of other suspected cases of the rodent-borne disease are being investigated.
Yosemite authorities closed down the "Signature Tent Cabins" earlier this week at Curry Village, a popular lodging area in Yosemite Valley, the tourist centre of the scenic park visited by millions of people every year.
The National Park Service (NPS) has written to some 2,900 people who booked stays in the Boystown area tent lodgings between June 10 and August 24, alerting them to keep an eye out for symptoms of HPS.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated the number of people who actually stayed in the tent cabins - those who booked plus their guests - at 10,000.
"On August 24, 2012, the tents were disinfected and visitors were relocated. People who stayed in the tents between June 10 and August 24 may be at risk of developing HPS in the next six weeks," the CDC said.
The incubation period for HPS is typically two to four weeks after exposure, with a range of a few days up to six weeks.
Symptoms include fever, chills, myalgias, cough, headaches and gastrointestinal ailments.
"The disease often progresses rapidly to respiratory distress, requiring supplemental oxygen and/or intubation, non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema and shock," the CDC said.
"There is no specific treatment available, but early recognition and administration of supportive care greatly increase the chance of survival."
Since the disease was first identified in 1993, there have been some 60 cases in California and 587 cases nationwide in the United States, around a third of which have been fatal.
AFP
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Yosemite on fire.
"Since the disease was first identified in 1993, there have been some 60 cases in California and 587 cases nationwide ... "
That's 30.9 cases per year (total) with a much smaller number of fatalities. A tiny fraction of lightening deaths and a small fraction of deaths from insect bites and stings of all kinds (ca 80/yr).
Interestingly the Navajo people had a cultural aversion to allowing mice infestations which would have prevented them from contracting Hantavirus (which was probably endemic).
Nasty would be the British reaction to Mad Cow disease which helped to kill a lot more people (and a few pet-food eating cats but no one cares about cats!)
I was just booking rooms in the Ahwanee today for mi esposa's birthday!
Wayyyy at the other end of the room is an alcove with what are called "the queen's table" because QE II ate there and the "honeymoon table". We tip well and they keep records (I guess!) so we are often seated there.
She's my sweetie and she's worth it.
yrs,
rubato
That's 30.9 cases per year (total) with a much smaller number of fatalities. A tiny fraction of lightening deaths and a small fraction of deaths from insect bites and stings of all kinds (ca 80/yr).
Interestingly the Navajo people had a cultural aversion to allowing mice infestations which would have prevented them from contracting Hantavirus (which was probably endemic).
Nasty would be the British reaction to Mad Cow disease which helped to kill a lot more people (and a few pet-food eating cats but no one cares about cats!)
( I can't find a date associated with this article. I presume it is the 1990s but cannot say for sure)The study, by scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the National CJD Surveillance Unit, also found that deaths from variant CJD have risen by about a third each year since 1994, slightly faster than the increase in the onset of the disease. Researchers don’t know why deaths are rising faster than the incidence.
As of June 30, a total of 75 confirmed or suspected cases have been documented. Sixty-nine of those people have died.
I was just booking rooms in the Ahwanee today for mi esposa's birthday!
Wayyyy at the other end of the room is an alcove with what are called "the queen's table" because QE II ate there and the "honeymoon table". We tip well and they keep records (I guess!) so we are often seated there.
She's my sweetie and she's worth it.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Yosemite on fire.
What a lovely birthday present!