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HorseFAIL Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA Although Galen Rowell first photographed the Horsetail Falls "Fire Falls" in 1973 it was only until recently, with the popularity of the internet and social media, that this became a popular scene. During 2 weeks in February the sun sets at just the right angle that the orange glow reflects off the water and granite wall giving it the appearance of fire. Thousands of photographers flock to Yosemite National Park each winter to photograph this. In order for the Fire Falls effect to happen there needs to be plenty of water in the waterfall, the angle of the sun has to be just right, and the sky needs to be clear enough not to block the light from the sun. There are 2 main locations to photograph the Horsetail Falls Fire Falls: one by the El Capitan picnic grounds (on Northside Drive) and the other along the river bank further south (on Southside Drive). Having photographed this event from the Southside Drive location in 2011 I decided to photograph from Northside Drive this year. Willie, Alan, and I drove down to Yosemite National Park on Friday afternoon and spent the entire weekend in Yosemite. My cousin and his friend also joined us. As most people have pointed out the water level this year has been awful. A few giant storms in December gave way to an extremely dry January and February. When we arrived on Friday afternoon we could barely even find the waterfall, which is supplied by snowmelt from the top of El Capitan. Although several inches of snow fell a few days earlier the water level was looking pretty abysmal. On top of that, clouds kept rolling in. Luckily the clouds disappeared an hour or so before sunset and the only issue we had to tackle was water level. Disappointingly, not enough snow melted and we ended up with a mostly wet wall and not much waterfall. Willie, Alan, and I spent the rest of the weekend freezing our tuchases off as we drove around the park trying to find other things to photograph. We also ran into a number of other photographers that we have exchanged emails, comments, and conversations with: Jean Day, Matt Granz, Michael Bonocore, Joe Azure, and Chung Hu to name a few. We decided to cut our trip short and leave the park early on Sunday morning. Just as we drove out of the park at 9:30am we noticed that Horsetail Falls was *gushing* with water. We could see it with our naked eye! Scratch the plan to leave -- we turned around and went to the lodge to get some grub. Unfortunately …. When we returned at the waterfall a couple hours later the waterfall was completely gone again! Oh well, next year! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 AF-D ED: 200m, f/11, 1/50 sec, ISO 100
Destroyer of the One Ring Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA For two weeks every year Horsetail Falls, in Yosemite National Park, becomes one of the most sought after spots to photograph. Made famous by Galen Rowell in his "Natural Firefall photograph" (Ansel Adams did document this photograph but as a black-and-white landscape photo), many photographers (including myself) try to duplicate his effort. Situated on the northern side of the valley, and at the extreme eastern end of the El Capitan monolith wall, the falls catch the last rays of the setting sun for only about one month of the year.  At midwinter, the sun sets below the southwestern rim.  As the year progresses, the sun sets a bit further north along the western horizon.  By the end of January, if you are standing at the El Capitan picnic area parking lot, you can see the sun setting in the Gunsight, the V between Cathedral rocks on the eastern side of Bridal Veil Falls.  By the first few days of February, it sets to the right of the lowest Cathedral rock.  Provided the sky is clear, the sunlight illuminates the entire El Capitan North America wall, and if you are in a position east of the falls, it backlights the water, making it glow with amazing colors In mid-to-late February each year, when the atmospheric conditions as well as the angle of the sun, hit Horsetail Falls just right, the entire falls look as if they are *ON FIRE*! In order for the falls to burn you need sunlight (the clouds can't be blocking the setting sun), and water (which occurs when the snowpack above El Capitan is melting). There are 3 places that you can easily view Horsetail Falls. The first, and most popular, is the El Capitan picnic area (on Northside Drive). This provides the closest view, but it's at further east and a harsher angle and some people didn't see the falls light up from this spot while the other locations did. The two other locations are along Southside Drive, with the best spot being where we snapped away (GPS coordinates 37.72783,-119.609). We got to Yosemite at about noon on Sunday, hoping that the incoming storm would keep the clouds away and light up the falls for us. We scoped out all 3 locations and decided that the Southside Dr location was best. We arrived back there at 2:30pm, which was just in time, because photographers were starting to line up and we had to rush to claim a good spot. We made friends with the photographers around us -- which was a good thing because we had 3 hours to kill while the sun set. Peak "Firefalling" was supposed to start at 5:22pm but clouds had settled in and we started to get sad that we drove/waited all this time for nothing. At about 5:31pm we noticed the bottom of the falls started to glow. Sure enough a couple seconds later the clouds parted and the entire falls lit up on fire, right before our eyes! We had 7 minutes to snap our hearts away (and stop and just gawk at this amazing site) before the sun set and the firefalls returned to waterfalls. I rented a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for this shoot. I wanted to make sure I got the sharpest images possible. I stuck my old 70-300mm lens on my D80 and an extra tripod and snapped away with that as well. I should have paid more attention to my good camera/lens because I made some silly mistakes (like allowing the photos to be over-exposed) due to my running back and forth between cameras. I hope you enjoy these photos of Horsetail Falls (Fire Falls)! Destroyer of The One Ring Taken on February 13, 2011 at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, CA
Destroyer of the One Ring (2) Horsetail Falls, Fire Falls Yosemite National Park, CA For two weeks every year Horsetail Falls, in Yosemite National Park, becomes one of the most sought after spots to photograph. Made famous by Galen Rowell in his "Natural Firefall photograph" (Ansel Adams did document this photograph but as a black-and-white landscape photo), many photographers (including myself) try to duplicate his effort. Situated on the northern side of the valley, and at the extreme eastern end of the El Capitan monolith wall, the falls catch the last rays of the setting sun for only about one month of the year.  At midwinter, the sun sets below the southwestern rim.  As the year progresses, the sun sets a bit further north along the western horizon.  By the end of January, if you are standing at the El Capitan picnic area parking lot, you can see the sun setting in the Gunsight, the V between Cathedral rocks on the eastern side of Bridal Veil Falls.  By the first few days of February, it sets to the right of the lowest Cathedral rock.  Provided the sky is clear, the sunlight illuminates the entire El Capitan North America wall, and if you are in a position east of the falls, it backlights the water, making it glow with amazing colors In mid-to-late February each year, when the atmospheric conditions as well as the angle of the sun, hit Horsetail Falls just right, the entire falls look as if they are *ON FIRE*! In order for the falls to burn you need sunlight (the clouds can't be blocking the setting sun), and water (which occurs when the snowpack above El Capitan is melting). There are 3 places that you can easily view Horsetail Falls. The first, and most popular, is the El Capitan picnic area (on Northside Drive). This provides the closest view, but it's at further east and a harsher angle and some people didn't see the falls light up from this spot while the other locations did. The two other locations are along Southside Drive, with the best spot being where we snapped away (GPS coordinates 37.72783,-119.609). We got to Yosemite at about noon on Sunday, hoping that the incoming storm would keep the clouds away and light up the falls for us. We scoped out all 3 locations and decided that the Southside Dr location was best. We arrived back there at 2:30pm, which was just in time, because photographers were starting to line up and we had to rush to claim a good spot. We made friends with the photographers around us -- which was a good thing because we had 3 hours to kill while the sun set. Peak "Firefalling" was supposed to start at 5:22pm but clouds had settled in and we started to get sad that we drove/waited all this time for nothing. At about 5:31pm we noticed the bottom of the falls started to glow. Sure enough a couple seconds later the clouds parted and the entire falls lit up on fire, right before our eyes! We had 7 minutes to snap our hearts away (and stop and just gawk at this amazing site) before the sun set and the firefalls returned to waterfalls. I rented a Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR for this shoot. I wanted to make sure I got the sharpest images possible. I stuck my old 70-300mm lens on my D80 and an extra tripod and snapped away with that as well. I should have paid more attention to my good camera/lens because I made some silly mistakes (like allowing the photos to be over-exposed) due to my running back and forth between cameras. I hope you enjoy these photos of Horsetail Falls (Fire Falls)! Destroyer of The One Ring Taken on February 13, 2011 at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park, CA
Filoli Library Filoli Gardens Mansion Woodside, California
Welcome! Feel free to look around my photos, take a peek at my travels, and enjoy yourself. I'm always bringing my camera with me so remember to stop back again soon! Aaron Meyers is an amateur photographer living in Silicon Valley, CA. He shoots mainly nature photography but is slowly expanding to people and more! Although I've only had a dSLR since 2007, I've always had a camera attached to my hip. My interest in photography started when I was in middle school and I was invited to spend 2 weeks sailing around the water of Vancouver, British Columbia. I found my dad's old Canon AE-1 and brought it with me. As an Electrical Engineer, my hobby for Photography grew as I started to learn about Image Processing. In 2007 I bought my first dSLR, a Nikon D80, and quickly outgrew it's poor low-light capabilities. In 2009 I upgraded to a Nikon D300s. Slowly but surely I'm upgrading my gear as I expand my skills, ability, and continue my travels around the world. After graduating from the University of Michigan with my Masters degree in Electrical Engineering I moved to California where my love of the outdoors is able to roam! I quickly picked up new hobbies in skiing, hiking, camping, scuba diving and rock climbing. Many of my photos come from my yearly pilgrimage to Yosemite National Park. I love photographing nature but I am also starting to try my hand at portrait photography as well. I hope you enjoy my photos. Everything I post here is for sale. I take many more pictures than I post here and if you are looking for something in particular, feel free to contact me! You can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Additionally, I can be reached via email by clicking the Contact in the nav bar.
Ice Tree Mountain Belle Isle Detroit, Michigan It turns out that not only has my good friend ShinsanBC gotten me interested in going to Antelope Canyon to shoot, but I'm also unintentionally following him around. He posted shots of this a month or two ago and it turned out that my friends took me here (to Belle Isle) while I was back in Michigan for a recruiting trip! My friends and I arrived at Belle Isle around noon and we were lucky because it happened to be a special day when the Belle Isle Aquarium was opened (it's been shutdown due to lack of funding). I took a bunch of photos in the Aquarium that I'll post soon. As we drove into Belle Isle you could see this off to the left and I got all excited! When we finally got here it was freezing but luckily I had a hat/gloves with me. I walked around this numerous times trying to get the best angle and I've got a couple photos that I really like but I thought this shot was the neatest. The Belle Isle Ice Tree has been an annual attraction since at least the 60's. Blogger Chris Rabior found some information showing that this ice-tree was being created all the way back into the 70's. From what I've been able to determine the Detroit Fire Department sets this up each year. Apparently oversized evergreen trees are used to form the core of the annual 'ice tree' at Belle Isle.
Inside Belle Isle Aquarium Taken on February 6, 2010 at Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan
Sexy Thoughts Goosecross Winery Yountville, California One of the first wineries I visited when I moved to California was Goosecross Cellars. My mom doesn't drink much wine but we both fell in love with this place instantly and i joined the wine club. It's been 6 years since and I've sent countless friends to Goosecross and many of them have also joined as members. When I walk in I'm greeted by my first name by the hosts Jose and Matt and I've shared many bottles of their wine with my friends. During the summer I like to take my friends to the winery, pack a picnic lunch, and go for a tasting. Afterwards, we sit on one of their picnic tables and eat, relax, and sober up. Here Adrienne and Martin cuddled while we finished up our meal.
Inside Belle Isle Aquarium
Taken on February 6, 2010 at Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan
Inside Belle Isle Aquarium Taken on February 6, 2010 at Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan
Inside Belle Isle Aquarium
Taken on February 6, 2010 at Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, Michigan
See photo in original gallery.
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