Tag Archives: valley

The Annual Horsetail Fall Post

February 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

UPDATE: As of 2020 I am no longer posting annual updates concerning this subject — and I am editing older posts on the subject in light of the need to be more responsible about not encouraging the onslaught. I also no longer recommend going to the Valley to see it. Unfortunately, too much exposure (yes, I played a part in it, unfortunately) has led to absurd crowds, traffic jams, littering, destruction of areas in the Valley where too many people go to see it… and the park has increasingly — and appropriately — cracked down. Parking options have been eliminated, at least one viewing location has been closed. Good news! The rest of Yosemite Valley is still there and often exceptionally beautiful at this time of year.

The silver strand of Horsetail Fall and water reflecting on surrounding cliffs in late afternoon light, Yosemite Valley, California.

Although it seems like it would be extremely difficult to make a truly original photograph of Horsetail Fall at this point, I won’t completely rule out the possibility, and recently I have seen a few interesting and imaginative photographs of the phenomenon.

The necessary conditions are fairly specific, and even when the basics are in place there is no guarantee that the show will occur on a given evening. To be honest, the odds are distinctly against you, and you are more likely to see something that doesn’t match your expectations.

There must be flowing water in the creek near the east end of the face of El Capitan that feeds the fall. This is not a sure thing in mid-winter. There must be sufficient snow above El Capitan and the temperatures must be warm enough to melt it, or there must have been a recent warm storm that brought some rain to higher elevations.
The setting sun must align just right with a gap in the mountains to the west of El Capitan so that the setting sun (miraculously) casts its last beams right on the face of El Capitan where the fall is located. Roughly speaking this occurs during the second half of February, right around February 20 or so.
You must be in a position such that the fall is back-lit by the sunset light beam. In addition, your position must provide a clear view of the fall – not necessarily a simple thing given the forest cover in the Valley. These areas are now subject to terrible crowding that has damaged areas of the park, and the park service is wisely reducing or eliminating access.
Although photographs make it seem like a huge, overpowering spectacle, it is actually very small. It takes place high on a distant cliff face, and to photograph it you’ll need a very long lens.
Finally, the skies to the west of Yosemite must be clear so that the golden hour sunset light is not blocked. Many tell stories of clouds that made it obvious that the show would not happen or, even more frustrating, developing light that was killed at the last minute when the sun dropped behind clouds to the west, which are quite common.

Any post about the February Horsetail Fall occurrence must include a few other important points:

The event has become so popular in recent years that the experience has been significantly compromised. You will not have an experience of relative solitude such as Galen Rowell likely had when he made the iconic photograph of the subject decades ago. Instead you will likely find yourself among hundreds or thousands (you read that right) of other photographers lined up with lenses pointed the same direction.
This, of course, implies that parking and finding “your spot” may both be challenges. As a result of traffic jams, illegal parking, overwhelming crowds, gross littering, and damage to meadow, forest, and river… the park service is wisely putting several access limits in place, even closing one of the favorite areas as of 2020.
If Horsetail isn’t an option, you are are still in one of the most beautiful and compelling places on the face of the planet for making photographs! Speaking of which, while the crowds are focused on Horsetail, you might consider photographing other things away from the crowds…

The annual Yosemite Renaissance art show typically opens at about this time each February and features the work of photographers and other artists working in Yosemite. The show is in the Yosemite Museum Gallery and the 2013 edition runs from February 22 through May 5, with the opening reception at 5:30-7:30 on February 22. (You can view my work in the show this year.) In addition, there is always something interesting to see at the nearby Ansel Adams Gallery – this year an exhibit of Michael Frye’s photographs opens on February 16.

NOTE: The 2017 edition of the exhibit, Yosemite Renaissance 32, opens with a free public reception at 5:30 PM on Friday, February 24. One of my photographs is in the exhibit again this year. See you there!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Dawn Sky, Panamint Range

February 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

First dawn light on clouds above Death Valley, as seen from high in the Panamint Range

I recently “discovered” (or perhaps “remembered?”) this photograph that I made nearly a year earlier during an early January 2012 trip to do winter photography in Death Valley National Park. Winter is a wonderful time in Death Valley, though the season can present its own challenges – not the same as summer, but challenges nonetheless. The challenges include, believe it or not, the possibility of some very, very cold weather, especially in some of the higher outlying areas of the park an up in the mountains, such as here in the Panamint Range. But there are special rewards, too, including the possibility of snow among the peaks and the more interesting skies that can come with the passage of winter low pressure systems that originate in the Pacific Ocean.

On this morning I had gotten out of my sleeping bag well before dawn so that I would have time to drive to this overlook high in the Panamints before sun rise. It was still dark as I drove the last section of the gravel road approach, and its wasn’t until after I arrived that there was enough light to see that this might turn out to be a spectacular sunrise. (When you get up in darkness and drive many miles, you have to take it on faith that something special might occur, and accept the possibility that it might not.) My original subject ideas for this location were not so much about sky as about deep valleys and receding ridges, but when the first sun hit these high clouds I was willing to angle the tripod up a bit to photograph them! This light on the clouds only lasted a few minutes, and after that I turned my attention back to the landscape below.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Approaching Geese, Evening

February 13, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ross’s geese approach their evening landing spot on a hazy late-autumn evening in California’s Central Valley.

This is yet another photograph of Ross’s geese from our December 2012 trek to the migratory bird areas of California’s Central Valley. We saw nearly all of the possible seasonal weather types on this day, save actual rain (that held off for another day) and clear, unfiltered sunlight. But other than that the day transitioned from so-thick-you-can-barely-drive tule fog, to clearing and drifting fog, to fog burning off, to brilliantly luminous winter haze, to dull and gray light as the first clouds of an incoming storm began to arrive, to the finale of a suddenly and unexpectedly colorful sunset.

After a mid-afternoon break to grab a bit to eat, we returned to this wildlife refuge in hopes of photographing the fly-in. Indeed, there were many thousands of Ross’s geese around, settled into pastures and occasionally lifting off to circle the area and then land again. But the light became increasingly dull as the first clouds of an approaching Pacific winter weather system arrived in the west. I made this photograph in what was, in many ways, rather gloomy light, though it is apparent that the sky is just beginning to pick up a hint of the pink that soon developed into a downright amazingly intense sunset. At this particular point in the evening I had positioned myself beyond the end of a large flock that stretched from nearly my position to the line of trees seen in the distance. It seemed that many of the geese were starting to move from the far end of the flock to closer to my position, so I was a in a good spot to photograph them straight on as they approached, and I had managed to position the slightly darker trees behind them, allowing their lighter bodies to stand out a bit. This group was just about to set down not far in front of me.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

February 9, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A line of geese fly in front of the first clouds of an approaching winter storm front above California’s Central Valley.

This photograph was made at a late enough time in the evening that it was becoming hard to see in the same detail that the camera has. The sun had gone down and the light reflected up into the clouds was beginning to fade, and Central Valley haze filled the air, partially obscuring the details on anything more than a few hundred feet away.

We were surprised and pleased to have a spectacular sunset as the clouds of an incoming weather system that had early blocked the light were now lit up from below as the sun dropped to the horizon. The intense colors of the red clouds were almost too bright to photograph. Here I used a long lens to isolate a small section of the terrain to the west that held a group of silhouetted trees, with the Coast Range mountains beyond, and the sky turning all shades of purple, orange, and red. Although it may be difficult to see in this small jpg, a long line of geese is traveling from right to left high in the sky.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: valley

The Annual Horsetail Fall Post

Dawn Sky, Panamint Range

Approaching Geese, Evening

Central Valley, Winter Dusk

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.