The light's a bit harsh, so we're still a bit away, but the light is coming in!

Compared to the previous photo, we're getting closer. The light is moving right, along the wall, and starting to fucs on the waterfall. It's also starting to get lower in the horizon, so it's less harsh

We're almost there!

And we have fire falls! The light is still hitting some of the wall, but it's gotten softer, more orange/red and starting to create lava!

Fire Falls! The light has moved over and hit the falls and we're getting a nice orange glow. It's a little muted at the moment but still nice!

Fire Falls!

A close up of the top of Horsetail Falls, taken at 600mm.

I zoomed out a bit, to 150mm, to show the entire scene. Here you see Horsetail Falls, lit up as Fire Falls!

Horsetail Fire Falls is now a nice glowing orange!

Puddle of Fire

Ever since I first photographed Horsetail Falls appearing as if it was on fire back in 2011, I’ve been wanting to photograph it over and over again. It’s such an awesome scene and there’s a reason why thousands and thousands of visitors flock to Yosemite National Park every year to see it. The last few years have had a dry winter and that meant the snowmelt that fed the falls was non-existent: no waterfall! This last year, though, we saw a nice snowpack and Horsetail Falls was gushing. I had visited the previous evening but clouds had blocked the show just as it was about to start, so I came back with a bunch of my coworkers on Monday, February 22nd. I played a little bit of workshop leader and made sure all my coworkers were getting great photos when I looked down and saw the reflection of Horsetail in this small puddle of water. I knew I had to bend down and snap it! It was also really neat seeing how many people had found my blog, announcing the dates and times for Fire Falls. I’d randomly walk by someone and I’d see the print out of my table with the dates! I’ll be doing this again for 2017 and have plans to build an iPhone app as well! Stay tuned! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8: 70mm, f/7.1, 1/30 sec, ISO 400

Shortly after the show started, it appears as if a cloud came in and started to block the light. You can see here that it's stating to fade away. One of my coworkers, Dan, even went as far as to pack up all his gear. Most of us were smart and kept shooting, because, it's going to come back, and come back even stronger it did!

After the color died due to a cloud, it's starting to come back!

And now it's back

Horsing Around in Mordor

Every February there's an absolutely stunning phenomenon that occurs in Yosemite National Park: a waterfall appears as if it's on fire! Horsetail Falls, which runs from snowmelt off the eastern side of the giant rock known as "El Capitan", hasn't existed for the last 5 years due to the California drought. But this year, thanks to El Niño, it has returned! As the sun sets with its orange light, and if it's located in the right place in the sky, its light reflects off the granite walls and onto the waterfall, making it look as if it's on fire! I last photographed this in 2011 and I was very eager to capture it again. The angle in which the sun can hit the waterfall is fairly limited, and knowing which angles will work, I'm able to write a computer program every year that predicts on which days and what times the waterfall will erupt. This year, the ideal days were on Sunday, Febraury 21 and Monday, February 22. I had seen a number of amazing photos taken earlier than this but with my busy schedule, I planned on making 2 trips to Yosemite to see the Fire Falls. On Sunday, Willie, Mike, Sammi and I drove to Yosemite, rustled with the massive crowds (thanks to Social Media, thousands of people flock to Yosemite to see this), and then left in disappointment as clouds rolled in at the last minute and blocked the sun from hitting the falls. On Monday I had planned to take 8 of my SmugMug co-workers to see the waterfall and we left work at 6:30am to get to Yosemite in time. A few people hadn't ever visited Yosemite, so we left some time to explore a bit of the park. Knowing the crouds could get large, we immediately dropped off Willie and our tripods and then ventured off to explore the park. Having photographed this in 2011 from one of the two main locations (South Side Drive), I was determined to try a new angle this year: near the North Side Drive, El Capitan Picnic Grounds. Clouds began to roll in during the afternoon and I began to get worried that our chance at the Fire Falls would be ruined, for a second straight day. Fortunately for us, the clouds (mostly) disappeared. Sure enough, by 5:15pm the rockface and waterfall started to turn orange. We all began snapping away like crazy. And then the light died! A cloud had gotten in the way! I wasn't ready to give up and sure enough, after 10 minutes, the sun dipped below the cloud deck and sure enough, the Fire Falls erupted again, this time with the sun in position to turn it a glowing red color! While I photographed this with my D800, I also setup my old D700 with an 80-200mm lens and recorded 30 minutes of timelapse footage, taking 1 photo every second for 30 minutes. I combined 1,890 photos into this minute long clip, which you can see here. In it you can see how the light starts orange, fades to white, and then returns to red: https://vimeo.com/leftquark/firefalls2016. For information on when to see Horsetail Falls, how to shoot it, and what the best days will be, visit my blog at http://blog.aaronmphotography.com. Nikon D800 w/Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3: 200mm, f/11, 1/40 sec, ISO 640

And Fire Falls is finally hitting its peak! It had come in strong, completely died, and is now back, turning the waterfall even more red/orange then before!