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Horsetail Falls

Posted by
CW McGowen (Morgan Hill, United States) on 19 February 2016 in Plant & Nature and Portfolio.

A sunlit Horsetail Falls is a rare and majestic sight. It appears at sunset for only 2 weeks out of the year. This spectacular site occurs because of the alignment of the setting sun with the face of El Capitan. El Capitan is shaded and the water fall shoots out beyond the shadow into the last rays of the sun. The sun strikes the falls lighting them with the warm rays of the sunset. The waterfall lights up with a glow reminiscent of flowing lava. This is truly one of the wonders of the natural world.

I've been wanting to witness and capture the majesty of Horsetail falls for a few years, but the timing has never worked out. This year however, I am fortunate to have a couple days where I can travel to Yosemite to do the shoot. President's day weekend was my first opportunity and here is the result. This upcoming weekend should be the best time to photograph the falls, and so I'm hoping to go back to try my luck again.

Find more about C.W. McGowen at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cwmcgowen

Linda Candilas from Cameron Park, United States

Best of luck, the weather looks good this Saturday, looking forward to seeing your photographs. I'm not going tell the end of the month, Horsetail falls should be over but you never know. I want it to snow. I got my Horsetail Falls photograph on Feb. 13, 2011, you can look it up here on AM3. Have fun, beautiful shot, I like that you even got some ski in this shot.:))

19 Feb 2016 7:45am

BiLL from Carrickfergus, United Kingdom

Wonderful shot! Congratulations on the perfect timing.

19 Feb 2016 10:31am

beach from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

Spectacular shot.

19 Feb 2016 11:54am

franz from Baden, Austria

wow, this is a total stunner! the water looks indeed like firy lava!
good luck with the weather next week! looking forward to more of this terrific sight!

19 Feb 2016 12:12pm

Robert D. Burr from Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Wonderful shot. Persistence pays off.

19 Feb 2016 3:35pm

DarkElf from Perth, Australia

Brilliant spectacle of nature! Expertly captured with fantastic control of light and tones.

20 Feb 2016 12:08am

L'Angevine from Angers, France

oh belle coulée

20 Feb 2016 9:44am

Babzy from France

Wow. This is just magical .what a rare moment you captured ! Congratulations ;)

20 Feb 2016 10:20pm

Baldwin VW from Bejuma, Venezuela

A spectacular moment superbly captured ... light and tones are fabulous !!!
Congratulations on the Spotlight ...

20 Feb 2016 10:40pm

AMIR BABA from TEHRAN, Iran

Superb work

21 Feb 2016 2:16am

Nitin D Nawathe from Pune, India

Congrats... very nice capture of this famous waterfall..

21 Feb 2016 4:26am

Linda Candilas from Cameron Park, United States

Congratulations on your Spotlight, so beautiful and so magical.:))

21 Feb 2016 5:45am

Ronnie 2¢ from Atlantic Shores, United Kingdom

Superb - very deserving of the Spotlight !

21 Feb 2016 7:53am

Mhelene from Villiers-sur-Marne, France

Fabulous image !! Congratulations on your Sppotlight !

21 Feb 2016 9:16am

franz from Baden, Austria

why am i not surprised that this is in the spotlight?!? congratulations!!!

21 Feb 2016 10:02am

Frankiess from Český Těšín, Czech Republic

wonderful § Congrats !

21 Feb 2016 2:38pm

Jean Fraipont from Nivelles, Belgium

Amazing picture ! Effectively, one of the wonders of the natural world ! And the picture is also a very good work to shows this wonder ! Congratulations !

21 Feb 2016 4:17pm

omid from mashhad, Iran

W O N D E R F U L !!!
...
Congratulations! :)

21 Feb 2016 8:47pm

Tomix from landerneau, France

Fantastic capture ! Congratulations on your spotlight.

21 Feb 2016 11:26pm

David from place to place, United States

Exquisite color and timing with the light. Well done!

22 Feb 2016 12:48am

James from Central Florida, United States

A stunning image

24 Feb 2016 2:36am

alyriza from tehran, Iran

very nice

1 Apr 2016 9:31am

This image has been featured in 2 Remix collections.

Aminus3 by James

Falls by omid