Lightfall

In late winter Horsetail Falls flows for up to two months from a small snowfield directly above it. For two weeks during this time, if the weather allows, the sun shines on the waterfall near sunset. Over ten years I journeyed there more than forty times during this small window, the majestic glowing appearance resulted in this award winning image. In this one time fleeting moment, the rain clouds opened. This lit the waterfall and wet granite before the clouds enveloped the valley three minutes later.
With clear skies and valley, the well known phenomena of lava like color would have occurred just moments before sunset and is often confused with the fire fall, which was the practice of pushing burning logs over Glacier Point.

Horsetail Falls was made famous by the late National Geographic photographer Galen Rowell. His images of it inspired my many visits to Yosemite and directed my focus to color landscapes. Having placed in the Yosemite Renaissance XXI contest, my Lightfall photograph was displayed in the Yosemite Museum gallery for most of the year.