Yosemite on Fire

Jun 27, 2012 No Comments by vince

Recently an email appeared in my office with the following photographs of Yosemite National Park and text attached. Sadly, I don’t know who took the pics but they’re amazing! If anyone does know who’s responsible, please tell me so I can properly credit them. Here’s the text that was attached to the email:

“The spectacular views of this waterfall in Yosemite is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen at a 2-week period towards the end of February. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and endure years of patience in order to capture them. The reason is because its appearance depends on a few natural phenomenons occurring at the same time and luck.

1st is the formation of the waterfall – The water is formed by the melting of snow and ice at the top of the mountain. It melts between the month of December and January and by the end of February there might not be much snow left to melt.

2nd, is the specific angle of the sun’s ray hitting the falling water – The sun’s position must be exactly at a particular spot in the sky. This occurs only in the month of February and at the short hours of dusk. If it is a day full of clouds or something blocking the sun, you can only take pictures of your own sorry faces on the waterfall. It coincides with the fact that the weather in the National Park at that time of the year is often volatile and unpredictable. It compounds the difficulty of getting these pictures.”

Thankfully someone had the patience to take these beautiful shots and share them with the rest of us.

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