EXPLORE
Social media is lighting up this week (literally) with images of the FireFalls – aka Horsetail Falls – in Yosemite National Park. Rightly so, I suppose. It is an amazing natural phenomenon that only occurs for a short time every February, and not every year depending on weather conditions and water flow. This year, however, is a special year, all the conditions have been perfect for the FireFalls. But will you see a FireFalls photo from the Waterfall Madman? No! I say no again!
It is not that it is an uninteresting or crappy waterfall to see. Hardly. Two things I will say: Every single image of Horsetail Falls that I have seen (of the thousands that I have seen) is essentially exactly the same. Some are technically much better than others no doubt, depending on the skill of the photographer, but basically every image is the same. I’m not saying that is a bad thing, necessarily. Do you want your own token shot of Horsetail Falls? I would myself, except for one other thing: All the hundreds of photographers that go there every night in February to see it and photograph it. I hate crowds and I have literally no desire to go duel tripods with hundreds of others lining up at the exact same spot to photograph something in the fleeting moments of sunset. Even go take a look on my website of my photo of Bridalveil Falls from Tunnel View. If you look closely you will see it is indeed *not* at Tunnel View, it is at a different spot. That night, while hundreds of photographers were lined up at Tunnel View, I was at a different spot with one other photographer only. The viewpoint is only slightly different than Tunnel View, and I had a much more pleasant time than all those other photographers battling for a prime shooting spot (and no broken bones from fighting them).
So last weekend while all those hundreds of photographers were lined up at Yosemite for the FireFalls freak show, I was out exploring brand new waterfalls on a new creek, which I had all to myself, no other person within miles of me (literally), and the only living thing that came close to me was a river otter (and some birds, and some squirrels, and perhaps some other small microscopic creatures). I guarantee you I had a much better time that day than I would have had at Yosemite. So get out and explore. There is so much to see. If going with the crowds is your thing, then great, there is nothing wrong with that. But if you’re like me and prefer to be alone in the wilderness, then I say Yahoo, let’s go for it. There are so many awesome places to see in God’s creation, and this is just one of them:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=moore-creek-falls-1942