Leon Turnbull Photography

Photographically speaking, Horsetail Falls near Lake Tahoe has been my long-time nemesis. I had been here to this waterfall plenty of times before, but had yet to come away with any decent photo of it. Does every photographer have a similar nemesis, or is it just me? I’ve been here in spring, summer, fall, sunrise, sunset, you name it. It is a difficult waterfall to photograph, and I think it has a lot to do with all the non-colorful granite rock that the falls tumble over as well as the lighting.

I wanted to try coming back to Horsetail Falls again, at sunset. I thought the light would be better on the falls at that time of day. But with all the fires in California this year, there is just a huge band of smoke and haze, which makes for a light overcastness over the entire sky. So although the light wasn’t what I was looking for on this day, overcastness is indeed good for photographing waterfalls. I thought I came away (finally) with some very decent photos of Horsetail Falls. But even so, I’ll probably be back again next year to try to do better.

I especially liked my composition of this shot. I was as close to the edge as I dared possibly go, trying to get that lower waterfall section in my photo. The granite rocks in this area are extremely smooth and slippery, even if not wet. And it is a big drop-off into a raging creek if you slip and fall. That would not be too fun.