Yosemite firefall - very old shot

[Boney]

When I was 12, (1952) I setup my Dad's Kodak Pony 35mm camera on a tripod in a meadow in Yosemite Valley. I took a snapshot as the sun was going down to get the background mountains on the film. Then I just put the lenscap back on and came back at 9PM. On Sentinel Dome they built a huge bonfire that one could see glowing for many hours before the actual firefall took place. This bonfire was so large that a Caterpillar bull dozer was used to push the bonfire off the edge of the cliff. At that time I removed the lenscap and got the firefall overlaid on the mountain background. They stopped the firefall in 1968.
The film was Kodachrome 10. Yes, the ASA or ISO was 10. To get this picture I scanned the slide. The tripod was sitting on soft grass which at that age I never gave a thought about the instability. Never the less I was proud of my "trick" photography shot.
We were very excited when Kodachrome 25 came out. So fast.

 

[Mully]

Nice shot, you are lucky to still have it .... I have been scanning Kodachrome for weeks... Need to get rid of all these chromes.... Thousands of them

 

[Tuffythepug]

I was working as a waiter at the Awhanee hotel during those days. Used to see the firefall quite often from the tall dining room windows. The guests were always spellbound. I remember how sad it was when they said they were going to discontinue the attraction. I never had a chance to photograph the event. Glad you could though. Good shot