Moon rising next to Half Dome, Yosemite

The Out of Yosemite conference was so much fun. Exhausting, but well worth it.

It was an honor to teach alongside John Sexton, Alan Ross, Charlie Cramer, Bill Neill, Charlotte Gibb, Franka Gabler, Alex Noriega, Colleen Miniuk, Matt Payne, Jack Curran, Jennifer King, Harold Davis, Tim Cooper, and Michael Shainblum. All these people are talented photographers and educators, but what made this group extra special to me was the nice mix of older and younger generations, plus the connection with Ansel Adams and Yosemite’s photographic history.

John started off the proceedings with a wonderful talk about his time as Ansel’s assistant. Later I got to moderate a panel discussion with John, Alan (another of Ansel’s assistants), Ansel’s son Michael, and daughter-in-law Jeanne, where we heard many wonderful stories, and where I think everyone who attended got a better sense of the warm, fun-loving, boisterous personality behind the legend.

Chris Smith and his Out of Chicago team – Anne Belmont, Leslie Ames, Malinda Kavetschanky, and Bob Wojda – did a great job of organizing the event. Overall, things ran quite smoothly.

And all the participants were friendly and enthusiastic. Photographically, conditions were challenging. There wasn’t any snow, and few clouds. But I’ve seen many beautiful images from the conference, as people embraced the challenge to look beyond the obvious subjects and find images that were more intimate and personal. I’ve included a few of my photographs here from the conference of ice, water, and a moonrise.

A conference like this is a very different experience from a traditional photography workshop. Obviously it’s a much bigger group of people – but that’s part of the point. It’s a chance to meet and make connections with many people who share a common passion for photography. It’s a chance to hear a variety of perspectives and approaches to making photographs. A lot of ideas were exchanged, and connections made, and I’m sure some positive things will come out of it for everyone involved.

I hope there will be another edition of the Out of Yosemite conference. In the meantime, you can check out other upcoming conferences from the Out of Chicago team, including Out of Moab and Out of Acadia. If those conferences are anything like Out of Yosemite, they’ll be awesome experiences.

And in other conference news, I’ll be teaching at the Sedona Photography Symposium this August in Sedona, Arizona, alongside fellow instructors Deborah Sandidge, Dan Ballard, John Barklay, Adam Schallau, Karen Hutton, Mike Moats, Sean Parker, and Rafael Pons. In addition to presenting and leading field sessions at the main symposium, I’ll also be teaching a one-day pre-symposium processing workshop, Landscapes in Lightroom Classic. For a few more days, up until February 22nd, you can get $50 off the symposium general admission price by using the code MICHAEL50. I hope to see some of you there!

— Michael Frye

Ice patterns, Yosemite

Rapids and reflections in the Merced River, Yosemite

Ice and reflected cottonwoods, Yosemite

Ice and reflection of El Capitan, Yosemite

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author or principal photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, Yosemite Meditations for Women, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. He has also written three eBooks: Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom, Exposure for Outdoor Photography, and Landscapes in Lightroom: The Essential Step-by-Step Guide. Michael has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.