In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Nov 28, 2011 | Workshops
Table Rock at sunrise
To those who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a great holiday. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a good weekend anyway!
The week before Thanksgiving I flew to South Carolina. A couple of people who had previously taken my Spring Digital Camera Workshop got some of their friends together and invited me to come to their home and teach a workshop.
I’d never been to this part of the country before, and found it to be quite beautiful. This region, in the mountains along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, is home to a great concentration of waterfalls. Of course I live near another great waterfall area, Yosemite, but the character of the falls is quite different in each place. Yosemite is known for its big, thundering, dramatic, vertical drops like Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall. The Carolina waterfalls are smaller, and usually slide down less-than-vertical rock faces, but they have braids and channels that lend themselves to slow shutter speeds and more intimate compositions, and in their own way they’re equally photogenic.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 25, 2011 | Announcements
I’ve seen some great deals today! B&H has Lightroom 3 for half price (it’s normally $299), as well as discounts on Canon cameras and lenses. Friend of this blog G Dan Mitchell has all the details. Also, Craft & Vision is offering 50% off their whole photography eBook collection, including my eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. Or you can get a $40 gift certificate for $20. All these discounts are today only.
I’m sure there are some other good deals out there too, so if you see anything, please let us know by posting a comment.
by Michael Frye | Nov 23, 2011 | Announcements
My son Kevin on a swing at age three
I have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost, I have a wonderful, supportive family. I’ve been lucky in love, and been married for 25 years—to the same person! And raising our son Kevin has been easy and enjoyable; he’s just a naturally grounded person. I also have some great friends who enrich my life. And then there are the three cats and two dogs we live with who keep us continually entertained!
I’m grateful that we live in a warm, comfortable house in a quiet neighborhood, surrounded by oak trees and meadows, and that we live so close to Yosemite, my spiritual home. I’m very grateful that my family and I are healthy, and happy.
I’m particularly thankful for all of you, the wonderful community of photographers I’ve met through this blog, for reading, listening, and commenting. It’s great to discuss photography with people who share the same passion, and your participation makes writing this blog fun.
Happy Thanksgiving!
—Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Nov 15, 2011 | Announcements, Yosemite Photo Conditions
The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite is now a universal app, built for both iPhone and iPad. The new iPad version takes advantage of the bigger screen to give you easier access to all the information.
Since we were able to make this a single universal app, this iPad-optimized version is a free update for those who have already purchased the app. Just go the app store on your iPad and tap on Updates. The app is fully functional right away, but hi-resolution images for the iPad download when you open the app and connect to Wi-Fi.
If you haven’t already purchased the app you can do so here.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 8, 2011 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Reflections along the Merced River
Last Thursday night a weak storm brought rain and snow to the Sierra. Before going to bed I checked the satellite and radar images online, and it looked like the storm might clear by sunrise, so I set my alarm for some ungodly hour. When the alarm went off I looked at the satellite photos on my iPhone without even getting out of bed. At moments like these, half asleep, warm under the covers, I almost hope those little animated images will show lots of clouds, so I can just roll over and go back to sleep. But alas, it looked like it was clearing. I got up and looked out the window: stars. The only thing worse than getting out of bed in the dark on a cold morning is missing a great sunrise. Time to get dressed.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 3, 2011 | Workshops, Yosemite Photo Conditions
Workshop participant photographing a colorful maple
My five-day Digital Landscape: Autumn in Yosemite workshop ended Sunday, and I taught another private workshop in the park on Tuesday, so I’ve been able to monitor the fall colorin Yosemite Valley closely. The yellow big-leaf maples are past peak in a couple of early-changing spots, and just getting there in other places (like around Fern Spring), but overall they look great. The dogwoods are becoming more colorful every day. Most are still partially green, but you can find beautiful specimens around Valley View and between the old dam (Highway 120/140 junction) and Pohono Bridge. The higher-elevation dogwoods along Highways 41 and 120, and in the Tuolumne Grove, should be prime, though I haven’t checked them out personally. (more…)
by Michael Frye | Oct 28, 2011 | Announcements
Redwoods, Ferns, and Rhododendrons Near the Northern California Coast
Just a quick reminder that The Ansel Adams Gallery print sale ends Sunday. Two of my never-before-printed images—Redwoods, Ferns, and Rhododendrons, and Sunbeams From Tunnel View—are available at 25% off the normal price until 6 p.m. Pacific time Sunday afternoon. After that they’ll go back to the normal price, and they won’t be on sale again! Click here to purchase or read the stories behind these photographs.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 27, 2011 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Reflections of aspen trunks and leaves
Here are a few of my favorite images from our trip to the Eastern Sierra last week. These three photographs share some common themes: all have water, and reflections, and are more about colors and patterns rather than any particular subject. In other words, they’re abstract. I tend to see this way—to look for designs rather than concern myself with accurately portraying a subject. If the opportunity to photograph a grand, sweeping landscape presents itself, great, but if not I try to look for less obvious subjects, and sometimes get lucky and find hidden jewels. (more…)
by Michael Frye | Oct 24, 2011 | Announcements
Sunbeams From Tunnel View, Spring, Yosemite National Park, California
For the first time ever, The Ansel Adams Gallery is sponsoring a special print sale of two of my images at 25% off the normal price. These are two recent photographs that have never been printed before, and both are available in two sizes: 16×20 and 20×24. My signed, limited-edition 16×20 prints usually sell for $325, but during this sale you can get one for only $244! Or you can purchase a 20×24 print, normally $475, for only $356! The sale lasts for just six days, until Sunday, October 30th, at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. Visit the Ansel Adams Gallery web site to purchase or get more details.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 22, 2011 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Dogwood near Valley View yesterday
I taught a private workshop in Yosemite Valley yesterday, so that gave me a chance to check on the autumn progress. The big-leaf maples, which often provide the most vibrant fall color in the valley, are getting there; I’d say they’re about 60 percent turned. The best spots for maples right now are across the river from the junction of Highway 140 and the Big Oak Flat Road (Highway 120), and along Southside Drive underneath Middle Cathedral Rock (and directly across the valley from El Capitan).
The dogwoods are also changing, though not as quickly as the maples. We saw some nice ones near Valley View, aka Gates of the Valley (Location 5 in both the book and app versions of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite), including the specimen at the top of this post. But there are still a lot of green dogwood leaves, so I’d say they’re about 30 percent turned. The dogwoods at higher elevations, along Highways 41 and 120, and in the Tuolumne Grove, usually turn earlier, so they should be looking good, but I haven’t been able to check them out.
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