Announcements
by Michael Frye | Jul 27, 2014 | Announcements
El Portal Fire from the Glacier Point Road; 1:51 a.m., 7/27/14
We had no inkling that anything was wrong until we reached Crane Flat, where a ranger told us the road down to Yosemite Valley was closed.
Claudia had said that the wildflowers were nice in the Yosemite high country, so we decided to go for a hike up there yesterday afternoon. We drove through El Portal sometime between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. and continued up the Big Oak Flat Road to Crane Flat. Everything seemed normal. Near Yosemite Creek we passed the Dark Hole Fire. This is a lightning-caused fire that the park service is letting burn, but it looked pretty active yesterday afternoon, with a big smoke plume.
We continued on past Tuolumne Meadows, started our hike, and found some gorgeous wildflowers (you can see a photograph below). Then we returned to the car, and started home at about 10 p.m. Near Yosemite Creek I decided to stop and photograph the Dark Hole Fire (below), then we continued west back to Crane Flat, where we saw a ranger vehicle blocking the road down to Yosemite Valley.
We were surprised that the road was closed, since we’d just driven up it a few hours earlier. The ranger let us through, since we had a park sticker, but he told us there was no stopping, and to watch out for fire crews. Fire crews? We knew these crews weren’t for the Dark Hole Fire, as that was miles away, and still pretty small. What had happened?
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by Michael Frye | Jun 30, 2014 | Announcements
Storm clouds over Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
Within National Parks is room – glorious room – room in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve.
— Enos A. Mills
Exactly 150 years ago, on June 30th, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, giving Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the state of California to be preserved. This is the first instance of park land being set aside specifically for preservation and public use by action of the U.S. federal government, and set a precedent for the 1872 creation of Yellowstone as the first national park. (Yosemite National Park was created in 1890 to protect the lands surrounding Yosemite Valley, and in 1906 the valley and Mariposa Grove were returned to the federal government and incorporated into the national park.)
Photography played a vital role in the creation and passing of the Yosemite Grant legislation. The public thought that the early stories about Yosemite Valley were exaggerated, and drawings and paintings could be manipulated, so people only began to appreciate the magnificence of the valley when they saw proof in the form of photographs by Charles Weed and Carleton Watkins. Watkins’ photographs of Yosemite were displayed in the halls of Congress, and may also have been shown to president Lincoln by Senator John Conness. (You can see an exhibit of Watkins’ photographs at Stanford University in the San Francisco Bay Area through August 17th.)
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by Michael Frye | Jun 18, 2014 | Announcements
Yosemite has long attracted adventurous people who come to climb, hang glide, ski, or hike through its rugged, wild terrain. Our latest book, Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers, celebrates this spirit of adventure with 45 of my photographs, paired with inspirational quotes about adventure and wild places from people like Galen Rowell, Bill Bryson, Terry Tempest Williams, Yvon Chouinard, Edward Abbey, John Muir, Cheryl Strayed, Lynn Hill, Ron Kauk, and many others, plus a forward by Royal Robbins.
This is the third book in the Yosemite Meditations series, following the original Yosemite Meditations, and Yosemite Meditations for Women. As in the previous editions, my wife Claudia did a great job of editing the book, finding great quotes, and pairing them with the photographs. You’ll find a few sample pages below.
You can hear a bit more about the new book in an interview I did for the Valley Edition show on KVPR, Fresno’s public radio station. The show aired yesterday, but you can listen to it online at their website (my segment starts at minute 28 and lasts about ten minutes).
If you order Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers directly from us through the “Add to Cart” button below, Claudia and I will both sign the book(s). You can also order from the publisher, the non-profit Yosemite Conservancy, or from Amazon.
We hope you like the book, and really appreciate your support! We also want to give our thanks to the Yosemite Conservancy for their continuing commitment to publishing high quality books about the park, and for all the great work they do to help Yosemite.
— Michael Frye
Yosemite Meditations for Adventurers
Hardcover with jacket; approx. 6×5 inches; 96 pages
9.95
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by Michael Frye | Mar 12, 2014 | Announcements
Foggy sunrise, San Joaquin Valley, CA, USA
Borrowlenses.com is having a sale, with 25% off all of their rental equipment – a good time to test that camera or lens you’ve been wanting to try! The sale only lasts until midnight tonight.
As you know, I’ve used Borrowlenses many times to test equipment, and found their prices reasonable and service excellent. This sunrise photograph from the San Joaquin Valley was made recently with a rented Canon 6D. I also just finished testing a Sony A7r, and I’ll have more to say about both of these cameras soon.
On another note, I had a good time as the guest on the Google+ Landscape Photography Show last night. We had a technical glitch (not unusual with these things), but overall I thought it went well. This was a good chance for me to expand on some of the topics I discussed in my post Creating Depth: Beyond the Wide-Angle Formula, so if you enjoyed that article you might want to watch the replay of last night’s show here.
– Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Mar 10, 2014 | Announcements
Beam of light striking Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
I’m honored to be the guest on the Landscape Photography Show‘s hangout on Google+ tomorrow evening (March 11th), at 7:00 p.m. Pacific time. I’ll be talking about creating depth in landscape photographs – a rich topic that will allow me to expand on some of the ideas presented in my post Creating Depth: Beyond the Wide-Angle Formula, and delve into other related subjects.
If you can attend the live event you’ll have a chance to ask questions and join the conversation, but the show will also be recorded so you can watch it later on YouTube. You have to be a Google+ member to watch it live, but joining is free and easy. I hope to see you there!
— Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Jan 14, 2014 | Announcements
We had a great response to the PhotoPills giveaway, with nearly 300 people putting their names into the hat. We assigned each person who entered a number, and used a random number generator to select the five winners. And the winners are…
John (email starts with jwtrone)
Mike Lynch
Dk Tanaka
Howard Snyder
Susan Markovic
Congratulations to the winners! You’ll each receive an email shortly from Claudia with a code for downloading a free copy of PhotoPills. And if you didn’t get lucky this time, the app is only $9.99, and well worth the price.
Thanks to all of you who participated, and good luck with your moon photos!
— Michael Frye
