by Michael Frye | Feb 1, 2011 | Announcements
Ross’ geese landing, Merced National Wildlife Refuge
Claudia and I had such a great time visiting Merced National Wildlife Refuge last Monday we went back two more times last week. On Wednesday we found a large flock of geese—mostly Ross’ geese—feeding in a field near the tour road. Small groups flew in, joining the group, then a huge flock arrived from the north. This photograph shows only part of this new group landing.
When watching flocks of snow or Ross’ geese like this, it’s always hard to estimate the numbers. You know you’re looking at a lot of birds, but how many? So out of curiosity I counted the number of geese in the air in this photograph. Yes, really, I counted them. I took the image into Photoshop, zoomed in, and marked little dots on each bird to make sure I didn’t miss any or count them twice.
So I thought it might be fun to see if you, my readers, could guess how many birds are in the air in this photograph. And just to add a little incentive, the person who’s estimate comes closest to my count will win a free copy of my book Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters. Or, if you already have a copy, you can choose one of my three posters (you can view them here).
To make your guess and enter the contest, go to my blog home, where you can read the rules, see a larger image, and post your guess in the comments.
by Michael Frye | Jan 12, 2011 | Announcements
5. Gray pines after a snowstorm
Jim Goldstein posted his Best Photos of 2010 Blog Project today, with the top images of 2010 from 162 photographers, including me of course. It’s worth spending some time looking through these photographs, as there’s a lot of great work.
For me, picking out my best photos from last year was a difficult, fascinating, but ultimately rewarding process.
(more…)
by Michael Frye | Jan 7, 2011 | Announcements
The polls are closed, the votes are in, and here are the winners—as chosen by you, the readers.
The response went far beyond my expectations. Over 100 people chimed in with their picks, and Claudia had to create a spreadsheet to keep track of them all! My heartfelt thanks to all of you who voiced your opinions. I really appreciate your taking the time to help me make these difficult choices. (Click here to see all 46 original nominees.)
Although I reserved the right to override theses votes, in the end I decided that the collective wisdom was greater than mine, especially with so many people chiming in. Here’s a list of the ten images which received the most picks, and the number of votes they each received:
- Image #3, Winter sunrise from Tunnel View, 69 votes
- Image #11, Redbud reflection II, 64 votes
- Image #13, Horsetail Fall by moonlight, 64 votes
- Image #9, Painted Hills in the Temblor Range (vertical), 45 votes
- Image #18, Middle Gaylor Lake at sunset, 45 votes
- Image #32, First light on Three Brothers (second version), 45 votes
- Image #5, Gray pines after a snowstorm, 44 votes
- Image #19, Sunrise, North Peak and Greenstone Lake, 42 votes
- Image #40, Swirling mist, El Capitan Meadow, 39 votes
- Image #42, Ice sculptures and Wildcat Fall, 39 votes
(more…)
by Michael Frye | Jan 6, 2011 | Announcements
I’ll be posting my ten best photographs from 2010 tomorrow, but there’s still time to make your voice heard and help me make the selection. View the top 46 here, then just add a comment and list your favorites.
Many thanks to everyone who’s already chimed in. The response has been tremendous, and almost 100 people have voted. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to do this—you’re the best! And special thanks to those who went to the trouble of giving detailed explanations about their choices—that’s very helpful.
by Michael Frye | Jan 4, 2011 | Announcements
Winter sunrise from Tunnel View, February 7th, 2010
Update, Friday, January 7th:
This afternoon I counted the votes and listed the top ten images in another post. I still welcome hearing about your picks—they just won’t count toward picking the top ten. Thanks for your participation everyone!
As I mentioned in my last entry, Dan Mitchell had a great idea: he posted about 50 of his best photographs from 2010, and asked his blog readers to help him pick out the best ones. Dan has some beautiful work, and you can see the final results here.
I liked this idea so much I thought I would, uh, borrow it—with Dan’s permission of course. So I’ve set up a page with 46 of my best images from 2010, and I’m asking for help in picking out the top ten. After you look through them you can post a comment with your favorites. Once I’ve narrowed it down I’ll post the top ten on this blog, and submit the finalists to Jim Goldstein’s blog project, where once again he’ll be showcasing the ten best images of the year from over 100 photographers.
The judging for the my final ten will be more like Dancing With the Stars than America Idol. That means that unlike Idol, where only the viewer’s votes count, the judge—me—gets a say too, so if one of my favorites gets panned by everyone else I may still include it. But as one of my photographer friends, Clinton Smith, once said, we don’t get to pick our best images—the world does. So your votes will carry a lot of weight.
So have at it! And thanks for your participation—I really appreciate your taking the time to give me your thoughts about these photographs. Here’s the link to those 46 images again.
by Michael Frye | Dec 31, 2010 | Announcements
Wildflowers in the Temblor Range, April 3rd, 2010
Thanks to all of you for your participation in this blog during 2010. Your readership and comments have helped make this a great year. Your thoughts and insights about landscape photography have added great depth to whatever I’ve written here. I feel like I’ve made many new friends, and connected with lots of people who share a passion for landscape photography.
Among the regular commenters, three recently had work accepted into the Yosemite Renaissance XXVI exhibit: Robin Black, Brent Gilstrap, and David Hoffman. Congratulations! The exhibit opens February 25th at the Yosemite Museum Gallery. The opening reception is always a lot of fun, so I hope to see some of you there.
Another frequent contributor is fellow blogger G Dan Mitchell. Dan just did something really interesting. Attempting to pick out his best photos from 2010, he invited his readers to help him make the selections. He just posted the final results last night, and it’s a great collection of images.
Highlights From the Past Year
I thought it might be appropriate to look back at some of the highlights of the past year. This is not a comprehensive list by any means, so if your favorite post is missing, I apologize! These are just a few things that jumped out at me as I looked back through the posts from 2010.
Critiques
In January I did my first photo critique, of Tim Parkin’s photograph that he called “That Damned Loch.” The critiques have become very popular; you can find them all by clicking on the Critiques Category at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. Meanwhile Tim has gone on to launch a new online magazine called Great British Landscapes. This looks like a great resource for any landscape photographer, British or otherwise, and I wish Tim much success with this venture.
Podcast Interview
Also in January, popular photo blogger Jim Goldstein recorded a podcast interview with me. Jim really has his pulse on the latest trends in the ever-changing world of digital photography, and I highly recommend reading his blog and following him on Twitter.
The One That Got Away
On March 1st I wrote a post about a fantastic sunset in Yosemite Valley that I missed. In April I critiqued a beautiful photograph by Sudheendra Kadri. Well it turns out that Sudhi also captured a fantastic image of that sunset from Tunnel View on that day when I decided (much to my regret) to stay home. Nice one Sudhi!
Temblor Range Wildflowers
In early April I photographed the most amazing wildflower display I’ve ever seen in southern California’s Temblor Range. I posted one photo on this blog, and more on my 25 Years in Yosemite blog.
First Video
June brought my first video tutorial, called The Power of Curves. Since then I’ve posted several more videos about the digital darkroom, and these have also become a popular feature on the blog. To see them all, scroll down to Categories at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar, and click on Video Tutorials.
Photographs That Inspire
One of the most popular and most re-tweeted posts from 2010 was called Photographs That Inspirefrom September 29th. This was a subject that I’d been thinking about for a long time, so it was great to see such a positive response—thanks!
What’s Ahead in 2011
I want to make this blog an even better resource for people who love landscape photography. I’m planning many new features in 2011, which I’ll announce… at the appropriate time. Stay tuned! And please invite your friends to join the conversation. The more ideas we share, the more we all learn.
Thanks again for helping to make 2010 a great year!
