Travels and Stories
by Michael Frye | Jan 8, 2026 | Travels and Stories
Chinstrap penguins, Antarctica
Claudia and I are back in Antarctica! We’re so happy to be in this amazing place again, and share the experience with our wonderful group of participants, along with the stellar crew aboard the Hans Hansson. And a big thanks to my co-instructor Justin Black, the founder of Visionary Wild, who did such an great job organizing this special trip designed for photographers.
We’ve had some wonderful light, and fantastic encounters with wildlife. Passing through the Gerlache Straight two days ago we saw a huge concentration of humpback whales – probably 50 or so within a few square miles.
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by Michael Frye | Nov 30, 2025 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Waves, fog, and sunbeams along the Oregon Coast. I waited for the sun to crest the ridge on the left and light the large waves rolling in, using a fast shutter speed (1/500 sec.) to freeze the motion. I liked this moment, with sunbeams and a series of wave splashes.
Claudia and I just returned from our annual trip to the Oregon Coast. Our workshop went really well, with a small, wonderful group of participants. And we had some beautiful light to work with.
One of the things I told the group was how much I love the variety of light and moods you can photograph along the Oregon Coast. The weather seems to change constantly (in November at least). One day it’s stormy and dramatic, the next day (or minute) it’s foggy and ethereal. Or something else. With the changeable weather, and the shifting tides and waves, it’s a dynamic environment, where you have to be on your toes to capture moments when the light, weather, and waves come together to create something interesting and beautiful.
Those moments are frequent, but fleeting. You need to anticipate when something might happen, or be able to switch gears quickly when things change.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 30, 2025 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Dappled light at a canyon overlook, Utah
Claudia and I are finally on our way home after our long road trip. It’s been a fantastic journey, and we really don’t want it to end, but we’ll be back on the road again soon, heading to the Oregon Coast. That’s one of my favorite places to photograph, so I’m looking forward to that already.
I’ve made lots of new images on this trip that I’m excited about. It’ll take some time to sort through and process them all, but here are a few photos from one stormy day in Utah.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 19, 2025 | Travels and Stories
Clouds, mist, and aspens, Colorado
After returning from Greenland, Claudia and I spent only a few days at home before starting a road trip to Utah and Colorado. We began by photographing autumn aspens and maples in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, then moved to western Colorado for more aspens. Now we’re back in Utah, but in the southern part, with red-rock deserts and yellow cottonwood trees. We’re having a great time.
I’ve been making lots of photographs, so it’s hard to keep up with the backlog of images, but here are a couple of my favorites from the trip so far. These are from southwest Colorado, with mist and clouds created by the remnants of Hurricane Priscilla as it moved through the area and dumped large quantities of rain.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 5, 2025 | Travels and Stories, Wildlife Photography
Arctic fox, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Scoresby Sund, the area of east Greenland we visited on our Visionary Wild trip last month, is spectacularly beautiful. But I didn’t expect to see much wildlife there, because this region is actively hunted by the local Inuit people.
So I was pleasantly surprised by how much wildlife we actually saw, including musk oxen, Arctic hares, Arctic foxes, and polar bears.
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by Michael Frye | Sep 25, 2025 | Travels and Stories
Pond, peaks, fiord, and glacier at sunrise, Scoresby Sund, Greenland
Claudia and I just got back from our trip to Greenland with Visionary Wild… and it was fantastic. This is such a beautiful part of the world, and we got to experience it with a wonderful group of people – our 16 lively and friendly participants, our fantastic ship’s crew, and my amazing co-instructors, Jerry Dodrill and Chris Linder.
Our Greenland expedition focused on Scoresby Sund, on the east coast. While the interior of Greenland is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet, the second-largest body of ice on Earth (after the Antarctic Ice Sheet), Scoresby Sund is a land of sharp peaks and rocky fiords, with glaciers carving through the mountains and depositing icebergs into the sea. Scoresby Sund is considered the largest fiord system in the world, with many long, narrow channels, and mountains rising dramatically from the water to over 6,000 feet above sea level.
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