Workshops
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 | Sep 2, 2011 | Announcements, Workshops
Workshop participant at Tenaya Lake
The Ansel Adams Gallery has released their (nearly) complete workshop schedule for 2012. I’ll be teaching four workshops for them, including Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom: Mastering Lightroom (January); Spring Yosemite Digital Camera Workshop (April); Full Moon Night Photography (July); and The Digital Landscape: Autumn in Yosemite (October).
Lightroom has rapidly become the software tool of choice for many photographers because it’s simple, yet powerful—easy to use, but sophisticated enough to get great results with almost any image. For the first time I’ll be teaching a workshop specifically focused on this tool—Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom: Mastering Lightroom.
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by Michael Frye | Aug 14, 2011 | Workshops
Light-painted tufa towers at Mono Lake
My Full Moon Night Photography workshop ended just after midnight last night. We had a lot of fun. Once people learned the basics I think they realized that photographing after dark isn’t that difficult. Then their creative juices started flowing and they started light-painting tufa towers and juniper trees with abandon!
As a bonus, we saw a spectacular sunset at Mono Lake Friday evening. Here’s one of my photographs of that sunset, and a couple of images from South Tufa I made while working with students on light-painting techniques. I hope to post some of the participant’s images here also as soon as they’ve processed them.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 22, 2010 | Announcements, Workshops
Spotlight on Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite National Park
The Ansel Adams Gallery posted their 2011 workshops on their web site today, and they’re open for registration. I’m very happy to announce that I’ll be teaching five classes with the Gallery next year, including a Photoshop and Digital Printing Workshop in January, the Spring Yosemite Digital Camera Workshop in April, and my Hidden Yosemite workshop in July. You can see the complete list on myworkshop page.
There are a few errors on the Gallery’s site, which we’re working to fix. The descriptions on my site are correct, so please refer to these for now, and email me if you have any questions. But I wanted to let you all know that the registration is open, since these classes often fill up quickly.
As you probably know from reading this blog, I love teaching. It’s immensely satisfying to help people find their photographic vision and master the craft of photography. So I’m really looking forward to these workshops next year! Hope to see you in one of them.
by Michael Frye | Sep 23, 2010 | Announcements, Workshops
The Ansel Adams Gallery will be announcing their 2011 workshop schedule soon, but I thought I’d give you a preview of my Photoshop and Digital Printing workshop, since it’s only four months away: January 16-20, 2011.
This is a perfect class for anyone who wants to improve their knowledge and skill with Photoshop. Photoshop is an incredibly powerful program, yet because of that power it’s also complex. This workshop is designed to help you cut through the clutter, and all the conflicting, confusing information out there, and learn simple, powerful techniques for making great digital prints. We’ll have five days—plenty of time to really immerse ourselves in the subject. I guarantee that you’ll leave the class with new skills, confidence, and increased mastery of Photoshop. Click here to read the full workshop description on my web site.
Winter can be a great time to photograph Yosemite Valley. While working on our digital darkroom skills we’ll also keep an eye on the weather and be ready to photograph fresh snow or a clearing storm. Last year we found some great light and clouds one afternoon, as you can see by the accompanying photograph.
As soon as the Gallery makes the announcement I’ll post the full list of workshops here. Or, if you prefer, send me an email letting me know you’re interested and I’ll let you know when the workshops are live and open for registration. And if none of these workshops fit your schedule, I’m available for private workshops for individuals or small groups.
by Michael Frye | Jul 13, 2010 | Announcements, Workshops
North Peak and Greenstone Lake, sunrise
I just finished teaching the Hidden Yosemite workshop for The Ansel Adams Gallery. Every year this is a really fun class, and this time was no exception. There’s something about being away from the roads that adds an extra dimension to the workshop. We had a great group, and the weather was excellent. Saturday morning at Greenstone Lake was probably the photographic highlight, with glassy water and a great mix of sun and clouds—the first time I’ve seen clouds at sunrise from this spot. The photograph above shows the first blush of light on North Peak; later, in the image below, I used a four-stop neutral-density filter, plus a polarizer, to slow the shutter speed and blur the fast-moving clouds.
We had a slide show on the last day of the workshop, and everyone in the class showed great images from Saturday morning—how could you miss with light like that? But we also saw many interesting, imaginative photographs from all the other locations we visited. It was great to see everyone’s growth over the five days of the workshop. I’ll post a link to some of the student’s photos at some point.
Fast-moving clouds above Greenstone Lake
