Light-painted tufa towers at Mono Lake

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.

I’ll be doing another night photography workshop in Yosemite with The Ansel Adams Gallery next summer. Registration is already open, and you can see the details here.

—Michael Frye

Sunset at Mono Lake, Friday evening

Sunset at Mono Lake, Friday evening


Moonlit clouds and light-painted tufas, Mono Lake

Moonlit clouds and light-painted tufas, Mono Lake


Related Posts: Juniper and Star Trails; Horsetail Fall by Moonlight.

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He is the author and photographer of The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations, and Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, plus the eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. He has written numerous magazine articles on the art and technique of photography, and his images have been published in over thirty countries around the world. Michael has lived either in or near Yosemite National Park since 1983, currently residing just outside the park in Mariposa, California.