In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog

A Trip to South Carolina

Table Rock at sunrise

Table Rock at sunrise


To those who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a great holiday. And if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a good weekend anyway!

The week before Thanksgiving I flew to South Carolina. A couple of people who had previously taken my Spring Digital Camera Workshop got some of their friends together and invited me to come to their home and teach a workshop.

I’d never been to this part of the country before, and found it to be quite beautiful. This region, in the mountains along the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, is home to a great concentration of waterfalls. Of course I live near another great waterfall area, Yosemite, but the character of the falls is quite different in each place. Yosemite is known for its big, thundering, dramatic, vertical drops like Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Fall. The Carolina waterfalls are smaller, and usually slide down less-than-vertical rock faces, but they have braids and channels that lend themselves to slow shutter speeds and more intimate compositions, and in their own way they’re equally photogenic.

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Black Friday Photography Deals

I’ve seen some great deals today! B&H has Lightroom 3 for half price (it’s normally $299), as well as discounts on Canon cameras and lenses. Friend of this blog G Dan Mitchell has all the details. Also, Craft & Vision is offering 50% off their whole photography eBook collection, including my eBook Light & Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom. Or you can get a $40 gift certificate for $20. All these discounts are today only.

I’m sure there are some other good deals out there too, so if you see anything, please let us know by posting a comment.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My son Kevin on a swing at age three

My son Kevin on a swing at age three



I have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost, I have  a wonderful, supportive family. I’ve been lucky in love, and been married for 25 years—to the same person! And raising our son Kevin has been easy and enjoyable; he’s just a naturally grounded person. I also have some great friends who enrich my life. And then there are the three cats and two dogs we live with who keep us continually entertained!

I’m grateful that we live in a warm, comfortable house in a quiet neighborhood, surrounded by oak trees and meadows, and that we live so close to Yosemite, my spiritual home. I’m very grateful that my family and I are healthy, and happy.

I’m particularly thankful for all of you, the wonderful community of photographers I’ve met through this blog, for reading, listening, and commenting. It’s great to discuss photography with people who share the same passion, and your participation makes writing this blog fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

—Michael Frye

The iPad Version is Here!


The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite is now a universal app, built for both iPhone and iPad. The new iPad version takes advantage of the bigger screen to give you easier access to all the information.

Since we were able to make this a single universal app, this iPad-optimized version is a free update for those who have already purchased the app. Just go the app store on your iPad and tap on Updates. The app is fully functional right away, but hi-resolution images for the iPad download when you open the app and connect to Wi-Fi.

If you haven’t already purchased the app you can do so here.

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A Great Day for Photography

Reflections along the Merced River

Reflections along the Merced River


Last Thursday night a weak storm brought rain and snow to the Sierra. Before going to bed I checked the satellite and radar images online, and it looked like the storm might clear by sunrise, so I set my alarm for some ungodly hour. When the alarm went off I looked at the satellite photos on my iPhone without even getting out of bed. At moments like these, half asleep, warm under the covers, I almost hope those little animated images will show lots of clouds, so I can just roll over and go back to sleep. But alas, it looked like it was clearing. I got up and looked out the window: stars. The only thing worse than getting out of bed in the dark on a cold morning is missing a great sunrise. Time to get dressed.

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