I’m excited to announce that I’ll be an instructor at the Out of Merritt Island Bird Photography Conference in March!

I’ll be joined by a stellar lineup of fellow instructors, including Ray Hennessy, Mary Anne Karren, Isaac Grant, Nick Page, David Akoubian, Alyce Bender, and Chrissy Donadi (12 instructors in all). The conference will be based in Cocoa Beach, close to some of Florida’s best bird-photography locations like Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Canaveral National Seashore, Orlando Wetlands, and Sebastian Inlet. And we’ll get to photograph some of Florida’s abundant, unique, and accessible bird species, including Roseate Spoonbills, Tri-colored Herons, Glossy Ibises, Anhingas, Purple Gallinules, Limpkins, Ospreys, Snail Kites, Wood Storks, Reddish Egrets, Scrub Jays, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Black Skimmers, Black-necked Stilts, and Crested Caracaras.

Although I mostly photograph landscapes these days, I actually started my career photographing wildlife, and still love photographing animals. Each winter Claudia and I spend as much time as possible at refuges in California’s Central Valley photographing wintering flocks of geese, cranes, and other birds. In other seasons I’m always alert for opportunities to photograph wildlife, and sometimes we’ll look for animals we’re particularly interested in, like moose, wolves, and grizzlies in Yellowstone and the Tetons.

I try to bring a landscape-photography sensibility to my wildlife photographs. I often incorporate some of the animal’s environment into the image, and use light and weather to convey a mood. Whatever the the subject, I strive to make photographs that reach viewers on an emotional level. I’ve included a portfolio of some of my favorite bird images below to give you sense of my approach.

So I’m really looking forward to this conference and the opportunity to photograph so many wonderful, accessible birds in beautiful natural environments. It should be really fun. In my field sessions and presentations at the conference I’ll emphasize capturing a mood, and photographing wildlife with a landscape-photography sensibility, but I look forward to seeing how my fellow instructors approach things. They each have their own vision and style, and all bring an artistic touch to their bird photographs, which I greatly appreciate. (I’m a big fan of Mary Anne Karren’s work.) So I know I’ll learn a lot from them – and I’m sure you will too if you join us.

Until November 12th you can get $400 off the conference deposit by using the code FRYEMI400. Here’s a link to sign up or get more information:

Out of Merritt Island Bird Photography Conference, March 8-12, 2026

I hope to see you there!

— Michael Frye

Ring-billed gulls and California gull on an abandoned pier, Mountain View Shoreline Park, California

Snow geese taking flight, Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico

Sandhill cranes and a foggy sunrise, San Joaquin Valley, California

Great egret, Ding Darling NWR, Florida

Hummingbird and larkspur, Yosemite NP, California

Barred owl, Olympic NP, Washington

White pelicans, San Joaquin Valley, California

Sandhill cranes taking flight on a foggy morning, San Joaquin Valley, California

White-fronted geese taking flight, San Joaquin Valley, California

Great egret in fog, San Joaquin Valley, California

American kestrel, San Joaquin Valley, California

Short-eared owl, Skagit River Delta, Washington

Great egret landing, San Joaquin Valley, California

Tri-colored blackbirds, San Joaquin Valley, California

Ross’s geese taking flight at sunset, San Joaquin Valley, California

Ross’s geese and reflections, San Joaquin Valley, California

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He lives near Yosemite National Park in California, but travels extensively to photograph natural landscapes in the American West and throughout the world.

Michael uses light, weather, and design to make photographs that capture the mood of the landscape, and convey the beauty, power, and mystery of nature. His work has received numerous awards, including the North American Nature Photography Association’s 2023 award for Fine Art in Nature Photography. Michael’s photographs have appeared in publications around the world, and he’s the author and/or principal photographer of several books, including Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, and The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite.

Michael loves to share his knowledge of photography through articles, books, workshops, online courses, and his blog. He’s taught over 200 workshops focused on landscape photography, night photography, digital image processing, and printing.