In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Feb 19, 2026 | Advanced Techniques, Night Photography
Lunar eclipse sequence, Trona Pinnacles, California, January 20th, 2019
On March 3rd people in many parts of the world (including most of North America, Eastern Asia, Australia, and New Zealand) will be able to see a total lunar eclipse. This page shows where the eclipse will be visible, as well as the timing of the event.
Here in the U.S. the eclipse will occur during the wee hours of the morning on March 3rd. So photographing the eclipse will require losing some sleep, but the fully-eclipsed moon will be fairly low in the sky, making it easier to line up the eclipse with an interesting foreground.
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by Michael Frye | Feb 11, 2026 | Announcements
Three Brothers, Sentinel Rock, and the Merced River at sunrise, Yosemite NP, California
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be teaching at another Out of Yosemite Landscape Photography Conference, January 18–22, 2027!
The original Out of Yosemite conference in 2020 was a fantastic event, and I’m looking forward to doing it again. Once again I’ll be teaching alongside an outstanding lineup of instructors: Joshua Cripps, Jerry Dodrill, Albert Dros, Franka Gabler, Charlotte Gibb, Michael Gordon, Huibo Hou, Chuck Kimmerle, Jennifer King, Colleen Miniuk, William Neill, Alex Noriega, and Beth Young.
We’ll also be joined by four of Ansel Adams’s former assistants – Ted Orland, Chris Rainier, Alan Ross, and John Sexton – who will each deliver a keynote presentation.
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by Michael Frye | Feb 8, 2026 | Travels and Stories, Wildlife Photography
Porpoising chinstrap penguins, Antarctica. 355mm, 1/1500 sec at f/16, ISO 5000. I needed a fast shutter speed to freeze motion, and a small aperture to get all the penguins in focus. That required pushing the ISO quite high, but I can deal with the noise (Adobe’s Denoise did a great job), while I can’t fix a blurry photo.
Penguins are so much fun to watch. I need penguins in my life every day. I think everyone does. Luckily I can watch Claudia’s videos whenever I need a penguin fix.
It’s super fun watching penguins at their nests, with the adults performing displays and calls, stealing rocks from neighboring nests, and feeding their adorable chicks. But it’s also highly entertaining to watch them away from their nests – especially as they’re porpoising out of the water, jumping ashore, or leaping into the water en masse.
Penguins are fast and agile swimmers. Gentoo penguins are thought to be the fastest swimmers, reaching speeds of up to 22 mph. (This video shows how fast and agile they are underwater.)
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by Michael Frye | Feb 1, 2026 | Travels and Stories, Wildlife Photography
Southern giant petrel chasing a chinstrap penguin, Antarctica (it didn’t catch it)
On one of our zodiac cruises in Antarctica we visited a large chinstrap penguin colony, where penguins gathered on a black-sand beach as they were coming and going. We couldn’t land on this beach due to rough surf and high penguin activity, but our zodiac drivers hovered just offshore, giving us a great view.
The penguins attracted southern giant petrels. As you can see from the accompanying photos and video, giant petrels are big birds – larger than the chinstraps – with a six- to seven-foot wingspan. Petrels are quite aggressive, and will sometimes hunt penguins. They usually can’t catch a healthy adult penguin, but can catch chicks, or a sick or injured adult.
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by Michael Frye | Jan 22, 2026 | Travels and Stories
Icy glow, Antarctica. We were lucky to find this beautiful backlight catching the tops of these ice fingers.
Claudia and I just returned from Antarctica. This was our second trip to the bottom of the world, and it was just as amazing and wonderful as the first. On both trips I tried to make photographs that capture something of what it’s like to be there, but even my best images can’t convey the actual experience. It’s truly like traveling to a different planet.
Once again I was teaching for Visionary Wild aboard our small, chartered ship, the Hans Hansson. This time my co-instructor was Visionary Wild founder and owner Justin Black, and we shared the experience with a wonderful, fun group of participants, along with the ship’s small, stellar crew. Most of the crew members were the same as last year, so it was great to see familiar faces, and they couldn’t have been nicer.
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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 | Dec 31, 2025 | Announcements
Gentoo penguins on an iceberg, Antarctica
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, and lots of beautiful light and wonderful adventures during the coming year.
Claudia and I will be ringing in the New Year at 30,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean while flying to Chile, and then we’ll continue to Antarctica on January 3rd. I can’t wait to get back to the land of ice and penguins! And I can’t think of a better way to start the new year.
— Michael Frye
by Michael Frye | Dec 30, 2025 | Announcements
The votes are all in and counted, and here are my top photographs of 2025!
We had a great response this year: 542 people looked through my initial selection of 52 images and voted for their favorites. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to view these photographs and voice your opinions! I also really appreciate the kind words so many people posted in the comments or sent by email. I wish I could respond to everyone, but please know that I’ve read them all and am very grateful for all your support.
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by Michael Frye | Dec 29, 2025 | Announcements
10. Snow, trees, and sunbeams, Hokkaido, Japan
Just a reminder that this is the last day to cast your votes for my best photographs of 2025. You have until midnight! Again, please don’t send your votes to me by email, or post them in the comments, or they won’t be counted. Use the form at the bottom of my earlier post to cast your votes.
Thanks to everyone who already voted! I appreciate your help. 🙂
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by Michael Frye | Dec 24, 2025 | Announcements, Wildlife Photography
Tundra swans in fog, Sacramento Valley, California
Claudia and I feel lucky to have experienced many special moments this past year, including two mornings in the Sacramento Valley last month photographing tundra swans in the fog. I posted one of the swan images yesterday with my best-of-year nominees, but here are a few more. I had long wanted to photograph swans in fog – white on white, with elegant white birds against a white backdrop. It was wonderful to finally get that opportunity.
I hope these photographs feel peaceful. In reality, swans are often squabbling with each other. After every altercation, however, they flap their wings, shrug it off, and swim away, wrapped in serenity once again. They’re focused on the present, not the past, and the squabble is forgotten. That seems like a good lesson for us.
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