In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Oct 25, 2010 | Vision and Creativity
Horsetail Fall by moonlight, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
Horsetail Fall has become a celebrity, attracting more lenses than Brangelina. In February hundreds of photographers try to catch the fleeting sunset light on this little waterfall. Suitable vantage points are limited, so it’s hard to find new and different ways to portray this iconic subject. But it occurred to me that if I could catch the moon setting at just the right angle I might be able to photograph it at night.
It turns out that the right conditions for moonset light on Horsetail Fall are quite rare. The moon’s path varies greatly as it waxes and wanes. It has to set at the right angle while close to full (to provide enough light), before sunrise (so the dawn light doesn’t wash out sky), and there has to be water in the fall. Such conditions may occur only once every other year, at most.
Fortunately I found perfect conditions last spring. As I walked up to one of my favorite Horsetail Fall viewing locations at about 4 a.m., I saw an amazing sight: that beautiful, low-angle backlight on the waterfall, with the cliff behind it in the shade. It looked exactly like it does at sunset in February, only with stars in the sky above it.
Our eyes can’t see color in the dark, but cameras can, so as soon as I made my first test exposure I could see that now-classic orange glow on my LCD screen. I used both short and long shutter speeds, but ended up liking the short ones, with pinpoint stars, best.
This photograph was selected to be part of the Best of Nature show at the Ordover Gallery in the San Diego Natural History Museum. Two more of my images, Winter Sunrise From Tunnel View, and Winter Morning Along the Merced River, were also chosen. The opening reception is November 13th, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and will be on view until January 30, 2011. Hope to see some of you at the reception!
Speaking of Horsetail Fall, right now is it’s mirror season. The light is identical to February, and the only reason hundreds of photographers don’t try to photograph it in October is because there’s usually no water in the fall. But Yosemite Valley received almost four inches of rain in the last 48 hours, so there should be plenty of water in Horsetail Fall for the next day or two.
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 | Oct 21, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
I spent the last two days in Yosemite Valley doing a private workshop. The weather was fantastic—we got to photograph lots of interesting clouds and chiaroscuro light patterns. More potentially photogenic stormy conditions are predicted through the weekend.
The autumn color in the valley is improving every day, but it’s still not quite there yet. There are four main types of deciduous trees in the valley: big-leaf maples, dogwoods, cottonwoods, and black oaks. The maples usually change color first, and this year is no exception. You can find nice displays already near Pohono Bridge and along Southside Drive underneath Cathedral Rocks. I’d say about 50 percent of the maple leaves in the valley have turned as of today.
The other trees are a bit further behind. Perhaps 20 percent of the dogwood and cottonwood leaves have changed so far, and perhaps only 5 percent of the oak leaves. The dogwoods and cottonwoods need at least another week, and the oaks maybe two weeks.
But while the show consists mostly of maples so far, these trees produce the most consistently vibrant and beautiful color in the valley, and they are changing rapidly. I saw a noticeable increase in yellow leaves in just the last 36 hours. So they may peak soon—maybe even this weekend.
by Michael Frye | Oct 19, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Claudia and I made it over Tioga Pass on Sunday, and spent the last two days around Lee Vining photographing aspens. It rained off and on, so we had to wait out a few showers, but the moisture intensified the colors, and gave us some interesting clouds and weather to photograph. I made hundreds of exposures, drained two robust batteries in one day, and got thoroughly soaked, but we had a great time—it was just beautiful. I have a lot of images to process, but here are a couple of early favorites.
A lot has changed in the last week, and autumn has finally bloomed in the eastside canyons. Some of the middle and upper elevation areas are at peak, and the lower groves around June Lake and Lee Vining Canyon are getting there. We found some beautiful orange aspens along the Virginia Lakes Road, just above Conway Summit. The Dunderberg Meadow area was gorgeous. Of course the spots that are good now will probably be past peak soon, but I expect June Lake, Lee Vining Canyon, and Lundy Canyon will all be beautiful this weekend.
As for Yosemite Valley, I’ve heard that the color has really started to come out recently, and I’ll be up there the next two days to check first hand.
I have a busy workshop upcoming workshop schedule, and of course I have to get out and photograph the fall color! So I won’t be doing a critique this week, but will post one early next week. Stay tuned—and let us know about autumn color that you find.
Multi-colored aspen leaves
by Michael Frye | Oct 15, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Aspens and snow in the Bishop Creek area, October 5th—Photograph by Evan Russel
After Tioga Pass closed last week I was stuck on the west side of the Sierra, but my friend Evan Russel, Ansel Adams Gallery staff photographer and one of my workshop assistants, made it over there a day earlier, and captured some some great images of snowy aspens after the storm on October 3rd and 4th. Here are a couple of examples. You can see more of Evan’s work on the Gallery’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile in Yosemite Valley autumn is progressing slowly. After some color suddenly appeared last week I thought that the leaves might turn quickly, but apparently the warm weather has slowed things down. I spent the last two days in the valley, and saw some trees that have partially changed, but none fully clothed in their fall colors. Claudia checked out the dogwoods along Highway 120 between the entrance station and Crane Flat and saw mostly green leaves, so it seems that even the higher-elevation trees haven’t changed yet.
Aspens and snow in the Bishop Creek area, October 5th—Photograph by Evan Russel
While we may have to wait a bit for more color in the valley, this could also mean that all the deciduous trees will change at the same time. Usually the dogwoods and big-leaf maples turn earlier than the oaks and cottonwoods, and the color is spread out over several weeks. But occasionally all the trees turn together, creating some exceptional conditions.
On the eastern side of the mountains the color is not yet at its peak in the middle and lower elevations, but things are starting to change quickly, and color can be found in many of the medium-to-high-elevation aspen groves. I described some of the progress in my last two posts, but will add that on Tuesday I found some nice orange trees in the upper reaches of Lee Vining Canyon, along Highway 120. These aspens had shown very little color only three days earlier. The next two weeks could be great in places like Lundy Canyon, Lee Vining Canyon, June Lake Loop, and Conway Summit.
by Michael Frye | Oct 11, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Mono Lake, Sunday evening
Claudia and I finally made it over reopened Tioga Pass on Saturday, and visited the Bishop Creek area, Rock Creek, Convict Lake, June Lake Loop, Lee Vining Canyon, and Lundy Canyon. Most of the aspens in those areas are still green—in fact, many are dark green. I saw more green aspens than I’ve ever seen along the eastern side of the Sierra this time of year. Autumn is very late on this side of the mountains.
The good news is that those green trees appear to be in good shape, and we’re having a spell of warm days and cool, but not freezing, nights—perfect conditions for creating colorful leaves. So when the aspens do finally turn we might see some great color—maybe in another week or two, but these things are always hard to predict.
Now on to some specifics. There is some decent color high up in the Bishop Creek area (west of Bishop) near North Lake and Lake Sabrina. By most accounts North Lake was better a week ago, but there is a band of aspens along the northwest shore that hasn’t completely turned yet. It’s mostly yellow with some green, so it may be better in a couple of days.
North Lake, Sunday morning
There is some nice color on a hillside above the road in Rock Creek Canyon, but this seems like a hard place to find good compositions. Further north, Convict Lake on Saturday was almost entirely green, as were the June Lake Loop and Lee Vining Canyon yesterday.
Lundy Canyon had probably the best color we found, although it’s not close to peak yet. The lower part of the canyon was about half yellow, half green yesterday. Further up, below Lundy Lake, everything was green. Beyond the “resort,” along the dirt road, there was a nice patch of color on the south side of the canyon near one of the beaver ponds. We hiked up to the highest beaver pond, and found mostly lime-green aspens, but we always enjoy visiting this area.
We’ll be scouting Conway Summit, Virginia Lakes Road, Dunderberg, and other spots between Lee Vining and Bridgeport this afternoon, and I’ll let you know what we find.
I haven’t been to Yosemite Valley since last Wednesday, but I’ll be there in two days and will give you an update. On my last visit it looked like the maples and dogwoods were starting to turn, so I’m anxious to see if they’ve progressed.
Good luck to all you fall foliage photographers! Let me know if you find anything I missed.
Creek below Lake Sabrina, Sunday morning
Reflections in a Lundy Canyon beaver pond, Sunday afternoon
by Michael Frye | Oct 11, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Stormy afternoon over Conway Summit
Claudia and I went up to Conway Summit, Virginia Lakes Road, and Dunderberg this afternoon. This area had the best color we’ve found yet. Conway Summit is still mostly green, as you can see from the photo, but getting there. There are some nice patches of yellow and orange above Conway Summit on the road to Virginia Lakes. Most of the Dunderberg Meadow area (between Virginia Lakes and Green Creek) is still green, but should be good in another week or so. We did find a small patch of red-orange trees nearby. Alas, darkness arrived before we made it to Green Creek—too much to photograph along the way!
Yellow and orange leaves near Dunderberg
by Michael Frye | Oct 7, 2010 | Critiques
“Meadow of Loosestrife” by J.J. Raia
This week’s photograph was made by J.J. Raia at Troy Meadows, Green Acres, New Jersey. By having his image chosen for this critique J.J. will receive a free 16×20 matted print from Aspen Creek Photo. If you’d like your images considered for future critiques you can upload them to the Flickr group I created for this purpose.
Before I get to the critique, I’d like to once again thank all of you who have submitted photographs for this series. There are many outstanding images in the collection, and I wish I could write about all of them!
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by Michael Frye | Oct 6, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Lightning striking the Sierra foothills near Mariposa on Sunday night
October literally started with a bang, as thunderclaps rang through Yosemite Valley. It poured Saturday afternoon. Near Pohono Bridge the Merced River was brown, filled with silt, something I’ve seen only a few times in the last 27 years.
At about 11 o’clock Sunday night my wife and I got in our outdoor hot tub—a nightly ritual—and immediately noticed flashes behind the ridge to our west. We couldn’t hear anything, but knew it must be distant lightning. The frequency was impressive, a nearly constant flickering.
Even though we planned to head over Tioga Pass to Bishop the next morning, and needed to get up early, we decided to go out and take a look. We drove to a spot on Triangle Road, less than half a mile from our house in Mariposa, with a panoramic view to the south. From there we could see that flickering behind a ridge to the west, but also an even more intense thunderstorm to the south, near Fresno. This second cell put on a great light show, with nearly continuous flashes. It gradually moved closer, then slid by to the east, so we were able to watch it for over two hours.
Of course I tried to photograph the lightning, but unfortunately we saw few bolts hit the ground. Most of the show consisted of cloud-to-cloud lightning, and the streaks were usually hidden within the clouds. But I managed to capture a few good images, including the one at the top of this post.
El Capitan at sunset, Tuesday evening
By the next morning rain had changed to snow at the higher elevations of the Sierra, and Tioga Pass was closed. We started driving north to Sonora Pass, but then learned that had closed too. Reluctantly we turned around rather than face a six or seven hour drive to Bishop.
I had to console myself by photographing a beautiful, seldom-visited location: Yosemite Valley. After receiving almost two inches of rain since Friday, skies cleared over the valley Tuesday, and I was able to photograph El Capitan at sunset surrounded by mist and clouds.
Since I never made it to the other side of the mountains, I can’t tell you first hand about the fall color over there, but Evan Russell, an Ansel Adams Gallery staff photographer and one of my workshop assistants, told me that the color is great west of Bishop around North Lake, South Lake, and Lake Sabrina. Or at least it was Monday. Tuesday it snowed up there, and many aspens lost their leaves. Typically a storm will strip most of the trees that are already turning, so it may be another week or two until the trees that are now green will change and provide another dose of fall color.
News like this—that some of the early season aspen spots may lose their leaves—often elicits anxious comments in forums, with people worried that they may have missed fall, and others adding fuel to the angst by saying that if you don’t go right now, or better still, yesterday, you’ll miss the most fantastic, wondrous, amazing fall color ever!
Let me assure you that fall isn’t over in the Sierra. Most of the aspens in classic eastern Sierra spots like McGee Creek, June Lake Loop, Lee Vining Canyon, and Lundy Canyon are still green, and probably weren’t adversely affected by the recent storms. While there are no guarantees—there are many little-understood factors that affect fall foliage—chances are good that these areas will produce wonderful color later in the month. I’ve made many of my best aspen photographs during the third week of October. Here’s one example.
Aspen Grove, June Lake Loop, October 23rd, 2006
And if the aspens don’t produce more great color this year, there are always maples, dogwoods, oaks, and cottonwoods in Yosemite Valley. Peak fall foliage in the valley doesn’t usually occur until the end of October or beginning of November, but the rain and cold temperatures have set things in motion, and many maples and dogwoods have already started to change color. It looks like autumn might arrive early in the valley this year, but these things are always hard to predict.
I’m hoping to try again to get over to the east side later this week, so I’ll let you know what I find. In the mean time, a good resource for fall color reports is the Calphoto web site. Also, if you’ve been photographing aspens recently, or captured some of the storm activity in Yosemite, please use the comments to tell us what you found, and post links to photos!
by Michael Frye | Sep 29, 2010 | Vision and Creativity
Redwoods in Fog, Del Norte State Park, California
Over the past months I’ve presented tutorials about some of the more technical sides of photography, like curves and camera calibration. These are important tools for realizing your vision, but today I want to turn in a different direction and talk about something less technical, but even more essential—inspiration.
Inspiration in photography can mean several different things. First, there’s the inspiration it takes to make a photograph—the leap of imagination that allows someone to capture a new, different way of seeing a subject, or create an original photographic concept.
Second, you can feel inspired when looking at a photograph. I’ve seen many images that have moved me in some way, perhaps by capturing a moment of great beauty, or a poignant interaction between people.
I’ve also felt inspired by a body of work and thought, “Wow, I want to do that! I want to make photographs that good.” In this case the inspiration is a motivator, something that spurs me to greater heights of creativity and imagination.
Many photographs and photographers have inspired me over the years. Seung Kye Lee lives in Norway, and might be the best landscape photographer you’ve never heard of. One of my favorite photographs of his, Rondane – Whispering Wind, has a great sense of space, depth, and scale—disorienting and surreal. Another favorite, Haiku, just portrays beautiful, magical light.
Next, for something completely different: Jerry Uelsmann. His dreamlike composite images—all done in the darkroom, by the way, not with Photoshop—are well known and widely collected. I had the privilege of meeting Jerry several times when he taught workshops for The Ansel Adams Gallery in the 1980s, and he is extremely nice and has a great sense of humor. He also has a large body of work from Yosemite, since he taught many workshops there. What I like about this image, Untitled, 1992, is the integration of human and natural forms. I wish we could all be this connected with nature.
I hope that some of my photographs might be inspiring to others. But I want to tell you today that everyone can do it. Yes, this means you. Your photographs can move people. Your photographs can inspire people.
How? By being inspired yourself. If you’re not moved by what you’re photographing, then your photographs won’t move others. But if you can see deeply into your subject, if you can feel a connection with a place, a moment, or a person, then you might find that spark of insight or imagination that can help you create a great image.
Ansel Adams said, “I have made thousands of photographs of the natural scene, but only those visualizations that were most intensely felt at the moment of exposure have survived the inevitable winnowing of time.” Ansel was more articulate with a camera than a typewriter, but he meant that his best photographs were made when he felt inspired by the scene in front of him.
That’s been my experience too. It was certainly the case when I made the photograph of redwoods at the top of this post. Walking among those giant trees on that foggy morning I felt awestruck, humbled, and deeply connected with everything around me.
It’s easy to get caught up in our jobs and our day-to-day existence. We think about money, or a difficult in-law, or the latest crisis in the news. I think that’s why we love photography. We can’t often express ourselves at work, but we can with a camera. Photography gives us a creative outlet, a way of keeping in touch with our true, inner selves, the person that often gets forgotten while sitting in meetings or paying the bills. A camera can help you connect, or re-connect, with the things that are really important to you. Find out what those things are, what things matter most to you in the world, and you can make inspiring photographs.
What subjects move you and inspire you? What photographs or photographers have you found inspirational? I’d like to hear your thoughts, and see links to images that have inspired you.
