Light and Weather
by Michael Frye | Sep 27, 2026 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Sun breaking through fog in a geyser basin, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming
Claudia and I have had a busy couple of weeks in Yellowstone and the Tetons. We’ve been up early photographing every morning, followed by a late breakfast, nap, early dinner, afternoon and evening photography, sleep – and repeat. But it’s been really fun. I’ve photographed big landscapes, small scenes, and everything in between, plus lots of wildlife. This is an incredibly rich area for photography.
I haven’t had much time for sorting and processing images, but here are three photos from another beautiful, misty morning in Yellowstone. On cold mornings, the steaming pools and geysers of Yellowstone produce copious quantities of mist, and sometimes you can find opportunities to catch the sun breaking through the fog – as I tried to do here.
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by Michael Frye | Sep 13, 2026 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Misty sunrise, Yellowstone NP, Wyoming
Claudia and I are in Yellowstone, and it’s good to be back, as this is one of our favorite places. It’s not necessarily an area for grand landscapes, though it definitely has them. But I love photographing Yellowstone’s more intimate scenes – especially on cold mornings, when mist and fog blanket the thermal areas. I love fog, and Yellowstone’s geysers and hot springs generate tons of it.
I’ve been making lots of photos, and it’ll take me awhile to go through and process everything, but here’s a selection of images from just one chilly morning here. I climbed a small hill to get a vantage point over one of the thermal areas, and spent an hour photographing the mist. Chasing shifting light and atmosphere like this is super fun for me, and I had a great time.
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by Michael Frye | Aug 23, 2026 | Composition, Light and Weather
Tree and boulders along a lakeshore, Yosemite NP, California
I’ve always loved the clean, crisp, pine-scented air in the Sierra high country. The thin air at those high elevations intensifies the temperature differences between sun and shade. You can be sweating in the sun one minute, then shivering in the shade the next. And the light has more contrast too. The thicker atmosphere at low elevations tends to be hazy, scattering light and softening contrast. The thinner air at high elevations has less of that scattering effect, making the edges between sun and shade sharper and more distinct. The light seems more intense, more vivid.
That intense light becomes even more striking when contrasted with clouds. Which means, of course, that I gravitate toward the high country when summertime monsoonal moisture pushes up from Mexico, spawning clouds, showers, and thunderstorms.
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by Michael Frye | Jun 21, 2026 | Light and Weather
Sea stacks at sunset, Pacific Coast, northern California
During our redwoods workshops we always hope to find fog, but we also hope to see a nice sunset or two along the coast. Unfortunately those two things don’t usually go together. The kind of high fog layer (or coastal stratus) that might seep into a redwood forest often appears as a low overcast along the coast. Even if the stratus dissipates late in the morning, it can reform again just before sunset, blocking the light.
The most interesting sunrises and sunsets usually need some clouds to catch the light from the rising or setting sun and add interest to the sky. But the most colorful sunrises and sunsets usually involve high clouds, not low clouds. Since they’re so far above the earth, high clouds can catch the light from the sun well before sunrise or long after sunset. And because the sun can light those high clouds from such a low angle, the light travels through more atmosphere, filtering out the blue wavelengths of light, and leaving only oranges and reds.
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by Michael Frye | Jun 14, 2026 | Light and Weather
Trail through a redwood forest, northern California
In photography, light is vital. A wonderful subject can look drab without good light. But a mundane subject can look fantastic with the right light.
The light doesn’t have to be spectacular to make a compelling photograph; it just has to complement the subject, and help tell the story you’re trying to tell. But of course special light is always welcome. And one of my favorite kinds of light is sun breaking through fog. This beautiful light can work with almost any landscape, but it’s especially magical with trees or forest scenes.
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by Michael Frye | May 31, 2026 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories, Uncategorized
Wave splash at sunset, Pacific Coast. 185mm, 1/500 sec. at f/16, ISO 3200.
Claudia and I are in the northwest corner of California scouting for our upcoming redwoods workshop. I always enjoy coming here, as I love both the forests and the coast in this part of the world.
On a previous visit Claudia had spotted some unusual wave activity at one coastal location while I was off photographing something else. Her description intrigued me, so I kept that spot in the back of my mind in case we got the chance to photograph big waves there. And we got that chance on Tuesday, with waves 16 feet or higher according to the nearest wave buoys. Waves like that are unusual for this time of year, so it seemed like a great opportunity.
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