In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Jun 28, 2021 | Announcements
El Capitan emerging from clouds, Yosemite
I recently did an interview with David Johnston for his podcast The Landscape Photography Show, and it just got released today. David asked a lot of great questions, and I thought it was a fun and interesting conversation. We talked about my photographic journey, photographing the same place over and over, whether originality is overvalued, internal and external motivations for your work, and much more.
You can listen to the episode on David’s website, or through all the usual podcast sources like iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and so on.
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by Michael Frye | Jun 20, 2021 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Waves, fog, and sea stacks, northern California coast, USA
As much as I love the redwood forests, the rugged, rocky coastline of northern California is just as beautiful, and just as essential to the character of this region. You can go from the windy, noisy, wide-open expanses of the coast to the calm, quiet, dense forests in minutes, and the transition is breathtaking. Along many trails through the redwoods you can hear the surf in the distance – while watching the fog roll in off the ocean and into the woods. To me, it’s the close proximity and interaction between the ocean and forests that creates the wonderful, wild mood of this place.
This coastline features innumerable rocks and sea stacks, as the ocean gradually erodes softer rocks, leaving harder rocks stranded offshore. Part of the challenge in photographing these scenes is figuring out where to stand in order to arrange those rocks in a compelling way within the frame.
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by Michael Frye | Jun 13, 2021 | Light and Weather, Travels and Stories
Young and old redwoods, Northern California. Soft sunlight filtering through the fog added a beautiful and unusual mood to this scene, and I loved the juxtaposition of young and old trees. 25mm, 1/6 sec. at f/16, ISO 800.
Until last year, Claudia and I had visited the redwood forests of northern California nine years in a row. The pandemic interrupted that streak, but in late May this year we were able to return once again, and spent almost two weeks in the area.
It was great to be back, as I love this part of the world. While Yosemite has been my home, both physically and spiritually, for over 35 years, returning to the redwoods also feels like coming home. It’s a much different environment – damp, cool, foggy, lush, and overgrown – and that’s what I love about it. Many places look like they could be sets from a Jurassic Park movie (which, of course, they were). It’s not hard to imagine dinosaurs roaming this terrain.
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by Michael Frye | Jun 5, 2021 | Announcements
Redwoods, ferns, and rhododendrons near the northern California coast, USA
Elements magazine is a new digital publication devoted to landscape photography, produced by the team behind Medium Format magazine. They’ve only published a few issues of Elements so far, but the quality of the photographs, text, and design has been top notch. Contributors include William Neill, Erin Babnik, Christopher Burkett, Chuck Kimmerle, Hans Strand, Rachael Talibart, Bruce Barnbaum, and many others.
And I’m honored to have my work included in the latest issue of this beautiful magazine. My article in the June edition of Elements is called Capturing a Mood. That topic is fundamental to how I approach photographing landscapes, and this article is the most comprehensive piece I’ve yet written about this subject.
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by Michael Frye | May 23, 2021 | Night Photography, Reviews
Oak tree and lunar eclipse sequence, December 10th, 2011, Mariposa County, Sierra foothills, California. In this sequence, the moon was setting to the west-northwest just before sunrise. In the upcoming eclipse, the moon will also be setting just before sunrise for viewers in the western U.S. – but to the southwest. (Click here to read the story behind this photo.)
In case you haven’t heard, there’s going to be a total lunar eclipse this week in some parts of the world. That includes western North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and eastern Asia. You can see all the places where the eclipse will be visible on timeanddate.com.
The total eclipse will last about 14 minutes, from 11:11 to 11:25 UTC (Universal Time) on Wednesday, May 26th. That translates to 4:11 to 4:25 a.m. Wednesday here in California. The partial eclipse begins at 9:44 UTC, and ends at 12:52 UTC (2:44 a.m. and 5:52 a.m. Pacific Time).
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