In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog

Special Ansel Adams Gallery Print Sale

by | Jun 14, 2016 | Announcements

Swirling mist from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

Swirling mist from Tunnel View, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

I’m pleased to announce that once again The Ansel Adams Gallery is sponsoring a special print sale of two of my photographs, at 25% off the normal price. The two images we selected for this offer are Swirling Mist From Tunnel View, Yosemite, and Stars, Mist, Three Brothers, and the Merced River, Yosemite. These two photographs are in my current exhibit at The Ansel Adams Gallery, but otherwise have never been exhibited at a gallery or sold before.

My signed, limited-edition 16×20 prints usually sell for $325, but during this sale you can get one for only $244. Or you can purchase a 20×24 print, normally $475, for only $356. This is a rare chance to purchase one of my photographs at a reduced price, but the sale lasts for just six days, until Sunday, June 19th, at 6:00 PM Pacific time. Visit the Ansel Adams Gallery website to purchase a print or get more details.

Here are the stories behind the photographs:
 

(more…)

Arranging Sea Stacks

by | Jun 12, 2016 | Composition

Sea stacks and cormorant, Redwood NP, CA, USA

Sea stacks and cormorant, Redwood NP, CA, USA

On our trip up to the redwood country we had plenty of opportunities to photograph the beautiful, rugged, northern-California coast. There are many spots between Trinidad and Crescent City with offshore rocks and sea stacks, which make wonderful photographic subjects.

Separating visual elements is a concern in any composition, but seems to be particularly vital when photographing the ocean and forest scenes along the northern California coast. Both sea stacks and redwood trunks need to be well-spaced, balanced, and stand out clearly.

(more…)

A Magical Morning in the Redwoods

by | Jun 7, 2016 | Light and Weather

Sunbeams in a redwood forest along the northern California coast, USA

Sunbeams in a redwood forest along the northern California coast

We always hope for fog when we go to the redwoods. Fog helps to simplify busy forest scenes, but also adds a touch of mood and mystery that seems to fit the primeval feeling of these groves.

Before our workshop last week we found fog along the Klamath River, and valley fog in some meadows, but none of the coastal fog that typically envelops the California coast in summer. The coastal fog is much more widespread than the other types of fog, and it’s the only kind of fog that gets thick enough and high enough to penetrate into the redwood forests. That coastal fog typically forms when it’s hot inland, but temperatures just hadn’t reached summer levels yet.

(more…)

Along the Klamath River

by | May 29, 2016 | Light and Weather

Foggy sunrise along the Klamath River, Redwood NP, CA, USA

Foggy sunrise along the Klamath River, Redwood NP, CA, USA

Claudia and I are in Crescent City scouting for our upcoming redwoods workshop. I love coming back here. The lush forests and wild coast are such a contrast to our mountain home in the central Sierra. The subjects here allow me to try some alternative techniques and approaches to photographing the landscape, but above all I’m trying to convey the feeling of this area, which is very different from Yosemite. The Sierra Nevada, or “The Range of Light,” as John Muir put it, seems like a bright, new, shiny jewel to me, while the temperate rainforests of northern California have a primeval mood that makes you feel as if you’ve traveled back in time a few million years.

(more…)

Over Tioga Pass

by | May 22, 2016 | Yosemite Photo Conditions

Ice and reflections in Ellery Lake, Inyo NF, CA, USA

Ice and reflections in Ellery Lake, Inyo NF, Wednesday evening

Claudia and I love going over Tioga Pass on the day it opens, whenever possible, and we managed to tear ourselves away from our desks on Wednesday afternoon and do just that. I photographed some beautiful puffy clouds and reflections from Tuolumne Meadows late in the afternoon. Towards sunset the clouds started to dissipate, so we headed over the pass to Ellery Lake, which had some great ice patterns.

Tenaya Lake was totally free of ice, while Tioga Lake was almost completely frozen. Ellery Lake just right, with a photogenic mixture of ice and open water. But I’m sure that will all melt soon, while Tioga Lake should be getting more open patches of water.

Meanwhile, the park did get some showers on Friday and Saturday, with a dusting of high-elevation snow. The Tioga Road has been closed off and on since Friday night, though as I write this it’s open. With showers in the forecast over the next few days it’s possible that the road may close again temporarily.

(more…)