In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
by Michael Frye | Mar 20, 2016 | Advanced Techniques
White-faced ibises, goldfields, and a vernal pool at sunset, San Joaquin Valley, Calfornia
There’s often an element of luck in landscape photography. Of course, as Ansel Adams said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” You have to try to put yourself in the right place at the right time, and then make the most of the opportunities you get. But sometimes luck goes above and beyond.
Yesterday Claudia and I made a day trip to the Bay Area on business, and on our way home we decided to check out some vernal pools in the San Joaquin Valley. Vernal pools fill with water during the winter rainy season, and then slowly evaporate during the spring. As they evaporate, flowers grow along their shores, sometimes forming concentric rings of color. As California’s Central Valley got plowed and paved over, vernal pools became increasingly scarce, so they’re home to several rare species of plants and animals. Most of the remaining vernal pools can be found along the edges of the valley, where the land rises slightly, but the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge complex and Great Valley Grasslands State Park have preserved some vernal pools in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, and that’s where we headed.
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by Michael Frye | Mar 17, 2016 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Redbuds in the Merced River Canyon, Monday afternoon
The redbuds have been coming along nicely in the Merced River Canyon, along Highway 140 west of Yosemite. I drove through the canyon on Monday, and most of the redbuds were blooming. Not all of those that were blooming were fully open yet, and some redbuds were still just budding. On the other hand, I saw a few that were starting to leaf out. Overall I’d say they were not quite at peak, but there were plenty of beautiful redbuds to photograph. They’ll probably peak around this weekend, or next week.
It was harder to tell what was going on with the poppies in the canyon. In late February it was starting to look like we would have a great year for poppies. There were a couple of very colorful hillsides in the western part of the canyon, and the bloom was spreading further east. But since then we’ve had a lot of rain. While rain is usually good for wildflowers, poppies like warm sunshine — at least once they begin blooming. A stretch of cold, rainy weather will cause already-blooming poppies to pack it in for the year and go to seed.
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by Michael Frye | Mar 10, 2016 | Announcements, Vision and Creativity
Autumn Sunrise, Half Dome and the Merced River, Yosemite – one of the examples in my latest article for Photograph magazine
We can’t control the weather. We don’t determine where trees grow, mountains form, or rivers flow. In landscape photography we have almost no control over our subjects, so we have to adjust to the conditions at hand.
Craft & Vision just released Issue 15 of Photograph magazine, which includes my piece called “The Art of Being Flexible.” I think flexibility is an essential skill for landscape photographers. Since we have so little control over our subjects, we have to be willing and able to react to changing weather and conditions, and try to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves, even if those opportunities weren’t what we expected. The article discusses this subject in depth, and includes several examples showing how to anticipate the weather and light, recognize possibilities, and take advantage of the opportunities you’re given.
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by Michael Frye | Mar 6, 2016 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Morning sunlight on Yosemite Falls, Yosemite NP, CA, USA
After a very dry February the weather pattern has changed, with a series of storms dumping large quantities of rain and snow on California this weekend. Yosemite Valley received almost four inches of rain since Friday as a wet “atmospheric river” lined up to hit the northern and central parts of our state.
It was a warm system, with snow levels over 8,000 feet during most of the storm. The dry, sunny weather over the last month had already created exceptionally high flows in Yosemite’s waterfalls for this time of year, but all that rain over the last few days gave them an extra boost. I drove up to Yosemite Valley this morning and found the waterfalls roaring. They looked more like May than March. And there were small, ephemeral waterfalls everywhere.
Before the storm started to clear this morning I photographed Lower Yosemite Fall in soft light, and then as the sun began breaking through I decided to stay and photograph the upper and lower falls. The sun reaches this waterfall earlier in the morning during March than it does in April or May, making the light much more interesting. You don’t get many opportunities to photograph it this time of year with so much water – and with mist around the upper fall. Here’s one of the photos from this morning.
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by Michael Frye | Feb 28, 2016 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Poppies in the Merced River Canyon, April 2014
Spring has arrived early this year. It seems the poppies in the Merced River Canyon west of Yosemite liked the warm February weather we’ve been having, and they’ve been appearing in greater numbers over the last two weeks. On Friday, when Claudia and I drove up to Yosemite Valley for the Yosemite Renaissance opening reception, we saw some vibrant patches of poppies on the north side of the canyon (opposite Highway 140) a few miles easts of Briceberg. Other spots further east were just starting to show tinges of orange, but I expect those areas will become more colorful. It’s shaping up to be a good year for poppies in the canyon, but it’s just getting started, and the flowers are likely to last for several more weeks if the weather cooperates.
I’ve also seen photos of brilliant poppy displays in the southern Sierra foothills (east of Fresno and Bakersfield). And Death Valley is having a good bloom right now also. But southern California has received below-average rainfall so far this winter, so some of the best wildflower spots in the state like the Carrizo Plain and Antelope Valley probably won’t have great displays this year unless they get more rain soon.
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