In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog

Lightning Storm at Mono Lake

Lightning at sunset, Mono Lake, CA, USA

Lightning at sunset, Mono Lake, California

As most of you know, an unusually-strong series of thunderstorms reached California the weekend before last (August 15th and 16th), and dry lightning sparked numerous wildfires. Two of those fires (the LNU Complex and the SCU Complex) have become among the largest in state history. Our hearts go out to those who have lost homes and loved ones in the fires.

The lightning reached the San Francisco Bay Area in the early-morning hours on Sunday, August 16th. Claudia and I were in Lee Vining (near Mono Lake) that day, and things were quiet that morning, but thunderstorms moved into the area from the south that afternoon.

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Out of Chicago In Depth Next Weekend!


 

The Out of Chicago In Depth online photo conference is coming up soon – next weekend! You can now see the full schedule on their website. There are so many wonderful sessions; here are just a few that caught my eye:

Visualization-Driven Photography: From Idea to Execution, with Guy Tal and Colleen Miniuk
How to Make Money Making Photographs, with David duChemin and Corwin Hiebert
From Your Heart to Art: Unlocking Your Photographic Potential, with Ted Orland and Alan Ross
Photographing Plants and Flowers in New, Creative Ways: An In-Depth Exploration, with Sarah Marino and Anne Belmont
Don’t Get the “Blues” Over Blue Skies: How to Be Creative Without Clouds, with Jennifer Renwick and David Kingham

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Just Another Summer in the Yosemite High Country

Sunset, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite NP, CA, USA

Sunset, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite. 35mm, 1/4 sec. at f/16, ISO 200.

It seems like a normal summer in the Yosemite high country. It’s less crowded than usual, since the park has limited the number of people allowed in. But the plants and animals are going about their business as they typically do. Creeks and rivers continue to flow. Clouds sometimes float by. It’s all serenely beautiful.

The park reopened on June 11th, with lodging, camping, or day-use reservations required for entry. After being away for three months, Claudia and I wanted to visit the park on that first day, and were able to secure a day-use reservation.

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From the Archives: Footprints on Sand Dune

Footprints on sand dune, Death Valley, California
Footprints on sand dune, Death Valley, California

This photograph is from October of 1995 – deep in the archives.

Most of my photographic ideas arise spontaneously, as I react to the light, weather, and my surroundings. But sometimes an idea pops into my head at home, or while driving, or, especially, while falling asleep.

The idea for this footprint image was one of those occasions when an idea just popped into my head, though I don’t remember exactly where or when. I had been experimenting with light painting at dusk and at night, using flash and flashlights, and somewhere during that time I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool to show a line of footprints on a sand dune, and use a flashlight to make the prints glow?”

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Photographing Forests

Dogwood and giant sequoia in the fog, Sierra NF, CA, USA

Dogwood and giant sequoia in the fog, Sierra Nevada, California. Fog is a wonderful complement to forest scenes; here, some ephemeral fog lasted just long enough for me to capture this image. 70mm, polarizer, 0.7 seconds at f/16, ISO 100.

People seem to love trees and forests. I know I do.

But forests can be difficult to photograph. Natural forests are usually a study in chaos, with haphazard arrangements of branches, trunks, logs, and leaves. There’s an organic order to all that, with trees and understory plants growing to take advantage of small patches of sunlight, and a cycle of birth, growth, death, and decay.

But visual order can be hard to find amid all that clutter. The chief challenge in photographing forests is usually finding a way to simplify things, and make order out of chaos.

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