In the Moment:
Michael Frye's Landscape Photography Blog
North America
North America
While I love Yosemite and the Sierra, it’s nice to sometimes venture further afield. We live on an amazingly beautiful planet, and my home continent has boundless opportunities to experience and photograph the natural world – more than enough to keep me occupied until I can’t pick up a camera anymore.
All images are available as prints. Please visit our print ordering page for available sizes and prices.
California
California
Although I grew up in New York state and Connecticut, I’ve made California my home for over 30 years. And there’s no place I’d rather be for landscape photography. This state is amazingly diverse and beautiful, and I could happily photograph here for the rest of my life and never run out of subjects.
I’ve spent so much time in Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra that they deserve their own portfolios, but here’s a selection of images from the rest of the state.
All images are available as prints. Please visit our print ordering page for available sizes and prices.
Focus-Stacking Season

Poppies, lupines, goldfields, and tri-colored gilia, Merced River Canyon, Wednesday afternoon. A focus-stacked blend of four different frames.
It’s spring, which means it’s wildflower season, and focus-stacking season.
There’s been a secondary poppy bloom in the eastern end of the Merced River Canyon near El Portal. No big swaths of poppies, but smaller patches, and some of those patches are mixed with other flowers, which always makes things more interesting. Claudia and I spent the afternoon up there on Wednesday, and had a great time. I’ve included a couple of my favorite images from that day here.
As I was processing the images later, it occurred to me that all of them required focus stacking. Literally every single one. And this is very common for me when photographing wildflowers. I don’t need focus stacking often in other seasons, but in spring I use this technique all the time. It’s just difficult to get everything in focus with one frame when photographing wildflowers. I’m frequently picking out a particularly dense patch of flowers, and using a telephoto lens to emphasize patterns and visually compress the space, making the flowers look closer together. Even with careful focusing and f/22 it’s impossible to get everything in focus with a long lens raking across a field of flowers like that. But even with wide-angle lenses it’s sometimes difficult to get everything in focus with one frame, because I’m getting really close to the foreground flowers, so there’s a tremendous amount of depth.
Workshops
I am very fortunate to have a loyal and enthusiastic group of people who follow my blog and want to take my workshops. This means the workshops fill quickly, and I know it can sometimes be frustrating to see that all the workshops are full. Here are some tips for getting into one of my workshops for the first time:
• Get on my mailing list. Because the workshops are so popular, we usually give our workshop alumni advance notice when a new workshop becomes available. The more popular workshops often fill just with our alumni, but if a workshop doesn’t fill then I’ll send an email to my general list. There is no separate workshop mailing list. There is only one list, which includes a subscription to my blog. You can sign up for the list on any page of my blog.
• Don’t hesitate! When I do send an email about a new workshop to my general list, the available spots usually fill very quickly.
• Get on the waiting list. If you’re interested in a workshop, but it’s full, first read the workshop description and FAQ page carefully to make sure you have the experience and hiking ability required. Then email Claudia to sign up for the waiting list. Cancellations are common, and even if there are people ahead of you on the waiting list there’s always a chance you might get in – especially if it’s a last-minute cancellation, and people ahead of you on the list have made other plans.
• Persistance pays, so keep trying. We hope to see you in a workshop sometime!
I think the best way to learn is by doing. In my workshops I make sure that every student has the opportunity to practice the techniques that I teach, with one-on-one help from me and my assistants.
I believe in truly small classes, and personal attention. The maximum number of students in my field workshops is twelve, and most have less. And classes with more than six students include a knowledgeable assistant to make sure that there is always someone available to answer questions and help with compositions in the field.
Antarctica (through Visionary Wild, with co-leader Chris Linder)
January 14-30, 2025
(Completed)
Hokkaido (through Visionary Wild, with co-leader Toshiki Nakanishi)
February 10-21, 2025
(Completed)
Out of the Great Smoky Mountains photography conference
April 27 - May 1, 2025
The Mystic Forest: Redwoods Along the Northern California Coast
June 2-6, 2025
(Waiting List)
Starry Skies Adventure: Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra
June 23-26, 2025
(Waiting List)
Greenland - Scoresbysund (through Visionary Wild, with co-leaders Jerry Dodrill and Chris Linder)
September 9-21, 2025
Exploring the Oregon Coast
November 14-18, 2025
(Waiting List)
Yosemite: Winter Light
December 8-12, 2025
(Waiting List)
Antarctica (through Visionary Wild, with co-leader Justin Black)
January 1-17, 2026
Hokkaido (through Visionary Wild, with co-leader Toshiki Nakanishi)
February 4-17, 2026
Grand Canyon by Raft (through Visionary Wild, with co-leader Jerry Dodrill)
April 26 - May 9, 2026
The Mystic Forest: Redwoods Along the Northern California Coast
June 1-5, 2026
(Waiting List)