by Michael Frye | Sep 10, 2012 | Announcements
Sunbeams from Tunnel View, spring, Yosemite National Park
For the first time ever I’ll be participating in Sierra Art Trails, this October 5th through 7th. Sierra Art Trails is an annual event in the Sierra foothills near Yosemite featuring wonderful local artists, including many who are nationally and internationally known. The open studios give visitors a chance to meet the artists and sometimes see demonstrations of how they produce their work.
I’ll be showing my work at Casto Oaks Fine Wine and Art in downtown Mariposa. My display will include a wide variety of images, old and new, including classic daytime landscapes, nighttime photographs, and high-key images. I’ll also have my small matted prints available, plus signed books and posters—and special prices on many items. I always enjoy meeting online friends in person, so please stop by and say hello if you’re in the area.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 18, 2011 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Cottonwoods with a dogwood understory, June Lake Loop
Sometimes it seems as if autumn will never come, but it always does. From all reports there wasn’t much color on the eastern side of the Sierra a week ago, but things have changed, and the aspens are just beautiful right now. Most of the usual spots near Lee Vining have great color, including the June Lake Loop, Parker Bench, Lundy Canyon, Conway Summit, the road to Virginia Lakes, Dunderberg Meadow, Green Creek, and Summers Meadows.
We had a wonderful day photographing all that color. Autumn in this area is just magical. Here’s one photo from the June Lake Loop this morning, and I’ll post more when I get a chance to process them.
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by Michael Frye | Oct 19, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Claudia and I made it over Tioga Pass on Sunday, and spent the last two days around Lee Vining photographing aspens. It rained off and on, so we had to wait out a few showers, but the moisture intensified the colors, and gave us some interesting clouds and weather to photograph. I made hundreds of exposures, drained two robust batteries in one day, and got thoroughly soaked, but we had a great time—it was just beautiful. I have a lot of images to process, but here are a couple of early favorites.
A lot has changed in the last week, and autumn has finally bloomed in the eastside canyons. Some of the middle and upper elevation areas are at peak, and the lower groves around June Lake and Lee Vining Canyon are getting there. We found some beautiful orange aspens along the Virginia Lakes Road, just above Conway Summit. The Dunderberg Meadow area was gorgeous. Of course the spots that are good now will probably be past peak soon, but I expect June Lake, Lee Vining Canyon, and Lundy Canyon will all be beautiful this weekend.
As for Yosemite Valley, I’ve heard that the color has really started to come out recently, and I’ll be up there the next two days to check first hand.
I have a busy workshop upcoming workshop schedule, and of course I have to get out and photograph the fall color! So I won’t be doing a critique this week, but will post one early next week. Stay tuned—and let us know about autumn color that you find.
Multi-colored aspen leaves
by Michael Frye | Oct 11, 2010 | Yosemite Photo Conditions
Mono Lake, Sunday evening
Claudia and I finally made it over reopened Tioga Pass on Saturday, and visited the Bishop Creek area, Rock Creek, Convict Lake, June Lake Loop, Lee Vining Canyon, and Lundy Canyon. Most of the aspens in those areas are still green—in fact, many are dark green. I saw more green aspens than I’ve ever seen along the eastern side of the Sierra this time of year. Autumn is very late on this side of the mountains.
The good news is that those green trees appear to be in good shape, and we’re having a spell of warm days and cool, but not freezing, nights—perfect conditions for creating colorful leaves. So when the aspens do finally turn we might see some great color—maybe in another week or two, but these things are always hard to predict.
Now on to some specifics. There is some decent color high up in the Bishop Creek area (west of Bishop) near North Lake and Lake Sabrina. By most accounts North Lake was better a week ago, but there is a band of aspens along the northwest shore that hasn’t completely turned yet. It’s mostly yellow with some green, so it may be better in a couple of days.
North Lake, Sunday morning
There is some nice color on a hillside above the road in Rock Creek Canyon, but this seems like a hard place to find good compositions. Further north, Convict Lake on Saturday was almost entirely green, as were the June Lake Loop and Lee Vining Canyon yesterday.
Lundy Canyon had probably the best color we found, although it’s not close to peak yet. The lower part of the canyon was about half yellow, half green yesterday. Further up, below Lundy Lake, everything was green. Beyond the “resort,” along the dirt road, there was a nice patch of color on the south side of the canyon near one of the beaver ponds. We hiked up to the highest beaver pond, and found mostly lime-green aspens, but we always enjoy visiting this area.
We’ll be scouting Conway Summit, Virginia Lakes Road, Dunderberg, and other spots between Lee Vining and Bridgeport this afternoon, and I’ll let you know what we find.
I haven’t been to Yosemite Valley since last Wednesday, but I’ll be there in two days and will give you an update. On my last visit it looked like the maples and dogwoods were starting to turn, so I’m anxious to see if they’ve progressed.
Good luck to all you fall foliage photographers! Let me know if you find anything I missed.
Creek below Lake Sabrina, Sunday morning
Reflections in a Lundy Canyon beaver pond, Sunday afternoon
by Michael Frye | Mar 17, 2024 | Light and Weather
Half Dome and sunbeams, winter sunrise, Yosemite NP, California
I’ve felt like a hamster on a wheel lately, running nonstop just to keep up with the most essential tasks. But I finally have a moment to breathe, and time to write a blog post!
I made the photographs here in mid-February, after a weak storm moved through the Sierra. In a common pattern, it rained in Yosemite Valley during most of the storm, but the temperature dropped at the tail-end, leaving a dusting of new snow. At least that’s what I saw on the webcams early that morning. But when I arrived in the west end of the valley at first light, I didn’t find any new snow. Could it have snowed in the east end of the valley (where the webcams are), but not the west end? Sure enough, that’s what happened. The east end of the valley is slightly higher in elevation than the west end, and sometimes that’s enough to create a dusting of snow in the east end while the west end gets only rain.
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