Arches at Night Photo workshop
4 Night Photo workshop: June 12-16, 2023
Registration fee: $950
CLICK HERE to reserve and pay your $250 deposit to reserve your slot. Arches National Park has been
designated as an official International Dark Sky Park. Spend 4 nights photographing the Milky Way
against a wide variety of fascinating rock formations, including the largest
collection of natural arches in the world.
We will visit a wide variety of great
locations in Arches National Park, as well as a couple of locations outside the
park, including Canyonlands National Park. The workshop will include
classroom work to better your photographic craft, including time to process and
critique your images. We will shoot each
afternoon into late at night as weather allows, with a few hours each day dedicated
to classroom instruction and image processing.
We will end the workshop with a group slide show and critique.
About the Photographer: Colin is an award-wining photographer who has
spent the past several years exploring the red rock Canyonlands of Southern
Utah. As a part time resident of Moab
since 2011, he has spent several weeks a year exploring the photographic riches
in and around Moab in every season, and has been leading workshops and tours in
the area for several years as the founder of Rock Light Photo Tours. He is a
certified photography travel guide in nearby Arches, Bryce Canyon and
Canyonlands national parks.
Field lessons will include tips and techniques for:
- Capturing the Milky Way with
your digital camera
- Techniques and gadgets
for better Milky Way photography
- Making your red rock sunset images
pop
- Determining proper exposure
- Stacking images to reduce noise
- Capturing great images in
challenging lighting conditions
- Analyzing a scene for
compositional options
- Using filters to improve artistic
results
Indoor sessions will be spent viewing
and critiquing participants’ images. In
addition, Colin will give indoor instructional presentations on:
- Adobe Lightroom workflow for
getting the most from your images
- Post processing for night
photography
- Creating composite images with
layer masking
- Photographic techniques for
shooting the red rock sandstone of the Colorado Plateau
Skills Needed
All skill levels are welcome. Participants who have a good working
knowledge of their cameras, and basic understanding of digital workflow and
knowledge or exposure to Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom will get the most from
this workshop.
Though locations visited during this workshop are readily accessible,
the hilly terrain requires some moderate hiking (typically less than 3 miles
round trip). Participants MUST be in good physical shape and able to climb and
descend moderate to steep inclines. They should wear sturdy boots and use
caution on slippery and rocky slopes. As this is a night workshop, we will be shooting late at night, sometimes into the wee hours of morning.
Group
Size: The
workshop will be limited to 6 photographers (this workshop usually sells out well in advance)
Registration Fees: 4-night workshop - $950
CLICK HERE to reserve and pay your $250 deposit to reserve your slot.
Dates and
Times
Workshop begins Monday, June 12 at 4pm, and ends Friday, June 16th at Noon.
Where to Meet
Participants will gather and be based at the Red Rock Garden
vacation rental property in Moab, Utah. Directions and details will be sent well in
advance of the workshop.
Meals
Meals are the responsibility of the participant and their
cost is not included in the
registration fee. We will work with the
group to organize meal times and locations.
Fully stocked kitchens are available at each rental house, and we will
likely plan to eat at least one meal per day there.
Lodging
Accommodations are available in one of our luxury vacation
rental properties just 10 min. south of Moab, Utah, each with a private hot tub
and a fully equipped kitchen, which will be a great base of operations for
visiting Arches National Park other locations in and around Moab and Castle
Valley. One of the two properties will
be the home base for the workshop, giving us a place to
gather for classroom sessions, a kitchen to use for meals, and a chance
to mingle with and learn from your fellow photographers.
- Private bedroom (King bed, pvt bath (2)): $140/night single occ, $165/night dbl occ.
- Private bedroom (Queen bed, pvt bath (1)): $125/night - $145/nt dbl Occ
- Private Bedroom (King bed, shared bath (1)): $110/night - $135/nt dbl occ.
- Private bedroom (full bed, shared bath(1)): $90/night - $150/night dbl occ (2 full beds)
Prices are indicated for single occupancy. Want to bring along a spouse, partner or
other non-participant? Contact us for
double occupancy rates, and non-participant workshop rates. Beds may be
available a day or two before and after the workshop, if you wish to extend your stay in the
area.
Park Admissions
Colin is a registered
and insured tour operator in both Arches & Canyonlands National parks, but
cannot use his permit for entry for
workshop participants. We will need one
Arches or National Park pass per vehicle.
Airfare & Local
Transportation
Airfare and local transportation is NOT included. There is not much in the way of public
transportation in Moab, and the closest major airport is in Grand Junction,
Colorado (GJT), a little less than 2 hours away, and Salt Lake City (SLC) a
little more than 4 hours away. Rental cars are generally required for getting around, although we will try to organize ride shares as much as
possible, and we will carpool as much as possible, to keep both our carbon
footprint and parking space as minimal as possible. (If you are not comfortable sharing a ride with other vaccinated individuals, then plan on driving your own vehicle)
Program Schedule:
Exact schedule to be determined, but in general we will shoot sunset every day, and then shoot late into the night each night.
(Schedule may vary
considerably depending on weather and other factors)
What to bring:
- ·
A digital or film camera capable of manual exposure
settings. Due to the short time frame of
the workshop, people with digital cameras, especially digital SLR cameras, will
get the most from the workshop.
- ·
Plan to bring all of your lenses, from wide angle to
telephoto, as the variety of daytime locations for sunsets will put all your
gear to work! A wide angle lens capable
of an aperture of f/2.8 or lower is best for capturing the Milky Way. Consider renting a lens if you don’t own one.
- ·
A sturdy tripod
- ·
A circular polarizer filter, while not required, can be a
useful tool for controlling glare and reflections for the sunset shoots.
- ·
Hiking boots or other sturdy shoes: while the hikes to
locations we will visit will be fairly short (typically less than 2-3 miles
round trip) a good set of sturdy hiking boots is good for protecting the ankles
on rocky trails and slippery rocks.
- ·
Lots of clothing layers – Moab weather can be finicky, and
temps can be chilly at night in the desert, and much warmer during the day.
- ·
A headlamp, preferably with a red light setting, to
participate in optional night photo sessions.
- ·
Your own method of transportation. We will carpool to locations as possible, but
ride sharing may be limited due to social distancing requirements.
- ·
A laptop computer, ideally loaded with Adobe Lightroom, to
best take advantage of the Lightroom workflow instructional session. Cables and devices necessary to download your
images from camera to laptop.
To reserve your spot,
Click Here
(then click "add to cart" to pay your deposit)
