When and where?

August 23 - 28 Badlands National Park, Black Hills, and Devil’s Tower, South Dakota and Wyoming

overview

Spend 5 nights with astrophotography experts Derek Culver, Andrew Imhoff, and Bray Falls exploring and capturing the dark skies and immense natural beauty of South Dakota and Wyoming!

Shooting Locations:

Badlands National Park, Black Hills, Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, Crazy Horse Monument, and Devil’s Tower National Monument.

What you will learn:

We believe the best way to learn anything is to immerse yourself in it, and we’d like you to come join our world of astrophotography for a week of adventure, learning, and memories! We teach Astronomy basics, how the moon cycles work, how to plan your shots using apps & astronomy fundamentals, how to find compelling compositions, optimal camera settings, focusing your camera at night, light painting, star trackers, editing your night photos, Lightroom & Photoshop editing, how to capture timelapses (videos of the night sky!) and edit them together, and much more! This workshop is fantastic for all levels of astrophotographers and adventurers but especially those looking to take their astro to the next level!

Itinerary

The workshop starts on Saturday August 23 at 5pm at Badlands National Park and ends Thursday the 28th at 8am in Devil’s Tower National Monument!

what will you learn & difficulty

This workshop is great for beginner and experienced night photographers and adventurers alike, but particularly lends itself well to beginners and those trying interested in the Alumni Astro Party after! You must be able to hike on uneven but flat ground for less than a mile at night, but no hiking is required. We will be teaching fundamentals to night photography from planning your shot, focusing, and proper settings all the way to advanced techniques like blending images, using star trackers, focal length blending and focus stacking!

Lodging

For an immersive yet comfortable astro adventure experience we will be alternating between providing camp spots (and comfortable camping gear set ups) for everyone for 3 nights and hotels for 2 nights! There are hotel options for the camping nights for those who prefer a bit more comfort.

Logistics

Every one is responsible for their own transportation to and from the workshop and throughout the duration of the workshop, however for this workshop we can provide all transportation for a fee flying in and out of Rapid City, South Dakota- please inquire! Often, we can arrange carpools between students which adds to the social environment as well as save costs on rentals and gas. We recommend flying in and out of Rapid City, South Dakota, and flying out after 2pm on the 28th so there is enough time to make your flight without being rushed.

workshop cost & payment terms

The tuition for this workshop is $3,250 total, with a non-refundable deposit of $750 to reserve a spot. The remaining total balance of the workshop is due 2 months before the workshop starts. Alumni discounted cost is $2,500 total, $500 deposit to reserve a spot, but with the discount applied when the remaining workshop balance is collected!

ITINERARY

Please email us with any questions- derek@blazingheavens.com

We meet Saturday August 23rd at 6pm in Badlands National Park and end Thursday August 28th at 10am after breakfast at Devil’s Tower National Monument.

We offer transportation to and from the airport and during the whole trip for a fee flying in and out of Rapid City, South Dakota before 3pm on the 23rd and flying out before 3pm on the 28th! Wecan also try to arrange you into a carpool to save on gas and rental while adding to the social environment of the workshop! That noted, there is an Alumni star party (you become an alumni upon registering for any 2025 adventure) right after (another night at Devil’s Tower, then 3 nights in Montana at a secret locations!)

saturday august 23rd

We will meet at our camping spot looking right over the Badlands any time between 3-6pm! Our workshop officially starts at 6pm with a group introduction and Bison burgers overlooking the Badlands. We will shoot right from out campspot tonight!

Sunday august 24th

In the morning we will sleep in then head into town for breakfast and to check in to our hotels! We will get an editing session in with breakfast, then the rest of the day is open for you to nap, edit more, or explore the Badlands as we will be staying only 30 minutes from the park! We will reconvene around sunset in a new location in the Badlands and shoot until midnight or so!

monday august 25th

After sleeping in, breakfast, and a quick editing session we will then pack up and head to the nearby Black Hills! A scenic 2.5 hour drive to our pristine campground tucked in the heart of amazing rock spits, vistas, animals, and dark skies! You have most of the day to set up at our new camp, explore, and relax! We will reconvene in the evening for a group dinner and head out before sunset to scope out our new shooting location and compositions together. We will do an easy shoot at Sylvan Lake just minutes down the road to capture epic reflection shots, rock formations, and timelapses.

tuesday august 26th

We will sleep in a bit then head into town for a late breakfast and editing session! You will have the rest of the day to explore until we reconvene before sunset and head out down the Needle’s highway together to shoot the epic rock spires and vistas with the stars above! Sunset, astro, and fun until we get tired and retire back (15 minute drive) at our campground where we can also get some nice shots of our tents and camping set up under the stars!

wednesday august 27th

We will pack up, grab breakfast, and head out to Devil’s Tower! It’s a beautiful 2 hour drive through the Black Hills and out to our campgrounds at Devil’s Tower. We want to get out here earlier to explore a bit of the park, enjoy the hundreds of Prarie Dogs and their shenanigans, and get in position to shoot the Milky Way!

thursday august 28th

The trip unofficially ends after we shoot the night before or at sunrise, but checkout isn’t until 10am- we’ll make sure every one gets back to the airports on time and grab breakfast on our way out! We follow up the workshop with custom editing videos using the images we captured together.

We recommend booking your flight out later in the day to give you time to sleep in and not have to rush to the airport, but we can certainly accommodate what works with your schedule and flight availabilities.

Keep an eye out for alumni discounts at future workshops as well as our annual alumni star party!