When and where?

April 30 - May 4 Private Navajo and Hopi land, Arizona.

overview

Spend 4 nights with Derek Culver and Andrew Imhoff exploring and capturing the backcountry geologic beauty and incredibly dark skies of Navajo Nation through! We will be touring you around to the bucket list locations you may not have even know exist. Working with Navajo and Hopi private guides and land owners, we will have front row access to these incredible canyons the at the best times, teaching you the photography techniques and philosophies we use to capture its beauty, and creating amazing memories with a group of like-minded photographers! We’ll be both in hotels and camping out under the stars in and right on the rims of these vibrant canyons (everything provided for you) for a comfortable but immersive photography experience. This workshop includes all camping and some hotel accommodations (with hotel alternatives for the camping nights for those who prefer more comfort) as well as meals in the backcountry camping spots, editing sessions with follow up video tutorials, and tons of fun photography adventures and lessons! We will be teaching both landscape astrophotography and deep space (widefield, with trackers!) techniques with hands on instruction under the stars and classroom style editing sessions, with custom tutorial videos after the workshop.

Shooting Locations:

Coal Mine Canyon, Blue Canyon, and several other private locations on the Navajo Reservation and Antelope Canyon private tour during the day and night.

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, how to capture timelapses (videos of the night sky!) and edit them together, and much more! We also teach advanced techniques like tracking, blending, stacking, and more.This workshop is fantastic for all levels of astrophotographers and adventurers as we keep our group sizes much smaller than other tours allowing for lots of hands on attention helping you reach your artistic goals.

Itinerary

We will meet in Tuba city at 4pm on Wednesday April 30th to begin our adventures and lessons and we end on the morning of Sunday May 4th! We are camping for 2 nights (all gear provided) then staying at a hotel for 2 nights.

what will you learn & difficulty

This workshop is great for beginner and experiences night photographers and adventurers. You must be able to hike on uneven surfaces at night for about 1-2 miles with some of your camera gear. We will be teaching fundamentals to night photography from planning your shot, focusing, and proper settings all the way to blending images, using star trackers, and stacking images!

Lodging

We alternate between camping and hotels for a balanced experience of comfort and immersion! We provide all the camping amenities you will need for the trip including all sleeping gear, starlink, charging, water, and meals while out in remote areas. Hotel alternatives included in itinerary for those who prefer more comfort on our dedicated camping nights but you will need to provide your own transportation for commuting. Please email us if you have any questions.

Logistics

We provide all 4x4 transportation to and from our shooting locations. We can offer airport pick up and drop off for a transportation fee or help arrange carpools between guests in order to help save on rental costs and add to the social environment of the trip! The best airports are Flagstaff or Page, Phoenix being the third best option, but we only can help arrange all transportation out of Flagstaff and Page. Please reach out for logistical support!

workshop cost & payment terms

The tuition for this workshop is $4,200 total, with a non-refundable deposit of $1000 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 (alumni can book their own hotels), with a $500 deposit to reserve your spot, with the discount applied when the remaining workshop balance is collected!

ITINERARY

Please email us with any questions regarding logistics, lodging, etc- derek@blazingheavens.com

The Workshop officially starts in Tuba city between at 4 pm on Wednesday April 30th and ends at 6:00am on Sunday May 4th!

Wednesday April 30th

Meet us in my Navajo friend’s backyard, Coal Mine Canyon! We will be camping (gear and dinner provided for you) right on the rim of the this absolutely wonderful and vibrant canyon with incredibly dark skies.

thursday may 1st

We will sleep in (sunrise is optional for those with energy) then head to breakfast and our first editing session! We will eat and edit while we wait to check in at our Hotel in Tuba City (12:30pm) where we then can nap, shower, and recharge for our 2nd night of shooting! We will head back to coal mine canyon, now more familiar with the layout, and shoot the Milky Way at new angles. Even with hotels, you have the option to camp or cowboy camp out at our new spot if the weather isn’t too cold and you’re feeling good!

Friday may 2nd

After our Milky Way shoot at Coal Mine Canyon, we will eat and edit a bit, then embark with our Hopi guide to Blue Canyon for sunset and astrophotography shoots! We’ll get here early with plenty of time to scope out the landscapes as the foregrounds, sand stone formations, and layers of colors are phenomenal! We get special access at night with front row camping accommodations near the canyon for easy milky way astro access.

saturday may 3rd

After sunrise at Blue Canyon we will head over to Page for breakfast and checking into our hotel before embarking out on a day time slot canyon tour at Antelope Canyon! We’ll hang out a bit in the afternoon for some editing, shoot an easy sunset at Horseshoe bend, sleep a bit, then get up for our slot canyon tour AT NIGHT!

saturday May 4th

The trip officially ends at 6am after our Milky Way shooting session- we’ll be able to sleep in a bit but 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.

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