white sands national park
overview
Join Derek Culver and Andrew Imhoff for 4 nights of astro + photography adventures in White Sands National Park, New Mexico! We have exclusive access in the park after dark to capture the expansive dunes during the best light; sunset, twilight, and full darkness when the stars are out! We provide comfortable camping accommodations, amenities, and food while out in the field along with editing sessions at our hotel. This workshop is full of fun sunset and astro group hikes, group and 1on1 instructions on how to capture the beautiful views in White Sands (After dark!), and exclusive access to the park after dark with food, camping, and hotel accommodations provided! This workshop also includes a special camping trip at a nearby Petroglpyh site with over 20,000 recorded petroglyphs and extremely dark skies for tracking and an intro to deep space astrophotography.
Fall is a time of epic transition where you can capture the Milky Way core right after sunset and have an assortment of amazing targets to capture throughout the night like Cygnus, Andromeda, the Great Rift, and Orion!
Date
October 22nd - 26th, 2025
Difficulty
This astrophotography workshop is great for all level of photographers and adventurers. It requires group hiking with camera gear about 1-3 miles in sand at night. We will cover astrophotography basics like planning your shot, focusing at night, and mastering settings for single exposures; then build upon shooting and editing fundamentals as we get into tracking, stacking, and combining exposures. Our smaller group sizes, allows us to tailor lessons individually and give lots of 1on1 hands on instruction to help you reach your artistic goals.
Lodging
We will be doing a mix of car camping inside the park, hotels, and group campgrounds- two nights camping and two nights in hotels! We will supply all camping and car camping gear, provide food while camping, and have a robust camping set up with water, chairs, starlink, and charging capabilities along with meals while we are camping.
logistics
Everyone is responsible for their own transportation to the workshop and during the workshop. Most of the time we can help arrange carpools between our workshop guests from the airport and in the parks in order to save costs and add to the social atmosphere of the workshop! We do offer transportation to/from the trip and during for a fee if you fly in and out of El Paso, Texas. The closest and most convenient airport El Paso, Texas about 1.5 hours away from Alamogordo where we will be based out of!
workshop cost & payment terms
The tuition for this workshop is $3,500 total, with a non-refundable deposit of $750 to reserve one of the limited spot in the workshop. The remaining total balance of the workshop is due 3 months before the trip starts. Alumni discounted cost is $2,200 total (no hotels, though), $500 deposit to reserve a spot, but with the discount applied when the remaining workshop balance is collected!
Join us!
This workshop is limited to 8 participants. You are welcome to bring a friend or family member along on the workshop as a guest! Your guest is allowed to use the lodging and join on hiking and night photography excursions, but may only participate in the shooting lessons with a camera if they purchase a participant spot- If so, contact us your guest is eligible for a discount!
itinerary
Wednesday october 22nd:
Meet: In White Sands National Park group picnic area any time between 2pm and 5pm for an introduction and workshop overview! Please don’t be there later than 5:30pm.
Stay: All night in White Sands. We have camping gear for you (pads, bags, Starlink, charging, water, etc.) and recommend car camping in the parking lot with us. We will arrange with the rangers to have an option to exit the park at 12:30am for those who would prefer a shorter night and a hotel accommodation.
Shoot: We will scout out several compositions in White Sands and begin our lessons at sunset, shoot twilight, then reconvene for a pre-made dinner in the park back at our picnic/camping spot right next to the dunes. We will eat quick then head out again to capture the Milky Way core from 8pm to 12am!
Thursday october 23rd:
Morning: We will sleep in a bit, go check in to our hotel, and grab breakfast together. We will have an editing session at the restaurant or hotel! Group session as well as follow up 1 on 1 image reviews and edits.
Afternoon/Night: Head to White Sands for another amazing night of astrophotography! We will focus on blue hour foreground shots, selfies under the Milky Way, light painting, and panoramas. We will exit the park around 2am together after shooting the moonrise, you are welcome to leave a camera out there running a timelapse for the rest of the night and come with us to get the cameras in the morning.
Stay: Hotel in Alamogordo
Friday october 24th:
Morning: We will sleep in a bit, go check in to our hotel, and grab breakfast together. We will have an editing session at the restaurant or hotel! Group session as well as follow up 1 on 1 image reviews and edits.
Afternoon/Night: Head to White Sands for another amazing night of astrophotography! We will focus on blue hour foreground shots, selfies under the Milky Way, light painting, and panoramas. We will exit the park around 1am together, you are welcome to leave a camera out there running a timelapse for the rest of the night and come with us to get the cameras in the morning.
Stay: Hotel in Alamogordo
Saturday october 25th:
Morning: We will sleep in, then do a late breakfast/lunch in town as well as an editing session. We will move over to the 3 Rivers Petroglyph area and set up camp! We will have all day to scout out foregrounds, rest, socialize, edit, and hang out.
Stay: Camp nearby at River Petroglyph Site
Afternoon/Night: We will shoot sunset, twilight, and Milky Way at the 3 rivers petroglyph site! We will focus on light painting and interesting compositions. We will focus on tracking and shots of the Milky Way, Orion, and more: the skies at 3 Rivers are insanely dark! This night will be focused on tracking and accumulating sky shots to accurately blend them into foreground images, as well as dabbling in “deep space” night photography with longer focal lengths of Nebulae and Galaxies!
Sunday october 26th:
Morning: Our workshop unofficially concludes at some point in the night when we are tired! Feel free to leave any time in the AM to catch your flight or sleep in, have breakfast, and hang out until 11am with us. We will be following up the workshop with editing video tutorials.
