private and custom adventure itineraries and photography lessons

Imagine being at your dream photography location under the darkest skies in the world, eating hot Bison burger and cold beer, while learning photography 1on1 from an experienced industry leading night photographer. I may ruin this moment for you with 3 back to back distasteful jokes about 9/11 or saying “fun fact, you can actually hear meteor showers!” followed by an explosive fart that sounds like I shit my pants (don’t worry, I packed plenty of wet wipes), or hit you with a meaningful Carl Jung quote that will help you find your identity as an artist and photographer…

Nice to meet you, I’m Derek, and I have 10 years of backpacking, hiking, overlanding/4x4ing, guiding, photography, and group trip planning and leading experience that I can put to service planning the custom photography trip of your dream with hands on photography lessons from a world class night photography. I am sponsored by Nikon and have been running photography based tours and teaching photography for 10 years helping pioneer shooting and editing techniques in the astrophotography genre!

The style of a private trip we plan is totally up to you. We can take it easy with relaxed imaging sessions overlooking Canyonlands, where we drive right up to our beautiful shooting locations… or 4x4 you and your friends down sandy backcountry roads to camp, enjoy, and capture the otherworldly texture and dark skies of White Pocket for an immersive and adventurous photography adventure! Let’s work together to build the custom itinerary to capture world class beauty and the darkest night skies. I love my group workshops, but the advantage of a private workshop like this is that we get to work together to create a life-changing trip itinerary with photography lessons tailored to your photography level and artistic goals at all locations of your choosing. These trips you don’t have to share my attention, and I am totally focused on helping you go on a bucket list adventure and/or taking your photography to the next level. You are welcome to a +1, family, and 1-2 other photography friends to add to the experience and split costs. Some smaller transportation, camping, and food fees may be applicable. I offer these trips at a lower price to non-photography folks where we take the energy and time we would use for photography and apply to more views, hikes, and adventures. Pricing will vary on the complexity of logistics and scheduling plus the complexity of photography lessons and type of adventures.

I am always down for a relaxing photography session in a more established National Park, but I excel at taking people comfortably out to the hard to access and remote geological wonders that not many people or photographers ever make it to, as well as backpacking trips. See the example itineraries and galleries below for some examples and inspiration!

i can take you comfortably to remote, backcountry, and hard to access locations for one of a kind photography experiences!

• We build a custom itinerary together around your schedule, shooting location choices, moon cycle, and best weather

• I can provide 4x4, backpacking, and boating guiding to extremely hard to reach locations that are amazing for night photography

• I provide custom photography lessons tailored to your specific artistic needs with custom tutorial videos using images we capture

• We can always adapt to weather conditions and how we feel in the field

• I have extensive knowledge of locations, “secret” locations not many know about, and actual secret locations that will blow your mind!

Vermillions Cliffs (White Pocket & Coyote Buttes, Grandstaircase Escalante (Cosmic Ashtray), Lake Powell (Rainbow Bridge and Reflection Canyon) and Death Valley (Racetrack Playa and Eureka Dunes) are examples of awesome locations I have conducted private backcountry trips to. These places are hard to reach but typically you have them all to yourself and they possess soul touching natural beauty and the darkest skies imaginable without any of the crowds! I’m open to many locations in the Southwest and West, please inquire about your trip ideas and locations!
Top DIFFICULT Locations and Trips:

1. Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness , Arizona and Utah - White Pocket, Wave, South Coyote Buttes, and more

2. Grand Staircase-Escalante, Utah -Cosmic Ashtray, Hole in the Rock Road, Reflection Canyon

3. Lake Powell/Glen Canyon, Arizona and Utah -Reflection Canyon, Rainbow Bridge, Wahweap Windows, Defiance House

4. Death Valley, California -Racetrack Playa, Eureka Dunes, backcountry mines

5. Canyonlands, Utah - Please inquire

6. PETROGLYPHS - Various locations around New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Please inquire for general locations. Some are close to other parks and locations that are amazing!

7. DESERT WILDFLOWERS - Especially desert wildflowers, they are difficult to determine and require a loose set of dates with last minute planning. This is best for those based in the Southwest who can drive out and meet me to shoot wildflowers in places like Anza Borrego, Death Valley, and other locations around the Southwest. Wildflowers are guaranteed in Washington July-August. March-June in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California.

8. Backpacking in Washington - in July and August can be amazing for wildflowers, milky way, and backpacking to remote lookout towers, crazy wildflower meadows, and alpine vistas. Mix of car camping, campgrounds, and backpacking if desired. This can be as easy or as hard as you’d like! I know tons of secret locations and am a seasoned backpacker on the Wonderland and parts of the PCT. I love the Indian Henry , Alpine , Goat Rocks, and Gifford Pinchot NF. I know many amazing wildflower meadows, there are always epic views and wildflowers every year, just depends on ENSO, butterflies, moisture, sun, and other factors but we can always find awesome spots!

Top EASIER Locations and Trips:

1. Kanab, Utah - Great Chamber, White Pocket, Toadstool Hoodoos, Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Kanab is basically the Vermillion Cliffs area and has a mix of easy and difficult locations.

2. Arches and Canyonlands, Utah - Arches is a classic. Canyonlands can be easy at Island in the Sky area or more difficult around Hanksville and the Needles area.

3. Alabama Hills/Bishop, California - Alabama Hills and Trona Pinnacles are epic! Easy to access and fun camping under dark skies.

4. Bryce Canyon - amazing dark skies and easy to get to! Zion, Bryce, Kanab, and Escalante are all relatively close and we can mix and match several awesome areas.

5. Yosemite National Park - Difficult to make reservations but a very easy and relaxed area

6. Death Valley - Pretty easy and straightforward, despite the name! So many awesome locations that don’t require strenuous hiking or backcountry roads.

7. Washington: Mt Rainier, Mt Baker, Mt St Helens - June, but especially July and August these locations area easy to access and extremely beautiful. I know many easy views, moderate hikes for more views, and difficult hikes for very rewarding views.

cost

Private Photography Tour rates start around $1200 for the first day and $800/day after, each day consists of around 8-10 hours of travel, guiding, photography, and editing.

Private Adventure Guiding rates start at $750 for the first day and $400/day after, each day consists of around 8 hours of travel, guiding, and adventures. You are welcome to take photos but we don’t base the trip around photography light or add on the editing and photography lessons.

A $300/day non-refundable deposit (per day) is required to reserve your dates. If we get clouded out, I charge half the day cost and we do our best to make up for it with extra editing lessons or going “harder” another night it’s clear! I am based out of Page, Arizona so the Southwest is my primary area of operation however I travel to the West Coast to visit family every summer (Washington) and have even done International Trips and private workshops in New Zealand, Australia, and Chile where travel and accommodation costs are covered for me.

Rates can fluctuate depending on the complexity of the logistics and locations: 4x4ing you and your group down sandy backcountry roads to a remote location where meal prepping, camping gear, and 4x4ing are required is going to cost more than meeting at an easily accessible location in an established campground or park! I love and enjoy both styles. I have a robust overlanding and 4x4 set up with camping gear, chairs, awnings, Starlink, solar charging, water, shower set up, cooking set up, and a refrigerator- the advantage of working with me, besides my photography and teaching knowledge, is that I can take you out to extremely remote and hard to reach areas that are AMAZING for photography. And I can do so, comfortably! It’s pretty awesome to post up right next to a remote location and have internet, cold drinks, and shade/awnings with chairs and tables and edit right on location after shooting.

ready to create an amazing trip together? Click below to start the process.