ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

Night Photography Adventure Workshop

Blog post about this workshop:

RECAPPING OUR FINAL WORKSHOPS OF 2016: ARCHES AND DEATH VALLEY

Combining big sky, high desert, natural stone and earth formations to form unforgettable night photo images. We will spend five nights covering stunning natural features in Arches National Parks. 

This workshop was held on Nov 15-19, 2016 
Workshop began at 10am on Nov 15 and ended after the shoot the night of Nov 19th
$1,500 + applicable taxes
Workshop leaders: Matt Hill  & Tim Cooper (learn more about your teachers)
Official NPS websites: Arches National Park | Canyonlands National Park

SOLD OUT! WHY NOT 

As with all National Parks at Night photo workshops, we will only teach at this location once. If you have a dream of making epic long exposures at night in this location, we hope you join us.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

During your workshop, you'll get five afternoons of lecture, instruction & critique and five nights of shooting. Our workshop starts the day after a supermoon full moon, which means we’ll have a great blend of crisp moonlight and dark skies - more of the latter as we move into the later days of the workshop. It's likely going to be in the 40s or 50s during the day, and nighttime lows near freezing. It's high desert at altitude. But with the cool temperatures usually comes low particulate and an amazing clarity to the skies. 

Locations may include the famous Delicate Arch, Sand Arch, Broken Arch, the Devil's Playground, Turret Arch, Balanced Rock the Windows and perhaps more. There is truly a wealth of opportunity to light paint and create epic star trails.

FOOD AND LODGING:

The workshop base camp will be in nearby Moab. We have secured a block of standard rooms at Holiday Inn Express & Suites Moab at a discounted rate, and once you make your payment via the Eventbrite link above, you will receive a code that can be used to reserve one of the group rooms. If you wish to upgrade to a deluxe room, they are available on a first come, first served basis. The group reservation is for 6 nights, from November 14th to check out on November 20th. Feel free to add a day or two at the beginning or end to enjoy the area - they will extend the group rate for you ;-)

Holiday Inn Express & Suites has rooms from $99 and up. Call (435) 259-1150 or book your reservation online. The Holiday Inn Express is a new hotel - very clean and modern. Breakfast is included and lunch in and around Moab are reasonably priced. There are options for other hotels and camping within the park if you prefer, but all instruction and critique will be held at the host hotel and being on time to those is much easier if you are staying at the same place, given the late hours we will keep.

Dining options in Moab are fairly plentiful and vary from fast food to sit-down dining, you may wish to bring whatever snack food you can carry with you. 

HOW I FELL IN LOVE WITH ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

I was on a road trip with my best friend and one of our stops was Moab and specifically Arches. I had, of course, seen the photos others had made. I had imagined the ones I could take. And I was excited.

We rolled in in late afternoon, checked in and drove straight into the park. It was sunset, and we wanted to see a few choice locations and scout for potential night photography.

At sunset, the red rocks glow; they almost vibrate with color. I was a passenger, and glad of it. My neck was whipping from side to side, and I was mentally noting every location I wanted to document by the light of the full moon later.

Did I mention it was January?

Having seen enough roadside attractions, we stopped at the base of the viewpoint for Delicate Arch. seeing it for the first time allowed for contemplation of scale. I knew that a person in juxtaposition to that stone semicircle was minuscule, and it looked small from the roadside. We decided to hike up in magic hour.

The snowy and icy approach was treacherous. But the opportunity to see Delicate Arch from above with daylight-bright moonlight behind it was magical. It was also quite cold, so we spent 1/2 hour up there making some long exposures – all the while mesmerized by the geological wonder in front of us.

Descending by flashlight and moonlight, we chatted excitedly about what we had seen, agreeing that more people should see it by moonlight. I filed that one away and immediately started thinking about bringing other lovers of night photography to Arches for a similar experience.

We did more roadside shooting that evening. The snow, moonlight and clear, bright skies erased any concerns I had for the cold weather. I was in the midst of being totally present in one of the most beautiful spaces I had ever seen.

We are only teaching at Arches National Park once. We hope you join us!

Here are some of the photos I made on the first journey:

And later that year, Gabe and I dropped in to visit Tim Cooper at the end of one of his workshops at Arches. We visited other short hike locations and experimented with light painting, some light-emitting toys and more. Here are a few from that excursion:

And here are some stunning photos Tim has made in Arches and Canyonlands:

MAPS

SUN AND MOON DURING THE WORKSHOP: FULL MOON NOVEMBER 14

TENTATIVE Workshop Schedule:

The above is subject to weather and other unpredictable events.