Blue Ridge Parkway
The night is falling, and the road is calling. And we will be there, driving and photographing America’s greatest scenic byway. When the sun fades, we’ll bring our cameras along the 469-mile ribbon of national parkland that stretches atop mountain ridges, through farming communities, past historic cabins and mills, alongside meadows and more, while the stars and moon gently shine on the great blacktop river called Blue Ridge Parkway.
Workshop Gallery
Workshop Details
July 4-10, 2021 — Completed
This is a 6-night, 7-day road trip workshop. Your adventure begins on the morning of Sunday, July 4, and ends after a final slideshow on the afternoon of Saturday, Jul 10.
$2,150 + applicable taxes. Register below.
Skill level
Open to all who have an understanding of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras.
Group size
14, with 2 instructors — 7:1 ratio
NPS website
Workshop Leaders
Registration
THIS EVENT HAS PASSED. THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!
| • Deposit of $500 is required to reserve your spot at the workshop. |
| • Balance of $1,650 is due on April 5, 2021. —> Pay balance here. |
| • You may choose the “Pay in Full” ticket if you desire to pay all at once. |
| • Last day for a cancellation request is April 4, 2021 (see cancellation and refund policy). |
| • The workshop fee does not include lodging, food, transportation to and from the airport, or transportation between hotels or to shoot locations. |
The Blue Ridge Parkway Experience
Take a road trip with National Parks at Night. There may be no better place to do it than on one of America’s favorite roads, the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The parkway is a National Scenic Byway maintained by the National Park Service, and comprises 469 miles of infinite photo opportunities. Subjects include farmland, livestock, barns, 18th century cabins, stone churches, meadows, ponds, lakes, waterfalls, wildflowers, wildlife, rock formations, cascading mountain ranges and more—plus, of course, the parkway itself, perhaps the most famous byway in the U.S. And this workshop will be adding to that list: You can also shoot the stars, the Milky Way, and all the aforementioned subjects with light painting. For sure, this will be a light painting-intensive experience!
The workshop has been carefully scheduled to give participants opportunities to photograph on the Blue Ridge Parkway in various nighttime lighting conditions. Twilight will last until late, providing great opportunities for light painting various subjects, including historic structures, buck and rail fence lines, bridges, tunnels and more. That will be followed by dark skies and Milky Way for the later parts of our shoots. The middle of the week may provide opportunities to photograph a crescent moon setting in the west.
We will be working the Blue Ridge Parkway as not just a destination, but also as a journey. This is a road trip—we will be moving every couple of days. We will stay in three towns along our route, each chosen strategically to give us the easiest access to spectacular night-shoot locations on the parkway.
On travel days we encourage participants to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to get from one base to the next. Along the way we will enjoy daytime outings together, which may include stops at visitor centers, group breakfasts/lunches, a bluegrass performance, etc.
Pairing with Shenandoah
Immediately before this workshop, Gabe and Tim will be hosting a workshop in Shenandoah National Park, which borders the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Though both workshops are covering areas of the Appalachians, the scenery and photography opportunities are markedly different. If you’d like a more complete experience of this beautiful and diverse region, consider signing up for an unparalleled back-to-back experience.
For more information, visit our Shenandoah National Park workshop page.
What You Should Know
Participants must have at least basic photo skills, know their cameras well, and be comfortable shooting RAW in manual mode with a DSLR or high-end mirrorless camera.
Night photography experience is not necessary, but even folks with extensive experience shooting at night will find this class challenging, stimulating and inspiring. For more advanced night photographers, we can offer a portfolio review and specific challenges and goals, and will offer guidance in the field if you mainly want to concentrate on creating portfolio images or learning more advanced techniques.
If you would like to attend this workshop but are unsure whether you have adequate night photography skills, we can offer pre-workshop tutoring to get you ready for your adventure with us. Alternatively or additionally, a few of us have written books that may be productive pre-workshop reads.
What You Will Learn
We hope to push you to step outside your comfort zone—to test the limits of what you and your camera can do. You’ll go home after the workshop with a solid grasp of night photography in dark and twilight environments, and a good foundation in light painting techniques.
TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:
lots of light painting
exposing for stars and the Milky Way
Milky Way/mountain panos
scouting and planning
composing and focusing in low light
determining exposures for summer heat
post-processing tips and techniques for night images
the difference between buck and rail, paling rail, snake rail, and post and rail wooden fences
and more …
This workshop will have both field and classroom instruction. We will be in the classroom about every second day, and out in the field at different locations every night. Participants can stay out shooting as long as they, or their camera batteries, hold out. While in the field, the instructors will demonstrate their own techniques, and will work with participants one-on-one to make sure everyone gets the most out of the workshop.
Because we will be traveling during much of the workshop (again, road trip!), we will not have classroom sessions every day. During the classroom sessions we do have, there will be presentations by the instructors, but we will focus on developing your images and sharing everyone's work and ideas with each other. On travel days, we will embark on a daytime group outing between hotel stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and we will offer advice for stops that participants may want to make on their own.
Night Conditions
Travel
You are responsible for your airfare and car rental. (There is no need for four-wheel-drive or high-clearance vehicles.) If you are interested in sharing a car rental, let us know and we will try to connect you with someone in the group. We wholeheartedly encourage carpooling! Because we will be spending a few hours driving every couple of days, we highly recommend sharing rental cars for purposes of camaraderie.
The workshop will begin about 45 minutes north of Roanoke, Virginia, and end in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, which is 1.5 hours from the Charlotte airport. You may want to book a three-way flight that arrives in the former and leaves from the latter, and book your rental car for the different drop-off location.
If you do choose to fly into and out of the same airport, the closest options to the beginning and end of the workshop are Roanoke and Charlotte, respectively. If you choose the former, you’ll have a 3-hour drive back at the end; the latter, a 3.5-hour ride at the beginning. But note that the Roanoke airport is regional, so flight options are limited in terms of carriers and prices. Charlotte, on the other hand, is a major midsize airport—big enough for a lot of choices, small enough to arrive and depart quickly. If you prefer to fly into and out of the same airport with the most flight and car-rental options, Charlotte is probably the better option.
Another potentially attractive option is the Greensboro airport. While close to neither the first nor last hotel, it’s relatively equidistant—2.5 hours from Peaks of Otter and 2 hours from Blowing Rock.
Nearby Airports (Roanoke):
Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA) — 45 minutes from first hotel
Greensboro (GSO) — 2.5 hours
Tri-Cities (TRI) — 3 hours
Raleigh-Durham (RDU) — 3 hours
Richmond (RIC) — 3 hours
Charlotte (CLT) — 3.5 hours
Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) — 4.5 hours
Nearby Airports (Blowing Rock):
Charlotte (CLT) — 1.5 hours from last hotel
Tri-Cities (TRI) — 1.5 hours
Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) — 2 hours
Greensboro (GSO) — 2 hours
Greenville (GSP) — 2.5 hours
Raleigh-Durham (RDU) — 3 hours
Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport (ROA) — 3 hours
Note: Also refer to the nearby airports for the Shenandoah workshop if you plan on attending both.
Food & Lodging
We will be staying in three hotels along the route, in Bedford, Virginia; Mount Airy, North Carolina; and Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
You are not required to stay at the official workshop hotels, though doing so will be easier than finding and booking three hotels yourself, and will make it easier to meet with the group each day. If you are interested in sharing a room with another participant, let us know and we will try to connect you with someone like-minded in the group.
We encourage eating two meals per day—a good late breakfast/brunch and a great late lunch or early dinner. When on the night shoots, you may wish to bring snack food or a sandwich and plenty of water. Depending on which town we’re based in, restaurants will be either somewhat limited or will be varied and accessible, but all our bases do have food options available. We will advise about good local eating establishments as we move along our route.
You are responsible for arranging and paying for your own meals and accommodations.
Weather
Summer in the mid-southern Appalachian Mountains can range from warm to hot, and occasionally dip into mild at night.
Recommended Attire
During daytime, you’ll probably want to dress in warm-weather clothing: shorts or light pants, short-sleeve shirts. You may be OK in the same attire at night, but prudence dictates bringing some long-sleeve shirts, a pair of jeans or hiking pants, and a light or medium-weight jacket. If you want to be really prepared, bring a light base layer too—odds are you won’t need it, but in the mountains at night, ya never know.
Though we won’t be trail hiking, we still recommend a good pair of trail shoes for comfort and stability. It’s also wise to bring rain gear, because if we encounter some weather, that only means the photo opportunities get even better, so you can be sure we’ll be out shooting!
Considerations
No vigorous activity will be required, but please consider your physical abilities prior to registering. There will not be any long hikes (the longest would be a possible 3/4-mile walk on a dirt road), but you should be comfortable carrying your own equipment over uneven ground in the dark.
Note: To ensure the safety of individuals and the group, National Parks at Night reserves the right for workshop leaders to use their discretion to limit an attendee from engaging in a rigorous activity on-site should that person's physical health or ability be in question. If you are unsure about your ability to meet the physical demands of this workshop, we will be happy to discuss your concerns one-on-one before you register. You are also, of course, welcome to attend a workshop and sit out any physical activity that makes you uncomfortable. In such cases, we can provide you with ideas for alternative shoot locations for that time.
Please read our FAQs section for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
Take me home, Country Road ...
“The day didn’t have enough minutes, nor the night enough hours, to capture all the possibilities that the parkway presented.”
I remember traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway as a kid, with my parents and my sister (my other two siblings weren’t born yet). My dad really talked the place up for me, and likely played John Denver’s “(Take Me Home) Country Roads” on the car’s 8-track player. Forty years later, whenever I’m on the parkway, that song still works its way into my head.
I remember my mom being nervous as we drove atop some steep cliffs, and me wondering why. I don’t remember exactly what my little sister was doing, but I’m sure her behavior was annoying me. And vice versa.
As happens in life, nearly two decades went by before I traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway again. At the end of college, my buddy and I drove part of the byway as part of a cross-country trip that was the basis of a book I wrote for my senior project. I remember that trip involved excellent BBQ and seeing a lot of cows.
Despite these great memories from my childhood and early adulthood, I didn’t “fall in love” with the parkway as a photography destination until about eight years ago. I had been in Raleigh, North Carolina, and needed to travel to Roanoke, Virginia. My schedule allowed a couple of days to meander in between, so I chose to drive the scenic route—perhaps the most famous scenic route in all of America.
I veered onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville and started heading north. The drive took a long time. I couldn’t get more than a dozen or so miles behind me before needing to stop again, to step out of the car and enjoy the landscape—to gaze over views of distant mountains, to hike to waterfalls, to stroll among orchards, to learn about historic sites. And to photograph, photograph, photograph. The day didn’t have enough minutes, nor the night enough hours, to capture all the possibilities that the parkway presented.
Later that year I visited Roanoke again, and on the return trip to my home in the northeast, I drove the stretch of Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to its end at Shenandoah National Park. The following spring I did the opposite, merging onto the parkway in Asheville and driving to its southern end at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. And since then I’ve explored both the overt and hidden gems of this amazing thoroughfare any chance I get—whether for a few days or a few hours, whatever block of time circumstance offers. Most recently, I’ve been able to enjoy the parkway with my daughter, Maggie … watching distant storms over the mountains, finding blueberries, cooling off in swimming holes, climbing rocks and trees.
In 2021, I look forward to sharing this beautiful, diverse, mesmerizing place with you. Let’s create some Blue Ridge Parkway memories together. Not to mention some awesome photography!
