New Mexico’s Ancient and Backcountry Nightscapes

Six Day / Five Night Workshop, $3195.00

Included: Five nights workshop lodging (October 1 – 5, 2018), ground transportation, permits, private US NPS Ranger escort in CCHNP, park entrance, vehicle and camping fees.

October 1 – 6, 2018 (Monday – Saturday)

Meet and Greet at the Hilton Garden Inn Albuquerque Airport, 7 – 8 pm, Sunday, September 30, 2018.

You will need a tent, sleeping bag, pad, ground cloth and rain / cold weather gear. We will be camping two nights at Gallo Campground in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, rain or shine. Your meals will be provided Monday evening, all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning.

Five students maximum 

Meeting Location:

Hilton Garden Inn Albuquerque Airport

Registration and Payment

SOLD OUT! Please click below to be added to the Waiting List.

Reservations, cancellation policy and waiting list

Workshop Logistics

This small group day and night photography workshop is set in the heart of New Mexico’s unique natural environment. Owing to its unique, remote location and our special after-hours access we will camp the first two nights at Gallo Campground in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, rain or shine. Be sure to bring your tent, sleeping bag, pad, ground cloth and rain / warm weather gear. Your meals will be provided Monday evening, all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning. Please let us know in advance of special dietary restrictions or food allergies.

We will first meet at 7 – 8 pm, Sunday, September 30, 2018 at the Hilton Garden Inn Albuquerque Airport. You will be returned to the same location by 5 pm Saturday, October 6. Round trip ground transportation is provided and included in the workshop price.

You will want to make hotel reservations for Sunday, September 30, and (if needed) Saturday, October 6, 2018 in Albuquerque.

Once full payment is received, you’ll get a complete Welcome Packet with detailed information on locations, equipments lists, maps and the agenda.

Workshop Description

This extraordinary night photography adventure will take place in Chaco Canyon (Chaco Culture National Historic Park)* and the nearby Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area. Our time will be split equally between the two sites; you will spend nearly the entire workshop outdoors. The workshop is timed to coincide with the new moon to give us outstanding opportunities to capture the the Milky Way in the best details.

You will explore all aspects of night photography, emphasizing the why behind the how. We will create landscape astrophotography images of the night sky, star trails, panoramic images of the Milky Way, Iridium flares, sunsets/sunrises and of course night and day time-lapse videos. Having two nights at each location will allow you to refine your shots to perfection.

We will camp Monday and Tuesday nights at the Chaco Culture National Historic Park Gallo Campground. We will have the park to ourselves after sunset through a special permit from the US National Park Service (NPS). We will have our own, private NPS Ranger with us during this time. Your meals will be provided Monday evening, all day Tuesday and on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning we will depart Chaco Canyon and drive to the Bisti/De-Na-Zi Wilderness trailhead via our lodging in Farmington, New Mexico. We will then hike in and spend Wednesday – Friday nights exploring the otherworldly rock formations of the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area. We will return to our hotel each night in nearby Farmington (1 hour’s easy drive away). Round-trip hiking distances each night are expected to be less than four miles in essentially flat, but trail-less terrain. All hiking is guided. You will learn how to navigate by compass and GPS orienteering; a USGS topographic map print will be provided.

On Friday morning we will depart Farmington and return to the Albuquerque Hilton by 5 pm.

* from the US National Park Service website (https://www.nps.gov/chcu/learn/historyculture/significance-of-the-park.htm):

“In recognition of its rich archaeological resources, Chaco Culture NHP is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Chaco’s national and international significance is based on its approximately 4,000 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites, representing more than 10,000 years of human cultural history in Chaco Canyon. These sites document:

• Evidence of a civilization that flourished between the 9th and 13th centuries and attained remarkable achievements in architecture, agriculture, social complexity, engineering, astronomy, and economic organization.

• Chaco “great houses” — the largest, best preserved, and most complex prehistoric architectural structures in North America. Sixteen great houses are interpreted within the park.

• A regional system of communities centered in Chaco Canyon and linked by prehistoric road and trade networks throughout the San Juan Basin.

• 120 years of archaeological and anthropological research in the park that has yielded a systematic record of the lifeways and environment of the region’s former inhabitants, and resulted in the accumulation of more than 1.5 million artifacts and archival documents that are curated for purposes of furthering scientific inquiry and public education.

• In addition to its archaeological legacy, Chaco Culture NHP preserves other links to the past and to the natural landscape through contemporary American Indian descendants of Chaco Canyon, whose traditional oral histories tell of their time in Chaco Canyon and who value it today for its spiritual connection to their past.

• A remote location that offers outstanding opportunities to enjoy solitude, natural quiet, clear air, starlit nighttime skies, and panoramic vistas of the scenic sandstone outcrops into which Chaco Canyon is carved.

• The largest long-term protected natural area in northwestern New Mexico, which encompasses relatively undisturbed examples of floral and faunal communities within the Colorado Plateau ecosystem, and offers unparalleled opportunities to conserve the region’s biodiversity and monitor its environmental quality.”