death valley
astro + photography adventure workshop
Death Valley, california
March 13 - 17, 2026
Join us as we tour you around to the best geologic wonders of Death Valley to capture them at the right time and under some of the darkest desert night skies in the country! This astrophotography workshop has the perfect balance of immersive adventure and relaxed vacation while learning the art of night photography in a small group of nature, star, and photography lovers that will spark your creativity and inspire the artist inside of you!
The size of this workshop will be kept small to 6 participants with 2 teachers, to ensure everyone gets plenty of one-on-one instruction and hands on lessons under the stars. Our goal is to help you realize your creative potential, provide lessons to equip you with new creative techniques, guide you safely to amazing places, and send you home with amazing photos and unforgettable memories!
March is one of the best months of the year where we can capture both the Winter and Spring Milky Way bands! We’ll get to shoot the Winter Milky Way (Orion, Pleiades, Taurus, etc) early in the night and the Milky Way Galaxy rising early in the morning!
We 4x4 you up to the mysterious Sailing Stones of the Racetrack Playa at night to capture the Milky Way rising! It’s one of the darkest spots in Death Valley with amazing foregrounds.
Capturing the Hydrogen Alpha rich reds of the Winter Milky Way at the Racetrack Playa! We teach fundamentals as well as advanced techniques like using a tracker and stacking. At 4,000ft elevation, dry climate, and far from city lights and people in Bortle 1 skies, this ancient dried lake is an excellent location for night photography! I can see why the sailing stones (that move with ice and cyclonic wind storms, periodically) chose it as a home.!
logistics and lodging
We start at 5pm in Furnace Creek, Death Valley on Friday March 13th and finish at Furnace Creek, Death Valley at 10am on Wednesday March 18th.
We recommend flying in and out of Las Vegas for the best options and prices, then renting a car. It’s about a 1.5 hour drive between Las Vegas International Airport and where we start and finish in Furnace Creek.
Everyone is responsible for their transportation to and from the workshop, and during most of the workshop! However, carpooling can typically be arranged out of Las Vegas, and then easily arranged during the workshop between guests and instructors to all our shooting locations. We can provide airport pick up and drop off (and everything inbetween) for you out of Las Vegas for a fee, please inquire.
We will be doing a mix of camping and hotels for this workshop, for a balance of comfort and immersion. There are hotel alternatives for those who prefer more comfort on our camping nights however you will have to have your own car and commute a bit further to our shooting locations.
difficulty and group size
This astrophotography workshop is great for all levels of adventurers and photographers, and requires some modest hiking (all under a mile) with camera gear on uneven surfaces at night. We will cover astrophotography basics like single exposures, and build upon shooting and editing fundamentals as we get into tracking, blue hour blending, advanced color theory, and detailed panoramas. Our small group size, 6 students to 2 teachers (some workshops have 12 students and only 2 teachers and call that small… insane!) allows us to tailor lessons individually and give lots of 1on1 hands on instruction under the stars. We do quite a bit of editing on the trip and also provide custom editing videos.
location highlights
Racetrack Playa
Badwater Basin
Artist’s Palette
Alabama Hills and Ancient Petroglpyhs
Zabrinske Point
Mesquite Sand Dunes
Ubehebe Crater
workshop cost & payment terms
The tuition for this workshop is $4,500 total. A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 is required to reserve your spot with the remaining balance due 60 days before the workshop starts. Alumni cost is $3,750 total. Payment plan options are also available at check out.
Join us!
This workshop is limited to 6 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 room and lodging, and is welcome to join on our adventures, model as a silhouette in our night photos, but cannot operate a camera unless they purchase another workshop spot (at a discount).
itinerary
march 13
Meet in Furnace creek around 5pm - we will do an introduction, workshop overview, get our camp site set up, and head out to our first shooting session at Zabriske Point! We will also shoot a huge Natural Arch/Bridge.
March 14: After sleeping in at Furnace Creek we will take a beautiful drive over to Alabama Hills and check into our hotel! We will shoot petroglyphs and several arches.
March 15 & 16: We will head back into Death Valley to capture Badwater Basin, Mesquite Sand Dunes, and Artist’s Palette! We will be camping here with access to showers and restaurants where we will do our editing sessions, hotel option for those who prefer more comfort right across the street!
March 17: We will head deeper into Death Valley to camp and capture the Racetrack Playa! We have the opportunity to camp up here and enjoy sunset, twilights, winter milky way, spring and galactic “core” of the milky way, and sunrise- it’s “mandatory” camping however you can commute to a hotel in Furnace Creek, but it will be a 1.5 hour drive each way!
March 18: After sleeping in a bit and a light breakfast, we will head back down to furnace creek by 10am and say our goodbyes! We follow up each workshop with custom editing tutorial videos :)
To see the full itinerary or get in touch with any questions you may have about our trips, please contact us using the contact form above or email adventures@blazingheavens.com
death valley gallery
