geminid meteor shower
astro + photography workshop
marble canyon meteor shower
December 11 - 14 in Marble Canyon and Coal Mine Canyon
Join us for 3 epic nights of astrophotography adventures as we immerse ourselves into the beauty and incredible dark night skies of Northern Arizona during the PEAK of the Geminid Meteor Shower! This explosive Winter meteor shower is super underrated, and the goal of this workshop is to teach you how to capture incredible details in the Winter night skies (Like Hydrogen Alpha gas), capture timelapses of the peak parts of the Meteor Shower, and enjoy the process and beauty of night photography with a special night at Coal Mine Canyon, a stunning and private Navajo canyon!
The arid climate, high elevation, and wonderful geologic history of Northern Arizona makes it one of the best places on Earth for night photography! This trip is geared towards all levels of photographers, as our small group size allows us to meet you at your level and teach you the fundamentals and/or the advanced techniques to capture stunning landscape and night photos!
This trip we focus on timelapses, capturing the explosive Geminid meteors, blending meteor images, as well as using a tracker and capturing detailed images of the night sky, nebulae, and meteors! This workshop we emphasis editing techniques with heaps of post processing help in order to maximize the RAW files we capture together, with a focus on blending meteors, deep space with a tracker and your camera, and using a modded camera to capture and combine Hydrogen Alpha Nebulosity into RGB/Visible tracked images!
logistics
START: Friday December 11th at the Marble Canyon Lodge in Northern Arizona at 4pm
PEAK: The Geminid Meteor shower is explosive during the whole trip, but peaks on Sunday night on the 13th into the 14th! We spend two nights shooting the ascending phase of the meteor shower to prepare you for the finale which we will shoot at the spectacular Coal Mine Canyon
FINISH: Monday December 14th at Coal Mine Canyon/Tuba City at 8am
Everyone is responsible for their transportation to and from the workshop as well as during the workshop.
The closest airports are Page (45 minutes), Flagstaff (2 hours), St George (2.5 hours), and Phoenix (4 hours).
Page has daily regional flights from Vegas and Phoenix and is the closest airport with rental cars. If you would like airport pick up, drop off, and transportation provided for you for the trip, please reach out as we may be able to offer transportation pick up out of Page for a fee! Please inquire.
lodging
We are staying in hotels for all 3 nights! Individual rooms within walking distance of Bortle 1 skies! You are responsible for your own meals, we will be eating at restaurants like the nice one at Marble Canyon Lodge, where we also do our editing classes. We will be able to shoot at nearby locations but also right at our lodging there are Bortle 1 skies, wifi/service, power, and undisturbed views of incredible night skies.
difficulty and group size
This astrophotography trip is great for all level of astrophotographers and intermediate adventurers.
This trip is geared towards those wanting to learn solid astrophotography fundamentals and build onto those skills to utilize the power of a Star Tracker and get into intermediate and advanced post processing techniques. Because of our truly smaller group sizes maxing out at 6 students with 2 teachers, we can handle all level of photographers with plenty of 1on1 hands on instruction under the stars and in the classroom editing. With convenient access to Bortle 1 night skies at our hotel, food, and classroom access we will walk you through every step of our workflow both with your camera under the stars and in the classroom teaching you post processing/editing.
what will you learn?
We teach you our full workflow and philosophy, from planning a shot with locations and astronomy fundamentals, creative pre-visualizing, aligning compositions with stars and the seasons, camera settings in dynamic environments, all the way to editing to maximizing the potential in your RAW photos and image blending!
Timelapses to capture the night sky and meteors
How to set up and use a Star Tracker for timelapses, tracked timelapses, tracked images to stack for details, and “deep space” using your camera and lenses!
This workshop is EXCELLENT for those looking to learn how to maximize their Astro Modded cameras. We will teach you how to capture Hydrogen Alpha on a tracker, and with the ample amount of post processing lessons and work we will do this trip, teach you how to combine visible RGB shots with Hydrogen Alpha, or maximize the Visible + Ha shots on a tracker using stacking, editing, and advanced color work in Photoshop.
The backbone of this workshop is SOLID POST PROCESSING, thus we shall be doing lots of post processing together. Each night we teach you new techniques then show you WHY we shoot certain ways during our image reviews and post processing classes- both group sessions as well as 1 on 1 individual sessions.
Along with landscape astrophotography, you will have ample time to improve your night sky imaging- we recommend this workshop for those also interested in using star trackers as this will be a great time during the moon cycle and we will even dabble in some “widefield” deep space astrophotography capturing the night sky at both wide angles and deeper focal lengths.
We take pride in providing fun, safe, relaxed, and immersive astrophotography adventures! We strive to create unforgettable memories together with our group, unique inside jokes, and amazing photos.
Above is an image (Blue Canyon) where I shot the foreground during late twilight/early nightfall then used a 40mm f/1.4 Sigma lens on an iOptron Skyguider Pro to capture a 2 panel mosaic of Orion. I captured Visible/RGB first then used an Astronomik H-Alpha filter to capture the rich Hydrogen Alpha reds and purples of this area, stacked the sky in Pixinsight, then combined the final sky shot to the foreground in Photoshop.
workshop cost & payment terms
The tuition for this workshop is $2,800. This includes accommodations, and hands on in the field guiding and night photography instruction. A non-refundable deposit of $800 is required to reserve your spot with the remaining balance due 3 weeks before the workshop starts. Payment plan options are also available at check out.
Join us!
This workshop is limited to 6 participants in order to maintain the small group size and allow us to tailor our photography lessons to your specific needs. You are welcome to bring a non-photographer guest +1 at a discounted rate to just enjoy the trip with us. Friends signing up together, groups, and alumni please reach out to discuss a discount.
what you need
A headlamp with red light capabilities (I use black diamond!)
A mirrorless or DSLR camera (preferably astro converted, we recommend Spencer’s Camera) with batteries and memory cards.
A sturdy tripod and an intervalometer. NOT a shutter release, intervalometer.
A wide-angle lens, from 14 to 35 mm.
A medium zoom lens, such as a 24-70, 70-200, or any prime lenses like a 50mm, 85mm, or 135mm.
A star-tracker.
A laser for polar alignment.
A camera bag to organize and transport your camera equipment.
A laptop for the post-processing lessons.
A narrowband H-alpha filter (optional)
itinerary
START: we meet between 2-5pm on Friday December 11th at the Marble Canyon Lodge for our group intro, workshop overview, and group dinner! Please be there no later than 5pm.
FINISH: we finish at 9am on Monday December 14th at the Moenkopi Inn, Tuba City (Coal Mine Canyon).
December 11th
Stay: Marble Canyon Lodge
Shoot: Right at the Marble Canyon Lodge with epic scenery and Bortle 1 dark skies!
2-5pm - We meet at the Marble Canyon Lodge any time after 2pm! We will have plenty of time for our intro, dinner, and setting up/going through our Astro gear and objectives for the first night.
We will be able to shoot directly from the Marble Canyon Lodge, steps away from Bortle 1 Dark Skies!
A small crescent moon is up the first 45 minutes of night time so we will practice shooting deeper focal length shots to capture “Earthshine” or the Moon being partially illuminated by the Earth reflecting light onto the dark part!
From here Cygnus area of the night sky is up until about 11pm, the Winter Milky Way and Orion is up the entire night, and objects like M31 Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades, California Nebula, North America Nebula, and so much more are available throughout the night to image! We basically go until you fall asleep.
December 12th
Stay: Marble Canyon Lodge
Shoot: Nearby geologic features and canyons, then later in the night right at the lodge! We will leave timelapses out as well for those who have 2nd cameras then shoot deep space from the lodge, returning early in the AM to yoink the left out timelapse cameras.
10am - feel free to sleep in or grab an early breakfast, we will do a group breakfast at 10am and then proceed into our first image review and post processing session!
11am - 3pm - Image review and heavy post processing sessions for several hours, with breaks for food and fresh air!
4pm - We leave for a nearby sunset, twilight, and astro shoot for foregrounds and landscape astro shots. If you have a 2nd camera you will have the opportunity to leave it out to capture a timelapse! Once you get your fill of hands on shots, we will allow tracked timelapses to run at the Lodge: the idea being to capture some meteors or data sets to “stack” for more detail.
We will retire back to the lodge to shoot the remainder of the night there focusing on trackers and deep space shots (at deeper focal lengths).
December 12th
Stay: Hotel in Marble Canyon
Shoot: Coal Mine Canyon! Tonight is the finale where we will have special access to Coal Mine Canyon for sunset, twilight, and night photography! The goal tonight is of course cool landscape astro images but also running timelapses to maximize our chances of capturing massive explosive Geminid Meteors! We have a special spot in the canyon that faces East to Southeast where the radiant out of Gemini is, or basically the area in the sky where the meteors will appear from!
December 13th
We officially conclude our workshop at 9am the next morning! But unofficially when we get our fill of astro sometime the night before! We will say our goodbyes and follow up the workshop with a custom editing video tutorial.
We reserve our full itinerary details for privacy. If you would like to see the full itinerary, accommodations, packing list, or have any other questions, please reach out to us with the contact form below!
marble canyon and coal mine canyon
