white sands
astro + photography adventure tour
A creative blend of sunset, twilight, and the night sky- 3 images at the same spot over the course of a few hours blended together in the hopes to evoke emotion of multiple moments in one. We teach these advanced shooting and editing techniques at our
white sands national park
October 30th - November 2nd, 2026 in Alamogordo New Mexico, at White Sands National Park
Join us for 3 days and 3 nights of exclusive night time access into White Sands National Park! Not only will we be shooting golden hours, sunsets, twilights, but we also have permission to stay in the park after dark- while every one else is packing up, we’ll be just starting our White Sands experience!
Fall is the best time in White Sands because it’s significantly less windy, the Milky Way and stars are out right after sunset, and the orientaion of the stars is facing West into darker skies- although, Alamogordo does provide a bortle 2-3 experience that can add character to your night images, but doesn’t affect images when you’re down at the bottom of the dunes.
This astro trip is great for beginner photoraphers as well as intermediate photographers looking to take their shooting and editing techniques to the next level! This workshop has a nice balance of adventure and time out in the field with lots of time in the classroom editing together, one of our most editing/post processing intensive astro workshops of the year!
Full Blood Moon rise over White Sands! Well, we won’t be there during the Full Moon, but actually during 1st quarter waxing crescent. Meaning, we will be able to shoot lots of astrophotography but also have opportunities to catch the moonrise in White Sands the first 2 nights, it’s spectacular! We will use the moon light to our advantage lighting up the scintillating white dunes naturally!
logistics
START: Wednesday October 30th at 4pm in Alamogordo, New Mexico
FINISH: Sunday November 2nd at 10am in Dell City, New Mexico
If you fly in and out of El Paso, Texas on the 28th and 2nd, we can typically arrange carpools between group members but ultimately you are responsible for your own transportation. Unfortunately, the parks do not allow us to drive people in White Sands because of liability. We will caravan around together in and out of White Sands and arrange carpools once in Alamogordo. Having your own car gives you maximum freedom and space on this trip, but carpooling can dramatically reduce trip costs and add to the social experience of the trip (we get awesome guests!).
lodging
We are staying in 2 spacious Airbnb houses with single occupancy rooms. Every one is responsible for their own food, we will arrange breakfast/lunch typically in conjunction with our daily post processing sessions and organize group dinners in town. There are a decent amount of food options and you can also use the kitchen at the Aribnbs.
difficulty and group size
This astrophotography trip is great for all level of astrophotographers and adventurers. Because of our truly small group size, we can handle all level of photographers with plenty of 1on1 hands on instruction. We also excel at teaching intermediate photographers and adventurers who are looking to take their photography and adventures to the next level as we love building upon fundamentals of night photography into how to use a star tracker, blending images, and advanced astro techniques.
You will need to be free of mobility issues, comfortable traversing some uneven terrain at night with your camera gear, and okay with getting lots of sand in your shoes! I prefer barefoot in the dunes. Most of our locations we can just drive up to, then climb 1 or 2 dunes to get nice compositions- however there are several of the better dunes that take a bit more work and can take 2-3 miles total in hiking in dunes to get to.
Our small group size, 6 students to 2 teachers (some workshops have 12 students and only 2 teachers and call that small… crazy!) allows us to tailor lessons individually and give lots of 1on1 hands on instruction under the stars to each participant.
We provide in depth instruction both in the field hands on with your camera as well as in the classroom reviewing your images and teaching you how to post-process to maximize RAW image potential!
what will you learn?
We teach you our full workflow, 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!
We teach fundamental astronomy concepts like where the Milky Way is, stars and the seasons, moon cycles, and much more!
We will cover astrophotography basics like focusing at night, optimal camera settings, composition, and light painting.
We build upon photography fundamentals to teach more advanced techniques like panoramas, using a star tracker, blue hour foregrounds, and blending multiple long exposure images to create details, colorful, and compelling night photos.
You will learn a fair bit about the local geology and history!
We do several editing sessions throughout the trip and follow up the workshop with custom editing video tutorials.
This workshop has a good balance of epic adventures and solid post processing sessions to take your images to the next level.
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.
location highlights
White Sands
White Sands
White Sands
White Sands
A backcountry location we 4×4 you out to, set up camp, cook dinner, and then teach you night photography at! Camping allows us to shoot all phases of light here: sunset, twilight, Milky Way, then Orion and winter constellations rising, twilight, and for those with energy: sunrise! Enjoy coffee here with us for a bit, then we pack up and head to check into our hotel where we rest, shower, and do another image review and post processing session.
workshop cost & payment terms
The tuition for this workshop is $3,800 with accommodations covered. A non-refundable deposit of $1,000 is required to reserve your spot with the remaining balance due 45 days 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, with 2 professional photography instructors. You are welcome to bring a non-photographer guest +1 at a discounted rate. Friends signing up together, groups, and alumni please reach out to discuss a discount.
itinerary
START: we meet between 3-4pm on October 28th in Alamogordo, New Mexico
FINISH: on November 2nd at 10am in Dell City, Texas
October 30th
We will meet at our accommodations in Alamogordo between 2-4pm! We will do a quick introduction, gear check, and go over our gameplan then grab dinner to go. From there we will arrange carpools into White Sands and caravan in together- We will be out until 11pm so it’s important to grab a healthy dinner, snacks, and water on our way out.
October 31st
We will sleep in and reconvene at 10am for our group tour out to Antelope Canyon. We will be scouting several slot canyons and capturing them during the day! Getting us familiar and teaching you how to scout and previsualize shots: we will return later that evening for our special night photography tour capturing the slot canyons again but AT NIGHT!! They’re incredible.
We reserve our full itinerary for privacy. If you would like to see the full itinerary, packing list, or have any other questions, please reach out to us with the contact form below!
cosmic canyons
