When and where?

November 11-16th, 2025 in Death Valley National Park and Alabama Hills, California.

overview

Spend 5 nights with astrophotography experts Derek Culver and Andrew Imhoff exploring and capturing the amazing geologic wonders and dark skies of Death Valley National Park and Alabama Hills! We will be touring you around to the best parts of the park, at the best times, teaching you the photography techniques and philosophies we use to capture it’s beauty, and creating amazing memories with a group of like-minded photographers! Towering sand dunes, vibrant rocks, expansive desert, and warm desert nights under the cosmos. We’ll be both in hotels and camping out under the stars (everything provided for you) for a comfortable but immersive photography experience. This workshop includes all camping and some hotel accommodations (with hotel alternatives for the camping nights for those who prefer more comfort) as well as meals in the backcountry camping spots, editing sessions with follow up video tutorials, and tons of fun photography adventures and advanced lessons!

Shooting Locations:

Alabama Hills, Zabrinske Point, Badwater Basin, Mesquite Sand Dunes, Natural Bridge, Mosaic Canyon, and the Racetrack Playa.

What you will learn:

We believe the best way to learn anything is to immerse yourself in it, and we’d like you to come join our world of astrophotography for a week of adventure, learning, and memories! We teach Astronomy basics, how the moon cycles work, how to plan your shots using apps & astronomy fundamentals, how to find compelling compositions, optimal camera settings, focusing your at night, light painting, star trackers, editing your night photos, Lightroom & Photoshop, how to capture timelapses (videos of the night sky!) and edit them together, and much more! This workshop is fantastic for all levels of astrophotographers and adventurers!

Itinerary overview

The workshop will start at 4pm on Tuesday November 11th and ends at 8:30 am on the morning of Sunday November 16th! If you have more questions or would like the full itinerary please fill out the question form. We are camping for 2 nights and in hotels for 3.

what will you learn & difficulty

This workshop is great for beginner and experienced night photographers and adventurers. You must be able to hike on uneven surfaces at night for about 1 miles, but we take things slow and go as a group. We will be teaching fundamentals to night photography from planning your shot, focusing, your camera and proper settings, timelapses, all the way to using star trackers, focal length blending, mosaics, and blending images.

Lodging

We alternate between camping and hotels for a balanced experience of comfort and immersion! Hotels are double occupancy but we can provide single occupancy upon request and availability. We provide all the camping amenities you will need for the trip including all sleeping gear, starlink, charging, water, and meals while out in remote areas. Hotel alternatives included in itinerary for those who prefer more comfort on our camping nights, but you will have to commute a bit further to our shooting locations.

Logistics

Everyone is responsible for their own transportation to the workshop and during the workshop. Once in Death Valley we arrange carpools and caravans to all our shooting locations! Most of the time we can help arrange carpools between our workshop guests from the airport and in the parks in order to save costs and add to the social atmosphere of the workshop! We offer transportation for a $500 fee that includes airport pick up as well as transportation during the workshop. The closest and most convenient airport Las Vegas international, about 1.5 hours from our meeting point in Furnace Creek.

workshop cost & payment terms

The tuition for this workshop is $4,250 total, with a non-refundable deposit of $750 to reserve a spot. The remaining total balance of the workshop is due 2 months before the workshop starts (September 12th). All payments are final. Alumni discounted cost is $3,500 total, $500 deposit to reserve a spot, but with the discount applied when the remaining workshop balance is collected!

ITINERARY

Please email us for the full detailed itinerary- derek@blazingheavens.com

The workshop will start at 4pm on Tuesday November 11th and ends at 8:30 am on the morning of Sunday November 16th! We will meet at Furnace Creek inside Death Valley and be finishing there as well, about a 1.5 hour drive to Las Vegas International Airport.

Tuesday november 11th

We’ll be camping at Furnace Creek with humble food, grocery, and shower amenities (hotel alternative is at the Oasis across the street) and do an easy sunset and astro shoot nearby at Zabinskie Point, as well as another viewpoint overlooking the expanses of the valley. Tonight, we will work out the rust, troubleshoot our camera setups, and dial in on settings and compositions incorporating the last parts of the Milky Way core of November before transitioning into the H-Alpha (red nebulae) rich area of Cygnus. We will work in Orion later in the week with some widefield-deep space opportunities shooting nebulae and galaxies!
The rest of the itinerary is available for our participants and serious inquiries, feel free to contact us with any questions:

sunday november 16th

Our workshop officially ends at 8:30am after shooting the Milky Way and breakfast in Furnace Creek!