Shoot for the Stars with us in Kanab: Announcing the 2024 Nightscaper Conference

We’re heading back to Kanab! To one of the premier places in the United States for dark skies and spectacular, surreal landscapes.

This week we officially launched the 2024 Nightscaper Photo Conference, and we invite you to come shoot for the stars with us.

About Nightscaper

If you’re making plans for your 2024 fall Milky Way season, then include Nightscaper in your schedule and level up your astro-landscape night photography skills. This year’s conference will be held in the nights leading up to the new moon, providing perfect darkness to photograph the setting Milky Way in the earlier hours of the night.

You’ll join other passionate photographers, scientists and inspirational speakers in Kanab. The daytime conference leaves plenty of room for going out at night with speakers, as well as with friends new and old. Speakers will also be offering local workshops before and after the conference, so you can put together a pretty awesome night photography experience in one of the best places in the world for doing so.

The Nightscaper conference goes on for four days, starting each day in late morning to accommodate those who were out shooting the night before. Daily lunches are included, as well as one dinner.

Tickets

Tickets for the 2024 conference went on sale this past week. We are offering Conference + Replays tickets for those who can travel or Replays-only for those who cannot travel but still want all that education and inspiration.

• $549 ($200 off the full price) for in-person tickets: use code “EarlyBird”

• $349 ($50 off full price) for replays-only tickets: use code “EarlyBirdReplay”

Early Bird tickets will be available only through March 31, so grab yours at a discounted rate while you can!

Speakers

We are very excited to announce speakers for 2024 conference. Several from last year are returning: Kristine Richer, Mike Shaw, Jess Santos, Bryony Richards, Gabriel Biderman, Matt Hill and Chris Nicholson.

In addition, we will be welcoming:

• Alyn Wallace, 2021 speaker and author of Photographing the Night Sky

• Alyssa Pagan, science visuals developer for the James Webb Space Telescope

• Katrina Brown, a master of creative light painting and time-lapse

• Michael Frye, renowned landscape photographer and author of five books, including Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters and and The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite

• Rafael Pons, the bard of PhotoPills

• Tim Cooper and Lance Keimig of National Parks at Night

• and the original nightscaper, conference founder Royce Bair!

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For more information, visit our About the Speakers page.

And keep checking back, because that won't be the last of the names you’ll see. We'll be adding a few more speakers, and we’ll keep you posted.

Follow Us for News

We’ll be rolling out event more information throughout the spring and summer, including:

• more sponsor and speaker announcements

• morning add-on post-production classes

• speaker workshops

• lodging info

• and more!

Stay tuned in to our conference news by following the Nightscaper social media accounts:

• Instagram

• Facebook

• Twitter

Also, be sure to sign up for the Nightscaper email list to receive all conference updates right in your inbox.

Finally, join the Facebook group to share your night photos and to chat all things night photography.

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Chris Nicholson is a partner and director of content with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015) and Photographing Lighthouses (Sidelight Books, 2024). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Ready for a Virtual Adventure? Announcing the 2024 Night Photo Summit!

We are thrilled to announce the 2024 Night Photo Summit!

This fourth annual virtual conference spans 3 days and highlights what’s new and exciting in the intersecting worlds of night photography, national parks and dark skies.

Since 2021 the summit has evolved and grown to gather photographers, artists, authors and astronomers from around the globe to share their passion for all things nocturnal.

The Night Photo Summit is here to scratch your itch, and promises education, inspiration and just plain fun. The nights may be cold now, and the Milky Way core might be hiding below the horizon, but with that comes the promise of a not-too-distant spring and the promise of new opportunities to get back out there and make stellar images.

Until then, we’re here with a cadre of new speakers and new topics to whet your appetite and to sow new ideas for the coming year. The summit is also a great way to connect with old friends and to make new ones, with multiple opportunities to network and socialize with both speakers and attendees.

Join us February 2-4, 2024, to experience 3 days of dynamic presentations from more than 35 luminaries who will light up your nights and your imagination.

SPEAKERS

We have felt immensely blessed to be able to work with so many top-notch speakers for the summit, and this year is no different. In addition to a few returning presenters, attendees will get to learn from and interact with 19 inspiring new voices.

The 2024 speakers include Sean Bagshaw, Royce Bair, Benjamin Barakat, Yuri Beletsky, Gabriel Biderman, Forest Chaput de Saintonge, Tim Cooper, Joshua Cripps, Alan Dyer, Daniel Freeman, Michael Frye, Kim Henry, Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn, Matt Hill, Melissa Kaelin, Marybeth Kiczenski, Lance Keimig, Tim Little, Pete Mauney, Andrew McCarthy, Brandon Nesbitt, Chris Nicholson, Eric Pare, Jessica Rojas, Jess Santos, Mike Shaw, Anthony Sleiman, Chris Smith, Babak Tafreshi, Adam Woodworth and Dan Zafra, with more to be announced in the next couple of weeks.

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SESSIONS

This year’s summit features sessions on planning extraordinary images, shooting with drones at night, using weather apps and exploring urban night photography, as well as (of course) techniques including image capture, different ways of working with moonlight and star trails, black and white at night, post-processing and more.

There are classes for all levels, including a series of five pre-recorded presentations that cover all the fundamentals of night photography.

There are intermediate and advanced level courses, as well as instructive, inspirational and informative sessions covering a wide range of topics. All in all, the programming totals over 45 hours of learning and virtual adventure.

Sponsors & Giveaways

We are thrilled to announce that several sponsors are already on board! B&H Photo, Nightscaper Photo Conference, Sigma, Spencer’s Camera, Calibrite, Novoflex, Acratech, Chimani and Focus on Stars are raring to go, soon to be joined by more!

Each and every sponsor is offering giveaways to be randomly awarded at the summit’s final party. More info on that to come!

How to Join Us

If you’re into night photography, or if you want to get into it, this is an event you absolutely do not want to miss.

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Tickets are $399, and include:

• 3 days, more than 35 instructors, over 45 hours of inspiration, instruction and fun

• a Fundamentals series of video classes for newbies or anyone who wants a refresher

• 1 year of access to re-watch all of the courses

• a live image review session

• exclusive glow-in-the-dark summit T-shirt

• personal access to product experts from manufacturers and developers sponsoring the event

• giveaways throughout the duration of the summit

• an unprecedented opportunity to connect with like-minded photographers passionate about the night

Moreover, if you purchase your ticket by January 13 at 2 p.m. EST, you’ll get your shirt and a swag bag before the summit!

(Note: shirts and swag bags will be mailed only to attendees with U.S. addresses, but we may be able to help those from other countries too. We’ll be in touch with more info after you register.)

Registration is available now, so sign up today and mark your calendars to join National Parks at Night for the world’s fourth online Night Photo Summit!

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

As if all of that is not enough, we’ll be releasing plenty more information over the next few weeks. To stay tuned in to it all, we invite you to follow the summit social media accounts on:

• Instagram: @nightphotosummit

• Facebook: @nightphotosummit

• X: @nightsummit

We are very much looking forward to seeing you online next month. In the meantime, feel free to ask us any questions via the social media accounts above, in the comments below, or through the Night Photo Summit webpage.

Seize the night … online!

Lance Keimig is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He has been photographing at night for 30 years, and is the author of Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark (Focal Press, 2015). Learn more about his images and workshops at www.thenightskye.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Expand Your Universe: Two Night Photography Conferences Coming Your Way in 2024

At the end of this past week, fall faded and winter began.

Well, that happened in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway. In the Southern, tans are starting. But regardless of your orientation to the equator, we’re all soon heading into a new year. With that new year will come a fresh slate of night photography experiences, including opportunities to interact with like-minded photographers.

For exactly that purpose, we run two annual events: the Night Photo Summit and the Nightscaper Photo Conference. Each are unique in the ways you can be inspired and engaged, and we’ll soon be officially launching both of their 2024 iterations.

For now, as the year wanes, we want to give you a sneak peak about what’s coming up.

The 2024 Night Photo Summit

The Night Photo Summit is an engaging winter conference run completely online, dedicated to inspiration, education and fun, highlighted by about 30 speakers from the U.S. and around the world.

The summit features over 40 presentations and panel discussions showcasing all aspects of night photography, dark skies and national parks. You can network with the speakers and fellow viewers in the classroom, as well as in the popular break-out sessions and virtual parties. You won’t want to miss our closing party that features over 75 giveaways—many prizes are worth more than the conference ticket! And don't forget, you can rewatch or catch the classes you missed—over 45 hours of content—for a full year.

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This year’s Night Photo Summit will run from Friday, February 2 through Sunday, February 4. On January 6 we’ll announce all the details, including the names of the speakers—some returning from past years and some brand new to the event.

If you subscribe to this blog, you’ll receive that announcement. But if you want more news and info about the Night Photo Summit, be sure to subscribe to the conference email list. Throughout January we’ll send a weekly newsletter with updates and news about everything going on with the summit.

(Note that if you attended last year, you still have access to the replays for another few weeks. So if you want to review Royce Bair teaching starlight blends, or Rachel Jones Ross discussing auroras, or Alyn Wallace talking about wonders of the night sky—now’s the time!)

Night Photo Summit In Review

• Dates: February 2-4, 2024

• Tickets on sale: January 6, 2024

• Social accounts: Facebook · Instagram

• More info: nightphotosummit.com

The 2024 Nightscaper Photo Conference

The Nightscaper Photo Conference is held in-person in Kanab, Utah—this year in the fall! It features a speaker mix of night photographers and astronomers, with topics that focus on dark-sky, Milky Way and deep space photography, as well as astronomy and the science behind the night skies we photograph. The nights are filled with people shooting together, as well as dark-sky walks and star parties.

The 2024 Nightscaper Conference will run from September 26 through September 29, hosted at the Kanab Center. We couldn’t be more excited about the lineup of speakers we’ve been honored to put together. Confirmed so far are Katrina Brown, Michael Frye, Alyssa Pagan, Kristine Rose, Bryony Richards, Jess Santos, Mike Shaw, Alyn Wallace, Royce Bair and Jack Fusco, as well as all five National Parks at Night instructors. And we’ll be announcing more soon!

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Like with its sister event, Nightscaper attendees will receive professionally produced video recordings of all the conference presentations. If you can’t attend in person but know you can’t miss out on everything that happens, you will also be able to watch the presentation videos with a Replays Only ticket.

(Reminder to 2023 attendees: You still have a few months to watch those replays! Your access will expire on May 27. If you did not attend the 2023 conference, you can still purchase a Replays Only ticket to access recordings of all the amazing presentations from this year—presentations such as “Photographing Aurora Borealis” by Dr. Kah-Wai Lin, “Tracked Milky Way Panoramas” by Dan Zafra and “Color Theory for Night Photographers” by Jess Santos.)

Tickets for Nightscaper 2024 will go on sale February 29, starting with a special early-bird deal. Everything you need to know will be announced then, so keep your eye on this blog. We also suggest subscribing to the Nightscaper email list, as we’ll send periodic newsletter updates throughout the spring and summer.

Nightscaper Photo Conference In Review

• Dates: September 26-29, 2024

• Tickets on sale: February 29, 2024

• Social accounts: Facebook · Instagram

• More info: nightscaper.com

Seizing the Night—Together

We hope you can join us at Night Photo Summit or Nightscaper Conference—or both! We’ve learned so much from so many of the speakers and attendees at these events. And bonus: We’ve also made a ton of new friends who share our passion for seizing the night.

Stay tuned over the coming weeks for more information about all of this and more. We’re delighted and excited, elated and enthused, to share this love of the night with so many wonderful photographers just like you.

Chris Nicholson is a partner and director of content with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015) and Photographing Lighthouses (Sidelight Books, 2023). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

To 100 and Beyond: A Centuple Celebration of 8 Years of Workshops

In 2015, the five of us partners at National Parks at Night had our first meeting, and in 2016 we ran our first five workshops together: chronologically, at Acadia, Zion, Crater Lake, Arches and Death Valley national parks. Tonight, at Bannerman Island in New York, we will run our 100th workshop.

During these 8 years and 100 adventures, we have met and formed bonds with over 700 night photographers who have joined us. They are the people who have made the National Parks at Night dream possible, and our gratitude couldn’t be grander.

With that feeling in our hearts, we never considered celebrating our 100th workshop without our attendees. We instead wanted to host a party to mark the milestone and invite all of our alums to attend. And that’s precisely what we did this past Thursday in New York City.

More than 60 members of the NPAN community gathered in Midtown Manhattan to share our common bonds and the friendships we’ve all developed during this run. There were people who have attended many workshops together, people who haven’t seen each other in a few years, people who had never met before the party—and even one person from our first workshop who we got to see for the first time since then!

We started with a soiree hosted in the studios at NYC Salt, a non-profit high school photography program for underserved youth. (Gabe has been a volunteer for them for over 10 years and the program has assisted in getting many students into college for the first time in their family. If you’re not familiar with NYC Salt, definitely check out their work and their mission. You’ll be inspired—and if you’re inspired enough to help them in some way, all the better!)

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Our guests were greeted with some new NPAN swag: a North Face beanie and a special “100 and Beyond” pin commemorating our Centuple Celebration. A few of our longtime brand partners were there as well: B&H Photo, Luxli and Benro all stopped by to share some gifts (more on that below), and Canon was on hand to make two free 18x24 prints for all the partygoers on Red River Polar Glossy Metallic paper.

Everyone mingled, enjoying conversation, along with wine, cheese and a buffet of light food graciously prepared by four of our five significant others (thank you Nancy, Angela, Katherine and Mabel!). In the corner a large-screen television displayed a looping slide show of the group photos from all of our workshops, as well as over 400 photos of attendees at the workshops.

Photo courtesy Angela Weir.

Toward the end of the party the gathering circled Gabe, who emceed some gift-giving. Many of our sponsors also wanted to thank our attendees for their support over the past 8 years. Between them, Acratech, B&H, Benro, Coast Portand, Focus on Stars, Luxli and Tether Tools sent 23 giveaways!

We topped off the afternoon by heading to the roof, where NYC portrait artist Adam Chinitz photographed the group in front of the city skyline.

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Photo courtesy Adam Chinitz.

After the party we met at the delectable Pier 57 food court, where everyone broke into groups for dinner. Afterward we continued the roof theme by riding the elevator to the top of Pier 57 and stepping out to a magnificent view of the NYC skyline. We shot there for about an hour, then moved to Little Island, an artificial island park on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, where we shot some more.

Photo courtesy Katherine Moxhet.

The evening ended, and we once again exchanged farewells and until-we-meet-agains with a group of the finest folks we could imagine adventuring with.

One hundred workshops. Wow. At our first meeting in 2015, I don’t think any of us five imagined that number. But here we are in 2023, now dreaming of 200.

For all of you who have shared this ride with us, we thank you. And for those of you who have not shared the ride yet—welcome aboard! We are all eager to welcome you into this dynamic and engaging community, and to seize the night together, to 200 and beyond.

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Chris Nicholson is a partner and director of content with National Parks at Night, and author of Photographing National Parks (Sidelight Books, 2015) and Photographing Lighthouses (Sidelight Books, 2023). Learn more about national parks as photography destinations, subscribe to Chris' free e-newsletter, and more at www.PhotographingNationalParks.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Out of and Into the Dark: Wrapping Up Nightscaper 2023

What happens when 200 night-minded people converge in Kanab, Utah, for the Nightscaper Photo Conference? 

Well, stellar things of course! And just like when we prepare for an epic night of photographing under the stars, unexpected happenings occurred that provided even more opportunities for us to “seize the night” with old friends and new.

Gratitude

Before we recap the 4 days and nights of Nightscaper 2023, we want to thank the 22 speakers who provided so much inspiration and education on a variety of topics, from deep space tools and techniques to more down-to-earth topics such as planning successful night shoots, tracking and processing panos, sculpting light, saving our stars, and the business side to kickstarting your night photography career. 

Another thank you to our 20 sponsors that provided over 35 prizes and incredible hands-on opportunities to try out the latest products to help us reach for the stars:

Shawn from Canon printed attendees’ amazing night photographs.

• Canon ImagePrograf was probably the busiest vendor, as Shawn was constantly printing free 18x24-inch prints on our new favorite paper, the Red River Polar Gloss Metallic, which made everyone’s stars really shine.

• Peter from Shimoda showed the brand new Action X V2 bag for the first time in public, and everyone was eager to figure out which size fit their night kit the best.

• Brenda from Calibrite offered free display calibrations.

• Fotopro and Novoflex showcased a veritable forest of tripods for people to try.

• Michael from Benro co-presented an engaging discussion about noise, including the influence of AI in cleaning up night images.

• Erik from KelbyOne shared his epic rocket photography images and gave us even better insight about the best apps for predicting clear dark skies.

• Clarence from Spencer’s Camera offered a course on how to get the most from astro-modified cameras.

• David from Action Photo Tours walked attendees through a practical approach to creating time-lapses.

• Bay Photo Lab came up huge by creating the most unique aluminum badge for all in-person attendees, while Patrick showcased a variety of surfaces for us to print our best night photos on.

• Our friends at B&H Photo, Max and Michael, showcased the latest night-centric gear and of course offered those amazing B&H deals.

4 Days of Conferring

The 4-day conference schedule (May 18-21) included two tracks and over 30 classes for nightscapers to choose from. Determining which class to sit in on was a challenge at times, but knowing that all the sessions were being recorded for streaming replays allowed us not to suffer too much from the fear of missing out.

Beyond the education, the common through-line during the event was community. People from all over the world converged to “collab in Kanab” (thanks to Max for that turn of phrase!)—whether that was in between sessions, over the many meals we shared, or during the multiple night shoots that were organized by speakers and attendees. The weather was mostly cooperative for people to meet up and photograph the many sites around Kanab and the Grand Staircase-Escalante region.

Dan Zafra teaching tracked Milky Way panoramas.

One of the highlights of opening day was when we broke the fourth wall between the speakers and audience and offered a “Tales of the Night” session, where in-person attendees could share an image on the big screen, then stand up and take the mic to reveal the vision behind their photo. The variety of work shown sparked conversations as we found even more common bonds with our newfound family. 

Another highlight was the Star Party we co-hosted with Amazing Earthfest and the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) on the second night. Everyone enjoyed sharing the 10 telescopes locked in on key features in the sky, set up along a section of abandoned highway in the desert. Bettymaya Foote from IDA and Rich Csenge from Amazing Earthfest took us through twilight with demonstrations on what we can all do to limit light pollution in our hometowns and backyards. Starlink was “kind enough” to schedule their latest launch of satellites during the star party, which created many oohs and ahhs.

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Gazing at the stars with Nightscaper Photo Conference, Amazing Earthfest and the International Dark-Sky Association.

However, we couldn’t have planned for one of the most unique night experiences ever. On the third night of the conference, the local power company scheduled a planned outage from midnight to morning so they could work on upgrades to the grid of several local counties. This included Kane County and Kanab, which most likely inconvenienced the 5,000 locals. But for the 200 Nightscapers in town, it was a golden opportunity to capture the Milky Way rising over Main Street. 

This ended up being my favorite night, as I wandered the streets safely greeting Nightscapers and seeing what they were creating under such rare conditions. It made us dream of what a true IDA dark sky city would look like.

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Milky Way and Main Street, Kanab 2023. Nikon Z 6II with a Nikon Z 24-70mm f/2.8 lens. 6 seconds, f/3.2, ISO 12800.

As it turned out, the updates to the grid still needed some fixing. The next morning, after about seven slides into my talk titled “Inspirations Beyond the Milky Way,” the power went out again. In the darkness with only a battery-powered spotlight shining on me and no images on the screen, I pivoted and told some of my own tales of the night. I tried to paint a picture of my favorite photos and adventures under the stars—stories that are of course similar to what many nightscapers have experienced. In the darkness of the room, I no longer felt like we were in a conference center, and I imagined what humans have been doing for many a millennia: telling stories under the stars. I could feel energy and love from our nocturnal family.

Night photography can be a solo sport, but at Nightscaper we discovered that we were not alone in the universe. We are united by a common passion and we have so much to learn from each other. We are still very young at exploring the night, but we are going to seize each and every moment.

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Speaker Jess Santos working with an attendee in a portfolio review.

’Til Next Time

Whether or not you attended the Nightscaper Photo Conference, we are all connected. There is a comfort knowing we are not the only ones who have a passion for staying up to all hours of the night. We invite you to join the conversation either in the comments below or by tagging #nightscaperconference socially when you share your images and stories. 

If you are interested in watching any of the replays from Nightscaper, you can still purchase a ticket here. The replays should be ready in about a week, and they’ll be available for streaming for 1 year after the conference ended.

We are already making plans for the next Nightscaper Photo Conference family reunion. Stay tuned to this blog for more!

Gabriel Biderman is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. He is a Brooklyn-based fine art and travel photographer, and author of Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots (Peachpit, 2014). During the daytime hours you'll often find Gabe at one of many photo events around the world working for B&H Photo’s road marketing team. See his portfolio and workshop lineup at www.ruinism.com.

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT