Wow.
Did that just happen?
Did over 250 night-minded people just converge on the in-person 2026 Nightscaper Photo Conference in Farmington, New Mexico? The team at National Parks at Night sure felt a whole lotta of night photography love, enthusiasm and community over our four-day, four-night conference. It had been 18 months since our last gathering, but it felt like just yesterday as we greeted old friends and welcomed many new ones to our interstellar family.
Gratitude
To all who traveled from near and far—thank you! We appreciate the time it took you to get to this dark sky location, as well as the pure passion that you brought to the event. The vibe was contagious as people bounced from session to session, engaging with speakers and each other, planning night adventures, and sharing stories about time under the stars.
Thank you to the 25 speakers who shared their workflows, techniques and visions. The variety of topics certainly inspired us all to go out and explore more. We look forward to reviewing our notes and watching the replays about blending foregrounds, deep space gear, physics, processing, planning, rockets, sketching, seeing, and traveling with NASA!
Collecting speakers’ autographs. Courtesy of Ken Lee.
Other sessions taught us how to level up our YouTube channels, pano techniques, night portraits and cinemagraphs, as well as how to best interpret space weather apps, and how to paint with both light and … well, with paint! Yes, you heard that right, we had a live painting class with astro-artist Cathrin Machin, where in 45 minutes she painted auroras descending upon a mountain range and lake of her creation! And for folks looking to improve their image quality, there was no shortage of processing classes for Milky Way, starlight, deep space and colorful star trails.
It was also so awesome to see so many of the speakers sit in on other sessions, and to make themselves readily available to all during the whole conference.
Katrina Brown sharing her knowledge.
To our 25 sponsors: Thank you! The vendor room was constantly abuzz with attendees trying to find the right tools to assist their night life. It felt like we were at the B&H Superstore with so many products on display, as well as available to loan for night shoots.
Speaking of which, a huge thank you to all the vendors who organized night walks, star parties and meetups after the daytime programming. Not only did you work eight-hour days at a conference but you stayed out late with attendees, showing them how your tools literally help them seize the night.
The Nikon- and Canon-hosted “Why Can’t We Be Friends” collaborative night shoot was legendary! And more intimate night shoots with B&H, Really Right Stuff, Phase One, OM Systems, Spencer’s Camera and Sigma gave everyone at the conference an opportunity to explore the nearby dark skies and unique landscapes with loads of new friends.
Thank you to the ZWO folks who hosted our biggest star party to date. Telescopes, trackers and new tech helped bring distant nebulas directly to our phones!
The National Parks at Night crew with the Bay Photo speakers’ exhibit.
A huge shout out to Bay Photo Lab for creating our first ever speaker gallery. The lobby of the Farmington Civic Center was adorned with 16 20x24 metal prints showcasing the speakers’ unique night visions. Bay Photo also produced our collectable metal badges, as wells as the 40x80 Xpozer print banners that served as signage, helping to direct people around the conference.
Then there were the daily giveaways! Over 45 prizes were given away, plus everyone had the opportunity to get a free 17x22 print from Canon and Red River.
Youth Scholarship
This year we re-introduced the Nightscaper Youth Scholarship, which enables students ages 13 to 20 to apply for an award of a free ticket and lodging so they can attend the conference, all to inspire the next generation of night sky story tellers. Three winners were chosen: Ellory Potter of Pennsylvania, and Sullivan Reilly and Eric Moulton of Utah.
Nikon stepped up in a huge way to help aid the scholarship, both financially and by gifting each Nightscholar with a Nikon Zfc and a 17mm f/1.8 lens. The students soaked in each and every moment during the day and went out shooting with their mentors and other attendees at night. At the end of the weekend they shared their experience eloquently on stage, showing and discussing the breathtaking images they created at the conference.
This all happened after we announced on the first day that from this year forward the scholarship will be named after the person who founded this conference seven years ago. So next time around, you can tell the young night photographers in your life that they can apply for the Royce Bair Nightscaper Youth Scholarship!
Day-to-Day Recap
The four-day conference schedule (May 14 to 17) included two stages with over 35 sessions for nightscapers to choose from. Determining which presentation to attend 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.
Half of the attendees were new to the conference. It was so amazing to see our night community come together and share so much information and so many images and stories in the hallways between sessions, over the many meals we shared, and of course in between selfies with speakers and with each other!
Speaking of meals, the food was absolutely outstanding and the pop-up with home-made paletas ice cream was refreshing and absolutely out of this world. The pistachio paleta dipped in chocolate and sprinkled in nuts was the first to sell out!
The end of the first day featured the popular “Tales of the Night,” wherein some of the audience had their images projected on the big screen while they took the mic and shared their story behind the shot. This made everyone feel right at home under the same night skies we have all experienced.
Sharing a “Tale of the Night.”
After the first night’s welcome dinner, it was time to party under the stars. The Farmington Civic Center turned off their courtyard lights and we walked out back to an epic star party with ZWO, B&H and several of the speakers. Some attendees brought their smart telescopes too, and we peered into the universe with over a dozen telescopes aimed at constellations and nebulas. Many attendees were excited to test out the recently released ZWO S30 Pro to capture images of deep space.
ZWO also partnered with speaker Roi Levi to show how we can capture solar imaging during our lunch break on Saturday. One S30 Pro was aimed at the sun for attendees to easily take a closer look at the sunspots while Roi ran a monochrome telescope rig showcasing how to capture tremendous amounts of detail of the solar prominence.
Each night, almost everyone went out shooting in areas such as Bisti Badlands, Arch Rock, Cox Canyon and more. Besides the vendor-organized night walks, the message board in the lobby and the group page on Facebook exploded with ideas, carpools and ad-hoc evening meetups. Everyone agreed we could take a long nap the week after Nightscaper!
Night-shooting with the sponsors in Four Corners. (Courtesy of Brandon Remler.)
For those who didn’t stay out too late, we offered Morning Add-On Sessions for people to level up their processing, dive further into PhotoPills or receive a portfolio review from one of the speakers.
The Nightscaper Conference is much more than learning about astronomy and night photography. It’s also about getting to know each other, sharing our stories, and going out to safely explore the night skies together.
Congratulations to all the nightscapers who immersed themselves at the 2026 conference. The love and inspiration we felt reminded each and every one of us that we are not alone in the universe—we are night-minded and united with a common passion. Remember to keep on stretching and reaching for those stars!
Until Next Time
Whether or not you attended the Nightscaper Conference this year, we are all connected. There is a comfort knowing we are not the only ones who have a passion for staying up all hours of the night. We invite you to join the conversation either in the comments below or by tagging @nightscaperconference and #nightscaperconference socially when you share your images and stories.
If you are interested in watching any of the sessions from Nightscaper 2026, you can still purchase a Replays Ticket here. The replays will be available for streaming for one year after the conference ended.
Lastly, save the date—our next Nightscaper Photo Conference family reunion will be in September 2027.
Stay tuned to this blog for more!
