Events

Ready for Inspiration, Education and Fun? — Announcing the 3rd Annual Night Photo Summit

We are thrilled to announce the return of the Night Photo Summit!

Now in its third iteration, the Night Photo Summit is a 3-day virtual conference that celebrates everything night photography. Each year we aim to make it a little bigger, a little better, and to bring you even more opportunities to learn, to be entertained and (of course) to Seize The Night!

We know that there are many night photography enthusiasts out there who are looking to connect and learn, so we created the summit to exalt in the joys of our shared passion. Perhaps you’re hunkered down for the long cold winter, not able or ready to travel, but still keen to expand your knowledge and be better prepared for the coming Milky Way season. Maybe you’d like to learn a new technique to broaden your horizons, or simply long for that kick in the pants that a healthy dose of inspiration can provide.

The Night Photo Summit has all that covered––and then some.

Join us from February 3-5, 2023, to experience 3 days of dynamic presentations from 35-plus world-class photographers, authors, artists, astronomers, and national park and dark-sky activists.

Sessions and Speakers

This year’s summit features sessions on creativity, auroras, publishing photography books and lighthouses, as well as (of course) night photo techniques, including image capture, different ways of combining exposures, lighting, mobile night photography, post-processing and more.

There are classes for all levels, including a series of five recorded presentations that cover all the fundamentals of night photography. You’ll have access to those before the summit begins if you’d like a refresher, or to get you up to speed if you are just getting started in 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.

Our incredible lineup of speakers and talks includes:

  • Albert Dros: “Cities Come to Life After Sunset”

  • Alyn Wallace: “Night Sky Wonders”

  • Chris Nicholson: “Photographing Moonlight”

  • David Zapatka: “USA Stars and Lights: A Lighthouse Project”

  • Dirk Ercken: “Light Painting from Within the Scene”

  • Elia Locardi: TBA

  • Forest Chaput: “Choosing a Telescope (and Other Equipment) for Deep Sky Astrophotography”

  • Gabriel Biderman: “9 Parks at Night”

  • Harold Ross: “Light Painting the Still Life”

  • John Paul Caponigro: “Naked Eye, Camera Eye, Mind’s Eye”

  • Joseph DePasquale: “Unveiling the Infrared Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope”

  • Katrina Brown: “Designing the Night with Light”

  • Ken Lee: “Behind the Book: My Path to Publishing a Monograph”

  • Kevin Adams: “365 Nights: A Year of Inspiration”

  • Lance Keimig: “Know Your Options: Decisions That Lead to Your Best Images”

  • Matt Hill: “Color Management for Night Photographers”

  • Michael Frye: “Reducing Noise with Star-Stacking”

  • Noel Thomas: “Astro Time-Lapse Techniques”

  • Pete Mauney: “Plane Trails at Night: Visualizing Human Networks”

  • Phill Monson: “How to Put Nature First as Creators”

  • Rachel Jones Ross: “A Field Guide to Photographing the Northern Lights”

  • Rafael Pons: “Moon Photography Planning (from Beginner to Pro)”

  • Royce Bair: “Starlight Blends”

  • Russell Preston Brown: “New Developments in Mobile Night Photography”

  • Sandra Ramos: “How to Keep Your Instagram Account from Being Hacked”

  • Sherry Pincus: “Things That Go Bump in the Night: Staying Safe in the Wilderness”

  • Susan Magnano: “Spark your Creativity with Luminescent Portraits”

  • Tim Cooper: “5 Photoshop Techniques for Night Photography”

  • … and more to be announced!

Sponsors & Giveaways

Every attendee will be automatically entered into drawings for a large number of giveaways from our generous sponsors, as well as amazing session-specific giveaways from speakers. 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.

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 available on-demand before the summit weekend

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

  • a live image review session

  • exclusive glow-in-the-dark summit T-shirt (mailed to attendees with U.S. addresses, and we may be able to help those from other countries too!)

  • 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 (USA only) before the summit!

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

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

As if that isn’t all 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:

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.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Coming to Kanab? — Announcing the 2023 Nightscaper Photo Conference!

Back in February we announced that we acquired the Nightscaper Photo Conference. We were beyond excited, but a few months later we were beyond disappointed to have to postpone the 2022 event.

Now, however, we are back to the positive end of that excitement spectrum, as we get to announce the 2023 Nightscaper Photo Conference!

If you’re making plans for your 2023 spring Milky Way season, then include our conference in your schedule and level up your astro-landscape night photography skills. The 2023 conference will be held in the heart of the new moon week, May 18-21.

You’ll join other passionate photographers, scientists and inspirational speakers in Kanab, Utah. The daytime conference leaves plenty of room for going out at night with speakers, as well as with friends new and old. Several 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 4 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.

Kanab, Utah. © 2022 Lance Keimig. Nikon D780 with a with a Tamron 15-30mm f/2.8 lens at 24mm. Stiched pano, frames shot at 15 seconds, f/3.2, ISO 12800.

Tickets

Tickets are on sale now. We are offering Conference (in-person) + Replays tickets for those who can travel or Replays-only for those who cannot travel but still want all that education and inspiration. Right now both are offered as limited-time Early Bird tickets, so grab yours at a discounted rate while you can!

Speakers

The current speaker lineup includes:

  • Mike Shaw

  • Jess Santos

  • Joshua Snow

  • Bettymaya Foott

  • Dr. Kah-Wai Lin

  • MaryBeth Niczenski

  • Forest Chaput de Sanintonge

  • Aaron King

  • Dr. Bryony Richards

  • Dan Zafra

  • Kristine Richer

  • Erik Kuna

  • Paul Zizka

  • Adam Woodworth

  • our team from National Parks at Night

  • and more speakers to be announced in the coming months

Over the 4 days the speakers will present more than 40 1-hour classes and four discussion panels. There will be plenty of time and space to network with the speakers and other attendees.

Follow Us for News

More information is coming, so stay tuned by following us on the Nightscaper Conference social media accounts:

Also, be sure to sign up for the 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.

Action Time

Now is the perfect time to register for the Nightscaper Conference. Save money by signing up for an Early Bird ticket.

We look forward to seeing you in Kanab next year!

Register today at nightscaper.com.

Matt Hill is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. See more about his photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

New York Minutes: Our Day-to-Day as Reps of the Night at OPTIC 2022

This week, a lot of things were nice to get back to, all at once. It was nice to be back in New York City, nice to be back among a large group of like-minded people, and it was nice to be back at OPTIC.

In one way or another, the National Parks at Night crew has been involved in every OPTIC Imaging Conference. I was a speaker at the inaugural event in 2015, and that’s where and when Matt Hill and Gabriel Biderman talked to me about joining this new little company they wanted to put together. (More on that later.) The next year all five of us (the aforementioned plus Tim Cooper and Lance Keimig) presented together for the first time ever, on OPTIC’s Main Stage. And every year since one or more of us has served as speakers, portfolio reviewers, photo-walk leaders, etc.

We couldn’t be more grateful. B&H Photo, which produces the conference along with Lindblad Expeditions, has been one of our most loyal and ardent supporters since even before Day 1. We strive to meet their hospitality with a dedication to bring our very best to educating attendees about night photography and everything that goes into it.

This year, OPTIC was held as an in-person event for the first time since 2019. A recap of how we engaged:

The Conference

OPTIC began with 2 days of conferencing at The New Yorker hotel on Manhattan’s west side, just a block from the B&H Superstore. More than 40 presenters were on the Main and Second stages (for the live audienc, plus livestreamed to offsite attendees), including Night Photo Summit speakers Jess Santos, Susan Magnano and Erik Kuna.

On the second morning, Matt, Gabe and I delivered a 1-hour presentation titled “Nine Steps to Becoming a Better Night Photographer.” We covered ideas such as not rushing through a setup, learning about astronomy and investing in quality gear that’s capable of night capture. (You can see our presentation at the very beginning of the Day 2 recording.)

While all those presentations were happening, attendees were also busy visiting exhibitors on the show floor, including us. We hosted a table right in the corner of the main room, where we had the pleasure of meeting dozens of potential new workshoppers as well as reconnecting with many New York-area workshop alums.

We also enjoyed reconnecting with our brand partners Manfrotto and Tether Tools. Our friends from Luxli were there too, as well as those from Nikon, Sony and more.

The Photo Cruise

This year’s NYC Harbor Sunset Cruise was once again hosted by Canon. The boat pushed up the Hudson River for a bit, then headed south into the Upper Bay where the group enjoyed and photographed a stunning sunset behind the Statue of Liberty. We got to chat with scores of attendees and sponsors, enjoying a beautiful evening out with friends old and new.

The cruise was also a special moment for Matt, Gabe and I, as we realized it was the first time the three of us had been on the deck of that boat together since 2015—when they invited me to help launch NPAN with them. So we had a nice little seventh-anniversary moment, complete with hugs and a photo (see above).

The Photo Walks

The conference always includes a photo walk, and this year saw us back at one of our favorite NYC photo haunts, Brooklyn Bridge Park. Our good friend David Brommer and a few of the other OPTIC speakers led attendees during a daytime shoot, and then Matt, Gabe and I took over for sunset and twilight.

About 40 photographers first joined us for ice cream at Ample Hills Creamery (priorities!), and then we wandered the waterfront of the East River, photographing passing boats and the Manhattan skyline. We worked our way south to our final location, the famous spot for photographing old pier pilings in front of the East River with the skyscrapers of the Financial District in the background. (See the video above.)

The twilight shoot was scheduled to end at 9 p.m., but if you know us then you know that didn’t happen—we stayed until well after 10:00, helping folks photograph the scene with the millions of twinkling lights of the city at night.

Wrapping Up

All good things must end, just as OPTIC 2022 did on Wednesday. If you had to miss the conference, individual videos of the presentations (including ours) will be live on the B&H Photo YouTube channel within the next couple of weeks.

If you were there, we’d love to see your photos. Post them in the comments or on our Facebook page, or tag us on Instagram (@nationalparksatnight).

OPTIC is one of the most dynamic conferences any of us has ever been a part of, and we absolutely recommend you attend in the future. Be sure to watch the B&H social channels, as well as ours, for news about future dates. (Including—ready for a teaser?—a big OPTIC announcement for later this year. Stay tuned!)

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

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Growing the Community: We Are Now Running the Nightscaper Conference

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or a regular anything with us, then you know how important we consider community to be. We treasure our community here—we feel so fortunate for this great group of folks bound together by our common love of going outside at night with cameras. And we love how this community has grown since it began back in 2015.

Well, that community is about to grow even more. We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have acquired the Nightscaper Photo Conference.

This amazing event was created a few years ago by the venerable Royce Bair, the original nightscaper, who we have had the pleasure of collaborating with behind the scenes since early 2021. The first conference was held in 2019, and it quickly became an admired common ground and gathering spot not just for night photographers, but also for scientists, artists and activists who care about night skies.

We have of course been very aware of the Nightscaper Conference and community for quite some time, and have long admired and respected the spirit of everyone involved, from Royce and his staff to all the photographers and others who are so passionate about exploring dark skies. We look forward to celebrating and carrying on that spirit.

Why are we Doing This?

When Royce approached us last year with this idea, it was a match made in heaven. Or perhaps the cosmos aligned. Royce is looking to spend more time with his family, and we’re always looking for ways to grow our community and to work with even more people who love the night. So this arrangement was truly beneficial for everyone. We eagerly discussed it and agreed to accept his offer.

Gabe and I attended the 2021 Nightscaper Conference and absolutely fell in love with the community and the event. The spirit and passion of everyone we met fits so well with everything we do and with everyone we already know and love, and at the same time it brings a unique energy into the fold.

We are eager to carry forward the dedication and care that Royce put into organizing and leading the first two Nightscaper Conferences. For our part, we are bringing to bear all our skills and care to make the event even more of something to remember every year.

The Conference

This in-person conference is happening in Kanab, Utah—a hub with access to dark skies and stunning landscapes in southern Utah and northern Arizona.

We know that many of you have been itching for a reason to get out and get shooting. This is a great opportunity to scratch that itch!

White Pocket, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. Nikon Z 6II with a Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D lens, light painted with two Luxli Fiddle LED panels. 13 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 12,800; 15 frames processed in Starry Landscape Stacker and stitched in PTGUI.

What’s New for the 2022 Conference?

The event is now 4 days instead of 3—April 26 to 29. We believe that having more time to spend in sessions and networking will give attendees an even richer experience.

Each session will be 1 hour long, to fully explore a topic.

We are planning to have 25 speakers this year, and 20 of them will be giving two sessions each, further allowing topics to be even more fully expressed.

The five organizers from National Parks at Night will be presenting one session each.

There will be four panel discussions to explore important topics to the community. Topic ideas are welcome and we’ll be soliciting those within the Facebook community and Instagram, so be sure to follow both.

We are adding elective image review sessions on the second, third and fourth mornings. You will be able to sign up for image reviews with participating speakers, for a reasonable fee. Further information about this will be released privately in the coming weeks to conference registrants.

Each in-person registrant will receive a custom-printed conference ring-spun shirt with glow-in-the-dark ink! You’ll be able to pick this up at the conference registration booth. And we may even make sweatshirts for pre-order!

This conference, as mentioned before, will be live and in-person in Kanab. Nestled along the southern border of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Kanab is also an amazing launching pad for adventures to Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef and Grand Canyon national parks, and much, much more.

Grosvenor Arch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Nikon Z 6 with a Venus Optics Laowa 15mm f/2 FE Zero-D lens, light painted with two Luxli Fiddle LED panels. 8 stacked images shot at 4 minutes, f/4, ISO 1600.

Each session will be recorded and posted online for paid registrants to watch and re-watch at their leisure for a full year. We will also offer Replays-Only for folks who can’t make it to Kanab this April.

There will not be a simulcast livestream, as we believe that focusing on the in-person experience and community is important, and although the technology to stream is available, it’s better to record and post it. However, there will be some vital speakers who cannot travel and we will be recording their presentations. We plan to simulcast those recorded sessions online so the Replays-Only ticket-holders can watch something during the conference dates.

What Will be the Same?

Even if you attended last year, there are lots of reasons to come again.

If you are already in love with the Nightscaper Conference, you’ll be happy to know that we have no interest in trying to reinvent this event. We love it the way it is. The focus on sharing, listening, skills, techniques, data and community will all be the same. We want to encourage everyone to gather to exchange ideas, to engage in spirited discussions and to go out shooting together.

Some speakers are returning, and some new voices will be presenting. See the lineup on the Speakers page of the website.

We will provide all in-person registrants with lunch each day of the conference and dinner the first evening. All other meals are your responsibility. Fortunately, Kanab has lots of wonderful places to eat!

We are using Sched to organize the sessions and physical locations. Expect this to be released closer to the conference. It will include an iOS and Android app for up-to-date info.

Tickets

The total number of in-person tickets is limited to 300 so we can all be as safe as Covid protocols can allow.

  • There is a limited number of in-person early bird tickets that are first come, first served: 100 at $499 each.

  • When these are gone, the remaining tickets will sell for $699 each.

For those of you who cannot travel, we are offering Replay-Only tickets to watch all sessions streaming for 1 year after the conference.

  • There will be early bird Replay-Only tickets available on a first come, first served basis: 150 at $299 each.

  • When those sell out, Replay-Only will be available for $349.

How do You Stay Involved?

Join us at one of the most inspiring dark sky locations in the United States. Meet other night-minded creatives and get the creative juices flowing in the classroom, as well as go out on each night to explore the dark skies and surreal landscapes of the Kanab region.

Please share the 2022 Nightscaper Conference with your friends, other astro-landscape and deep-sky photographers, and those who want to jump-start their skills. We also encourage you to share it with folks who are just getting into the craft.

Let’s come together as one night photography community to explore ideas, to explore this beautiful region, and to fall in love with the night again.

Social Media

Royce will continue to run his Instagram account @roycebairphoto, where he shares photos tagged #nightscaper from the Facebook group and elsewhere on Instagram (links below).

National Parks at Night is taking over the Nightscaper Conference Instagram account @nightscaperconference.

We will also be assuming ownership of the Nightscaper Facebook group, but have no plans to change anything, as the moderators of that group are amazing, dedicated and passionate. We love what they do and look forward to working alongside them.

Follow our Instagram.

Join our Facebook group.

Tickets are on sale now. Learn more at nightscaper.com.

Matt Hill is a partner and workshop leader with National Parks at Night. See more about his photography, art, workshops and writing at MattHillArt.com. Follow Matt on Twitter Instagram Facebook.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT

Seize the Night, Online! — Announcing the Second Annual Night Photo Summit

We are delighted to announce the second annual Night Photo Summit!

Last winter, we hosted and produced the first Night Photo Summit, a 3-day virtual conference to celebrate everything we love about night photography. It was intense. It was educational. It was fun!

We created the summit as a way to share our passion with you, the community of like-minded photographers who love the night.

Over 350 people joined together for a long weekend of inspiration and camaraderie, and it was such a blast that we knew, even before it was over, that we would do it again in 2022.

Join us from February 4-6, 2022, to experience 3 days of dynamic presentations from 30-plus world class photographers, authors, artists, rangers, an astronomer, and even a meteorologist.

Sessions and Speakers

There are sessions about creativity, dark skies and weather, and of course night photo techniques––image capture, lighting, time-lapse, post-processing and more.

There are classes for all levels, including a Night Photography Fundamentals track, as well as intermediate and advanced level courses, all totaling for over 45 hours of learning and virtual adventure. And we are thrilled to have our friend and world-renowned nature and cultural photographer Art Wolfe share his World at Night project turned book.

There will be panel discussions (including “Women in Night Photography—Challenges and Achievements Under the Stars”), a group image review with the National Parks at Night instructors, and opportunities to connect with the wider community of creative professionals who share a love of night photography.

Our incredible lineup of speakers and talks includes:

  • Adam Woodworth: “Milky Way Crash Course”

  • Amir Shahcheraghian: “10 Years of Night Sky Photography in the Desert National Parks of Iran”

  • Art Wolfe: “Art Wolfe Presents: Night on Earth”

  • Autumn Schrock: “Process to Print: Making Your Night Photos Shine on the Wall”

  • Chris Nicholson: “Oceans, Lakes, Rivers and Ponds: Working with Water at Night”

  • Colleen Miniuk: “Finding Your Creative Voice”

  • Erik Kuna: “Planning a Milky Way Adventure with PhotoPills”

  • Forest Chaput de Saintonge: “Deep-Sky Astrophotography with a Telephoto Lens”

  • Gabriel Biderman: “Out of this World: Beyond the Basics of Star Trail Photography”

  • Gunther Wegner: “Day to Night Transitions: The Holy Grail of Time-lapse Photography”

  • Hannu Huhtamo: “Drawing with Light”

  • Imma Barrera: “Under the Night Sky as a National Park Artist in Residence”

  • Jess Santos: “Building Your Instagram Presence”

  • Kah-Wai Lin: “Photographing Auroras and Winter Landscapes”

  • Ken Lee: “How to Use Light Painting Angles to Create Detail, Texture and Drama”

  • Kevin Adams: “Fantastical Fireflies”

  • Lance Keimig: “8 Lessons from Early Night Photographers That Will Make You Better Tonight”

  • Matt Hill: “How to Capture and Edit Multirow Night Panoramas”

  • Michael DeYoung: “Using the Best Weather Forecasts to Find Clear Skies and Perfect Clouds, Day or Night”

  • Michael Frye: “Expressive Night Photography”

  • Mike Mezeul II: “Extreme Nature in the Night”

  • Nicole Mortillaro: “What to Look Forward to in the Night Skies of 2022”

  • Ranger Rader Lane: “Night Skies in our National Parks”

  • Rafael Pons: “How to Plan Your Night Sky Photos (Milky Way, Star Trails and Meteor Showers)”

  • Royce Bair: “Low-Level Lighting: How to Create Stunning Nightscapes”

  • Susan Magnano: “Luminescent Portraits: A Live Demo with Light Writing”

  • Tim Cooper: “Creating Realistic Landscape/Milky Way Blends”

  • … and more to be announced!

Sponsors & Giveaways

Every attendee will be automatically entered into drawings for a large number of giveaways from our generous sponsors, as well as amazing session-specific giveaways from speakers. Prizes include a Gitzo tripod, Vallerett photography gloves, a KelbyOne membership, a book and print from Art Wolfe, light painting tools, an Irix lens, a Move-Shoot-Move star tracker and more.

The Night Photo Summit is sponsored by Chimani, Coast Portland, Irix, Ledlenser, Manfrotto/Gitzo, Move-Shoot-Move, the NightScaper Conference, PhotoPills and Vallerret, with additional sponsors to be named soon.

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.

Tickets are $399, and include:

  • 3 days, more than 25 instructors, over 45 hours of inspiration, instruction and fun

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

  • a live image review session

  • three panel discussions

  • exclusive glow-in-the-dark summit T-shirt (mailed to attendees with U.S. addresses, and we may be able to help those from other countries too!)

  • 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 before noon EST on January 14, you’ll get your shirt and a swag bag (USA only) before the summit!

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

JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

As if that isn’t all 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:

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.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FROM NATIONAL PARKS AT NIGHT