Easter Island
Few places on earth are as mysterious or compelling as Easter Island. The giant stone figures known as moai oversee this remote island 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile. Most of Rapa Nui, as it’s known to the locals, is a national park. Not only is it hard to get to Easter Island, it is notoriously difficult to access the park after the sun goes down. But we will be taking a lucky group of fellow night photographers on this rare opportunity of spending an unforgettable week with the moai.
Tour Details
February 10-17, 2025 — Sold Out, Join Waitlist Below
This is a 7-night, 8-day photography tour. Including travel days to and from the island, it is a 9-night trip, and you’ll be arriving home on the 10th day.
$8,595 (single) or $16,295 (two people sharing a room).
Skill level
Open to all who have a basic understanding of the principles of photography and of their cameras.
Group size
12, with 2 instructors — 6:1 ratio
Park website
Tour Leaders
Registration
Hoping to get a spot? Sign up below for our no-fee waitlist.
| • Deposit of $3,995 (single) or $6,495 (two people sharing a room) is required to reserve your spot on the tour. |
| • Balance of $5,000 (single) or $10,000 (two people sharing) is due on October 13, 2024. → Pay balance here. |
| • You may choose the “Pay in Full” ticket if you desire to pay all at once. |
| • Last day for a cancellation request is October 12, 2024. (see cancellation and refund policy). |
| • See the "Ticket Info" section further down the page for information about what the tour fee covers. |
The Easter Island Experience
This photo tour will feature long days and nights with intense periods of photography. It’s not a workshop—there will be no formal classroom instruction or lectures. We will be photographing day and night. This is not to say that it won’t be a learning experience, but the first and foremost goal of this trip is to provide you with a safe, comfortable and organized opportunity to create images of this exotic location. You’ll be working closely with people of varying levels of photographic experience, and we’ll all learn from each other while making friends along the way.
We will be traveling with a local guide who is both a photographer and also knowledgeable about the archeology and the fascinating history of Rapa Nui. We will be doing an extended hike to some of the more remote archeological sites on the island. We may also hike up to the highest point on the island for panoramic views in all directions. You should be in good physical condition to take advantage of everything that this trip has to offer, but you may opt out of the hikes and spend the day at the beach instead.
We will do some daytime long exposures of the moai, clouds and water with neutral density filters. Lance and Tim will help in the field for those who are unfamiliar with this technique, and we will advise what to bring well in advance so that you have time to both acquire and practice using it.
Night photography will be a big part of the trip. It is unusual for tour groups to have nighttime access to the moai on Easter Island, and we are among the fortunate few who do. There are strict rules about approaching these fragile archeological sites, and we are expected to adhere to them. We will always be accompanied by a local guide while in the park after dark.
What You Should Know
The trip is suited for people of all photographic levels except absolute beginners. You should have a solid understanding of your camera controls and menus, and of the exposure triad (the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO).
If you would like to attend this tour but are unsure whether you have adequate night photography skills, we can offer pre-tour tutoring to get you ready for your adventure with us. Additionally, a few of us have written books that may be productive pre-tour reads.
What You Will Learn
As this is a photo tour rather than a workshop, the emphasis is getting participants to great locations with great light, and making sure that everyone has the trip of a lifetime. We figure that you don’t travel to Easter Island very often, and you wouldn’t want to spend your time in a classroom! This trip is primarily about making great images of a truly unique location.
That said, we do encourage you to think about and set goals for the trip.
What would you like to gain from this experience?
great images?
lasting memories?
a break from the workaday stresses?
new photography skills?
The instructors will be available for one-on-one guidance in the field as much as time permits, and you can pull us aside during quieter moments to check out your images if you’d like. What you make of this is up to you, but we encourage you to think about it ahead of time.
Night Conditions
Logistics & General Info
Ticket Info
Included:
7 nights of accommodations with private bath on Easter Island
all transportation on Easter Island in the tour van
entrance fee to Rapa Nui National Park, day and night
the services of a local guide to teach us about the history of Easter Island
all breakfasts and dinners, and three lunches during the tour
Not Included:
international flights to and from Easter Island (Rapa Nui)
additional lodging in Santiago
meals other than those mentioned above
alcoholic beverages
tips to local guides
Travel
Rapa Nui is remote, flights are limited, and they fill quickly. All departures are from Santiago, Chile. We are working with a local operator to secure a block of flights from Santiago to Rapa Nui, and will advise the group when more information is available.
Your adventure begins with an overnight flight to Santiago on February 8 or 9; you will land on February 9 or 10. Depending on your arrival time into Santiago, you’ll either spend the night at the Holiday Inn at the airport or connect the same day to Easter Island. Even though most flights to Santiago arrive in the morning, we strongly recommend spending a night in Santiago. If your flight is even a little bit late, you may not make the connecting flight to Rapa Nui. We will be monitoring the flight schedules and coordinating with our contact in Chile.
We will spend the nights of February 10-16, 2025, on Easter Island, and will return to Santiago on February 17 in the afternoon. You can connect to an overnight flight the same day or spend another night in Santiago. We will advise you which option is best once flight schedules are available.
General Travel Info
There are U.S.-based nonstop flights to Santiago from New York, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles, and one-stop flights from many major North American airports including Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Las Vegas.
Lodging & Food
The tour will be based at the family-run Hotel Taura’a on Easter Island. The hotel is in the center of Hanga Roa, the town on Rapa Nui, and a 5-minute walk from the ocean. Delicious breakfasts at the hotel are included. The Hotel Taura’a is relatively modest but comfortable and clean, and the family that runs it is incredibly welcoming.
All dinners are included during our time on Easter Island. We will have a Rapa Nui-style picnic at one of the moai sites on our first night, and dinner at a different restaurant on the other nights. Three lunches are also included: two packed lunches and one sit-down meal at a restaurant. All other lunches are not included.
Weather
The climate of Easter Island is warm and humid. It will be high summer when we are there, which means temperatures ranging from 68 to 80 F on average, though it may be as high as 90. February is the driest month of the year, with an average of about 1 inch of rain for the month. The ocean water temperature is comparable to the air temperature, and therefore perfect for swimming.
Recommended Attire
Lightweight clothing that can be layered is advised. If you wear T-shirts, a 3-to-1 ratio of short- to long-sleeved is about right. You should bring a lightweight raincoat, convertible hiking pants, good quality hiking shoes, and a pair of sturdy sandals such as Tevas. A bathing suit or two. A fleece jacket or pullover is all you will need for outerwear aside from the rain shell. Dress is generally casual, but a couple of options for nicer restaurants is advised.
Exertion
The exertion level of this workshop is Easy, with Active options. (See more about our classifications.)
You’ll want to be in decent physical condition so you can participate in all of the adventures available in this location. There are several long hikes to experience some of the more remote archeological sites. None of the hikes would be considered strenuous, but the longest is about 10 miles round-trip. You are welcome to skip any of these hikes if you feel they are beyond your abilities, and we reserve the right to limit the hikes to people we and/or our guide believe are adequately up to the task without risking themselves or the rest of the group. If you change your mind midway through a hike, we will not be able to escort you back to the hotel.
Considerations
IMPORTANT: We encourage reading our FAQs section for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
Bring electrical adapters for the standard European outlets: two round pins, 220V.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
All in the Family ...
After a super-fun and successful first trip to Rapa Nui in 2019, we scheduled a second adventure in 2021. Then Covid happened. Delays, postponements, closures and uncertainty abounded. But eventually we made it back. Not just one, but two back-to-back trips in 2023. They were spectacular, and worth the wait, and worth the effort in every way. I’m excited to be leading a fourth group in 2025, with Tim, who accompanied me on the first trip in 2019.
Although we specialize in photography workshops and tours that emphasize night photography, on these international tours, it’s often the people we meet who leave the deepest impressions. That was certainly the case with each of our Rapa Nui adventures to date. Our guides Marc, Toke and Yoyo charmed us all, as was the case with many of those we met on the island. It was Edith, and her husband Bill, the proprietors of the Hotel Taura’a where we stayed with the first group, who made us all honorary members of their Rapa Nui family.
Edith pulled me aside one morning at breakfast and invited our entire group to dinner at her home! Somewhat overwhelmed by her offer, we cautiously accepted. It was a truly memorable evening, with great food, great conversations and an immersion into Rapa Nui culture unlike anything the ordinary tourist might encounter.
A grand time was had by all, and Edith invited me to come back after the second group left so she could host Matt. Just as Gabe, our attendees and I had been inducted into the tribe the week before, Matt and his new tattoo (ask him about it) soon found himself with a new family. In February of 2025, it’s Tim’s turn. Will it be yours too?
