Michigan Lighthouses
Short, tall, freshly painted or weathered, the 129 lighthouses of Michigan cover over 3,000 miles of lakeshore. We’ll start way up north in the Upper Peninsula along the shores of Lake Superior, in and the rugged natural beauty known as “God’s Country.” We’ll head south, crossing the Mackinac Bridge, checking off several more lighthouses on the shores of Lake Huron. Then we’ll end our trip on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan, surrounded by tall dunes and more lighthouses! Along the route we’ll employ multiple techniques, capturing these beacons with the Milky Way or surrounded by star trails and multiple beams of light.
Workshop Details
MAIN WORKSHOP
September 2-8, 2026 — Sold Out, Join Waitlist Below
This is a 7-night, 7-day workshop. Your adventure begins on September 2 and ends after our night shoot on September 8.
$3,395 + applicable taxes. Register below.
Skill level
Intermediate and above. Participants should have a firm grasp of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras, and have a comfortable understanding of night photography fundamentals.
Group size
14, with 2 instructors — 7:1 ratio
Add-On: Sleeping Bear Dunes
September 9-11, 2026
This is a 2-day, 2-night optional add-on available only to attendees of the main workshop. More information below.
$1,245 + applicable taxes. Registration information will be sent to attendees of the main workshop.
Group size
14, with 2 instructors — 7:1 ratio
NPS website
Workshop Leaders
Registration
Hoping to get a spot? Sign up below for our no-fee waitlist.
| • Deposit of $800 is required to reserve your spot at the workshop. |
| • Balance of $2,595 is due on June 4, 2026. → 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 June 3, 2026. (see cancellation and refund policy) |
| • The workshop fee does not include lodging, food, airfare, entrance fees, or transportation to or during the workshop. |
The Michigan Lighthouses Experience
Ready for a road trip adventure that will span 500 miles and include more than 10 lighthouses (or even more, if you join the add-on)?
We’ll kick things off way up north with two lighthouses that offer epic views alongside Lake Superior. We’ll visit Eagle Harbor Light Station and Copper Harbor Lighthouse during the day and then choose our best angles to seize them at night.
Next stop is Paradise. Continuing our explorations in the Upper Peninsula, we’ll head east and base our operations out of Paradise, Michigan. This rugged region looks across the way to Canada and sits along the largest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior. Point Iroquois, the Whitefish Light and Museum, and Crisp Point are all on our radar.
Our journey will continue south as we bid the UP adieu and cross over the Mackinaw Bridge into Cheboygan and the Lower Peninsula. Here we’ll spend a couple of nights photographing Old Mackinac Point and the Mackinac Bridge, which connects the Upper and Lower Peninsula and spans the convergence of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
Continuing along the northwest side of Lake Huron, we’ll listen to the legends of Old Presque Isle Light and aim our cameras at the other dramatic lighthouses: New Presque, Forty Mile Point and the Cheboygan Crib and River Front Range.
We’ll end our 500-mile lighthouse tour in the “City of Lighthouses,” where we’ll photograph the Frankfort Breakwater Lighthouse before spending the night under the beams (and hopefully auroras) at Point Betsie Lighthouse.
All in all we’ll spend seven days and nights in four different towns as we explore the lighthouses of Michigan. We have timed this workshop during new moon. This will expand the opportunities to plenty of dark skies as well as, hopefully, auroras! This part of Michigan is above the 45th parallel, the halfway point between the equator and north pole, and is prone to plenty of auroral activity.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes Add-On Experience
Join us for this 2-day, 2-night add-on as we climb dunes, hike through old-growth cedar forests, photograph a historic U.S. Life-Saving Station and two more lighthouses, and gaze at the stars from bluffs that tower 450 feet above Lake Michigan.
Welcome to Sleeping Bear Dune National Lakeshore.
Once the regular workshop is over, we’ll start the add-on by remaining in the same hotel for one more night as we explore the dunes along the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, visit the U.S. Maritime Museum and photograph century-old historic buildings that still stand tall under the dark skies of this park.
The next day we’ll take a boat over to explore one of the less visited sections of Sleeping Bear Dunes, South Manitou Island. Along the way we’ll pass the bird-filled North Manitou Shoal Lighthouse that has been a steady shining light in the middle of the Manitou Passage since 1935. Once we land on South Manitou we’ll set up our campsites and take a tour of the old-growth cedar forest and wreck of the Francisco Morazan. This hulking cargo ship ran aground in 1960 and the hull of the ship still sits well above the water and can be seen from the bluff.
However, the real star of the show is over 100 feet tall: the South Manitou Lighthouse. Built in 1871, this beacon has cut through over 150 years of storms and clouds and has guided thousands of boats that have left Milwaukee and Chicago and sought safe passage to the Straits of Mackinaw.
We’ll capture the beams emitting from the lighthouse long into the night from various angles before retiring to our tents. The next morning we’ll visit several other historic buildings before taking the boat back to Leland Harbor on the mainland.
On September 11 you can continue your journey home via the Cherry Capitol Airport in Traverse City.
Note: This optional add-on is available only to workshop attendees. You will receive a link to purchase a ticket (if desired) after registering for the main workshop.
What You Should Know
This workshop caters to knowledgeable photographers with an intermediate or higher skill set. Participants should have a firm grasp of the basic principles of photography and of their cameras, and have a comfortable understanding of night photography fundamentals. We will be happy to offer advice and answer questions about both day and night photography, but the focus of the formal education will be how to photograph lighthouses under dark skies.
If you would like to join us on this trip but are unsure whether you have adequate night photography skills, we can offer pre-event tutoring to get you ready for your adventure with us. Additionally, a few of us have written books that may be productive pre-trip reads.
What You Will Learn
We hope to push you to step outside your comfort zone—to test the limits of what you and your camera can do. Photographing lighthouses at night is challenging and rewarding. We’ll challenge you to capture a variety of different interpretations of each of these beacons of the night.
TOPICS COVERED WILL INCLUDE:
balancing the exposure of a bright lighthouse lantern in a dark environment
timing a lighthouse flash with an exposure
compositional concerns with lighthouses and seascapes
controlling perspective distortion in the field and in post-processing
creating a “beam” effect—in-camera and in post
star trails with a lighthouse
and more …
This workshop will have both field and classroom instruction, but more of the former, as we will have more-casual travel days in between stops. Each participant will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with Gabe and Chris in the field.
Night Conditions
Logistics & General Info
Travel
We’ll be covering over 500 Michigan miles on this adventure road-trip workshop. We advise flying into Marquette Regional Airport, which is the largest airport in the Upper Peninsula. However, Houghton County Memorial Airport does service two to three United Airlines flights from Chicago each day. For your return you’ll want to fly out of Traverse City, the Cherry Capitol Airport.
You are responsible for arranging and paying for your own transportation.
Nearby Airports:
Houghton (CMX) — 30 minutes from the first hotel of the main workshop
Marquette (MQT) — 2 hours from the first hotel
Traverse City (TVC) — 45 minutes from the last stop
Rental Car
You will need a rental car.
There is no need for four-wheel-drive.
If you are interested in carpooling or sharing a rental car, let us know and we will try to connect you with another attendee looking for the same.
Lodging & Food
You are responsible for arranging and paying for your own meals and accommodations.
Lodging
We will stay at four different hotels along the route.
You are not required to stay at the official workshop lodging, though doing so does make it easier to meet with the group each day.
Info and group codes will be sent soon after registering.
If you are interested in sharing a room, let us know and we will try to connect you with someone like-minded in the group.
Food
Our stops in Michigan have abundant food options.
We will have access to all things cherry. Cherry pie, cherry cookies, cherry ice cream, cherry sauce, cherry juice, cherry coffee, cherry tea …
We encourage eating two meals per day—a good breakfast and a great late lunch.
When on the night shoots, you may wish to bring snack food or a sandwich and plenty of water.
Weather
Expect daytime highs in the 60s to 70s F, lows in the 40s to 50s.
Recommended Attire
Pants and short-sleeve shirts for daytime, pants and long-sleeve shirts for night.
A sweatshirt and medium-weight jacket will likely be useful, and a base layer might not be a waste of packing space. Layers are good.
Comfortable and protective shoes are recommended for getting around. The only long hike is on the add-on, but we will be on sand and rocks most nights, so quality trail shoes or hiking boots would be optimal. Waterproof is even better.
Exertion Level
The exertion level of the main workshop is Easy. (See more about our classifications.)
No vigorous activity will be required during the workshop, but please consider your physical abilities prior to registering. There won’t be any long hikes, but we will be doing short hikes on unmaintained trails, and you should be comfortable carrying your own equipment over uneven ground in the dark.
Considerations
IMPORTANT: We encourage reading our FAQs page for more information about skill and gear requirements, and other information that pertains to all our workshops.
If you have questions, please contact us—we're happy to talk it over with you.
Loving Michigan, Loving Lighthouses …
“I’m a bicoastal guy, and it’s always been my normal to spend time with family along the coasts and spot those sentinels of the sea.”
I love Michigan.
I was invited to teach a night photography class at the Glen Arbor Arts Center in 2021 and have become addicted to lake life since then. Summer is not complete until I head to Lake Michigan and explore the everlasting lakeshore, hike through dunes, eat too many cherries, pontoon the smaller lakes and stamp more lighthouses off in my passport.
The people are incredibly warm and welcoming, and the towns, historic buildings, landscapes and lighthouses are just epic.
Then there is the lighthouse love affair. I’m a bicoastal guy, and it’s always been my normal to spend time with family along the coasts and spot those sentinels of the sea. When National Parks at Night hosted our first Summit, it was based around the Fire Island Lighthouse. It united so many people who were curious about photographing the lighthouse at night, when the beacon truly came alive!
At that time, Chris and I discovered that we shared a deep passion for lighthouses—both their history and of course photographing them. We’ve explored and offered workshops around Cape Cod for several years, which only stoked the fire for us to explore more around the world. When we realized that Michigan has the most lighthouses of any state, we knew we needed to get cracking!
