My first four Bodie dates are approved for 2018: two with over 3X the shooting time as prior years: 3 days, 3 nights in the Mono Lake – Tioga Pass area, ending with a night in Bodie).  With the return of interior access this year, we have one dual-session workshop with morning interior access, then night access later that same day.  We’ll have an extra hour in the park this year compared to workshops last year, with an exit time of 1 am.

The types of workshop dates we’ve requested enable us to show you how to capture both Milky Way and star trails images, and the ones with three nights enable you to get a fair amount of practice before we get our precious time in Bodie:

June 6 – 9 – Eastern Sierra & Bodie Milky Way night photography (completed)
The Milky Way rises low along the eastern horizon and rises to form an arch in the sky that can be captured in multi-image panoramas.
3 days/nights: Mono Lake, Tioga Pass, Bodie sample images

July 5 – 7 – Eastern Sierra & Bodie Milky Way night photography (full)
The Milk Way can still be captured as an arch in the sky in multi-image panoramas, and in single images can run corner to corner in landscape compositions, then vertical ones. On the same trip you can catch the Independence Day fireworks the night before in nearby Bridgeport or at Crowley Lake!
3 days/nights: Mono Lake, Tioga Pass, Bodie sample images

September 8 – Bodie am Interiors & Milky Way night photography $795
We’ll start with 6 hours of access to building interiors in the morning with the town to ourselves for the first half, then return after hours for night photography 6pm – 1 am. Due to an earlier sunset, late summer workshops offer roughly an extra hour of dark night shooting time for Milky Way, star trails and more. 1 day/night sample images

October 6 – Dual access sessions: morning interiors & Milky Way night photography (Itinerary & price pending)
It has been two years since we have been able to access Bodie interiors, so we’re going to do so while we can!  It can get chilly in October, but with the early sunset, bundle up to enjoy our longest night sessions of the year in Bodie.

For the one interior access session on the morning of September 8, these are the buildings cleared for access as of April 2018:

Bodie 2018 Buidings Cleared for Interior Access
(sample images from these buildings)

ALLOWED INSIDE, MAXIMUM CAPACITY –
Church: 6 + monitor
Red Barn: All but no more than 53 at one time
#8 – Morgue: 1 + monitor
#15 – Lottie Johl Residence: 3 + monitor
#16 – Sam Leon Bar and Barber Shop: 3 + monitor
#33 – Jail: 5 + monitor
#18 – Wheaton Hotel: No access upstairs. 4 + monitor
#20 – School House: No access upstairs.3 + monitor
#27 – Standard Mill: 16 + two monitors

Note: no mention of Boone General Store, IOOF Hall, or Dechambeau Hotel at this time.