Most of our clients prefer our workshops with multiple nights or one night and one morning interior access session in Bodie. But if we get enough interest, every once in a while we offer a shorter, simpler, less expensive option for photographers who prefer one night. Our 3-night itinerary includes two days/nights capturing landscapes and practicing our night photography techniques, optimized for adequate light, enhanced shadow detail, and low noise. For the third night when everyone is experienced and working together to minimize stray light, we’ll stay near Bodie to be close for our 6pm-1am night session after the park closes. In the 15 seasons that we’ve been leading workshops in Bodie several nights per year, this format with at least two practice nights is the only one that addressed the problems of group shooting (stray light, slower photographers new to night photography) from slowing down the process so much that everyone gets far fewer images from Bodie. And every step along the way can be optimized, from lighting and exposure to post-processing, so it’s important to present and practice every step along the way in order to maximize success.
Summer can offer scattered rain showers during the afternoon, a colorful sunset and potentially rainbows as the storms clears, followed by clear skies for Milky Way photography under a dark night sky. We’ll spend the first two nights practicing night photography at the iconic Mono Lake South Tufa site and up in the Yosemite’s Tioga Pass area. Few workshop leaders have a permit to operate on Inyo National Forest lands, including Mono Lake. We do. We operate several workshops in Yosemite National Park each year, so we have that permit as well and can take you shooting up in the High Sierra!
Weather and photographic opportunities will influence our daily itineraries. We’re local, so we know more subjects/locations, and how the weather and light evolve.
For the last day we’ll have one post processing session before we head to Bodie and have the park to ourselves from 6 pm to 1 am. Bodie provides a plethora of subjects perfectly situated for Milky Way compositions as well as star trails for those interested. The daylight hours for the first two days will offer landscape photography. You will have two trip leaders, each with 75+ nights experience shooting and leading groups in Bodie (plus over 15 interior access sessions). We prefer our workshops to have no more than 8 participants for a 4:1 student to instructor ratio, to give you maximum attention.
A portion of the proceeds of your fee goes to the Bodie Foundation to assist in their “arrested decay” program in preserving the park. Please note that in Bodie we’ll spend a few hours standing and walking at an elevation of 8374 feet. Consult your doctor if you have any concerns.
Here’s my album on Flickr with 1200+ real photos (no faked sky substitutions, no faked Milky Way reflections, no AI) from Bodie. See a sample itinerary below. As local area experts who live and lead workshops here, we constantly adjust our plans to take advantage of the best weather and light. Of Jeff’s nearly 12,000 photos on Flickr, 2000 are from Mono County, and 1000+ more are from Yosemite! Like I said, we live here> We work here. Leading workshops. Hundreds of workshops already, within an easy 1-5 hour drive of our house.
Itinerary
To ensure you get the best pictures and to accommodate for any adverse weather, we keep the exact itinerary flexible. The following is an example of what to expect, though it may change slightly as necessary during the workshop.
What’s included:
What’s not included:
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