2025 Moab Utah Astrophotography Workshop

 

Astrophotography with the brightest stars and darkest skies you’ll see anywhere!

The night skies under Moab are just magical and we want to share them with you! This is another off-the-beaten-path adventure with WNC Photo Tours, taking you to remote, beautiful places in 4×4 vehicles. We’ll learn how to properly photograph the night sky and probably chase a couple of sunsets!

Brief Moab Astro Workshop Overview:

  • Where:  The areas surrounding Moab, UT.
  • When:  Saturday, Sept 20th through Monday, Sept 22nd (3 full days).
  • Capacity:  Limited to 8 people

Cost:  $1,625/person – includes food & 4×4 transportation

A deposit of 18% of the total total price to reserve your spot (~$300 + taxes and fees)

Astrophotography Arch

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Full details below! Keep scrolling.

Watch The Promo Video

Our style:

First of all, our workshops are for ALL LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE! You should not at all feel intimidated to join us, we love beginners! Truly. As with all of our workshops, we put a preference on creating an overall experience versus a traditional photography workshop. That is not to say you won’t learn — we spend a lot of time with customers who are trying to grow their photography craft. But first and foremost, we want to provide you with an experience that you won’t forget, and we excel at this.

Highlights:

  • 3 Full days and nights in the Utah desert
  • New shooting locations each day
  • 4×4 excursions to remote canyons and vistas
  • EPIC camping location
  • Daily lesson plans, designed to challenge you as a landscape photographer

What we’ll cover:

  • Planning your shoots using apps and research
  • Choosing the right lens for astrophotography
  • Star trails
  • Using bulb mode
  • Composite techniques / blue-hour shooting
  • Advanced light painting techniques
  • Which hidden settings to turn on/off in your menu system
  • And many other landscape photography techniques that are not specific to astrophotography

 

What’s included:

  • Camping
  • Certain camping amenities (mentioned further down)
  • Food (Breakfast & Dinner)
  • We will be operating with 4×4 vehicles to take the participants to the remote places in the desert.

 

What’s not included:

  • Photography Gear
  • Flights

 

Itinerary:

We will all convene in Moab on the afternoon of Friday, Sept 19th around 3pm, eat out in town somewhere, and then escort you to the campsite. We’ll all set up camp together. We are glad to help you if you need help setting up your tent! The workshop officially begins on Saturday the 20th.

Each day will start out with breakfast and some leisurely time. We’ll spend the late afternoon and early evening exploring and learning about landscape photography, followed by dinner, as we wait for the sun to set. Each night of the three-day workshop will be spent photographing the Milky Way at a new location, sometimes multiple locations. We should be back at camp each night no later than 1am. (Sun sets at approximately 7:45pm)

The workshop will conclude on the morning of the 23rd.

 

Moab Astro Arch
Milky Way over Green River, Moab
Astro Workshop

The Team

 

J Smilanic

Owner/Founder

Our Team

Matt Williams

Guide Superstar

Matt Williams

The WNC Photo Tours Team has a combined 25+ years of experience as photographers and over 2,000 hours instructing people about landscape photography!

What you should know

 

Workshop Campsite

Camping

As mentioned, this is a camping event! We know not everyone is into camping but hear us out. First, this is not just any ole campsite. The image above was taken from our campsite, overlooking an amazing canyon. Second, there are no bugs and the nighttime temperatures during September are about perfect for sleeping! Third, we plan to make it as comfortable for you as possible – providing a portable shower, portable fridge, shade tents, privacy tent for the bathroom, camp chef, and more. The location is very remote, private, and can easily accommodate the whole group, giving everyone their own space to sleep. The campsite is not far from a location that offers $10 hot showers. 

You will be responsible for your own, basic camping gear, including tent, sleeping bag, sleep pad, etc. If needed, you can rent some items from Moab Watersports.

Camper Setup option: For an additional $375, we will provide you with a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and pillow and have the tent set up prior to your arrival at the campsite! You’ll see this option at checkout. 

Food

This year we will have a camp chef to cook breakfast and dinner for the whole group each day. We will do our best to meet your dietary needs and dietary restrictions. Each person will pack their own lunches to have food while out in the field!

Activity

You should be in good physical shape to participate in this workshop. There might be some moderate to strenuous hiking (no more than 3-4 miles) involved in getting to some of the more scenic spots. There will be night hiking involved.

Location

To provide a truly unique experience we conduct this workshop west of Moab, not in Arches National Park. It is remote and incredibly peaceful!! We’ll be taking you to places you simply wouldn’t find on your own.

Transportation

You will be responsible for getting yourself to the Moab area. The nearest major airport is in Salt Lake City (4 hour’s drive). Some of our customers have also flown into Grand Junction, CO, about 1 hour 45 minutes from Moab. Our hope is that we can all coordinate a carpool situation from Salt Lake City to help everyone save on rental car costs. Once on location, we will have very capable 4×4 off-road vehicles to use for the duration of the workshop. We kept the price of this workshop very reasonable, keeping in mind your rental car and flight expenses.

Payment/Cancellations

All of your initial deposit (18% percent of total price +tax)(~$400) is non-refundable. Full payment must be made by July 20th, 2025. Any cancellations within 60 days of the workshop will not receive their payment back as it is very difficult to fill the space on that short of notice. If we are able to fill your spot, we will provide you with a full refund, minus the initial deposit. If an emergency arises we will do our very best to work with you as we understand things can happen.

We are insured.

Questions? Email us!