Big Bend

This workshop is now SOLD OUT! Excited to announce that photographer, Mike Mezeul II and I added another astrophotography workshop this summer at one of the BEST areas to photograph the night sky at! AUGUST 22-24, 2014. If you have never seen the night sky above the Big Bend region, you’re in for a treat! In 2012, the area was designated as an International Dark Sky Park, one of now just ten in the world. Measurements by the National Park Service Night Sky Team show that the Big Bend Region offers the darkest measured skies in the lower 48 states making it a worthy jewel to the worldwide crown of dark sky oases recognized by the International Dark Sky Association.

Come on out and learn how to capture stunning images of the Milky Way, create star trails, and light paint ghost town structures beneath the brilliant Texas night sky with professional landscape astrophotographer, Mike Mezeul II and Kelly DeLay photographer of the Clouds 365 Project. We will be basing out of Terlingua, Texas and photographing two incredible and historic locations during this workshop. The 1880 mining ghost town of Terlingua will provide us with depleting structures such as an old church, hotel, and cemetery to use as foregrounds to our night sky. Our second location will be the Contrabando “ghost town,” a movie set that was constructed in 1985 for the Roy Clark film Uphill all the Way, that has a ton of really cool foreground potential as well!

Topics Covered: – Gain an understanding for the night sky, how to plan for shooting it, locating the Milky Way, working with moon phases, and more. – Understanding how to manage your ISO/aperture/exposure for astrophotography. – Learn how to properly light paint a foreground subject. – Learn how to achieve tack sharp focus in complete darkness. – Learn how to shoot & create stunning star trail photos. – Learn how to take full advantage of the Milky Way, even it’s dimmer parts. – Creating panoramics of the night sky. – Using off camera flashes to bring life to your foreground. – Learn how to take advantage of in-camera noise reduction and also Topaz noise reduction plugins. – Learn how to bring more life to your images via Photoshop & Lightroom. Required Equipment: – A DSLR camera with the capability to shoot up to 1250 ISO with low to moderate noise. – A wide angle lens with an aperture of at least F4 or below. – Extra batteries and memory cards (I would suggest at least 32gb). – A sturdy tripod. – Intervalometer. – Flashlight (Highly recommend a Maglite or flashlight with a high lumen power). – Hiking boots. – A laptop, card reader, and at least a trial of Photoshop and Lightroom installed. You can find out how to install a free 30-day trial by clicking here: Photoshop – Lightroom. – Headlamp with red light (available at Walmart) – Laptop (please install either Startrails (PC) or StarStaX (MAC)…both are free) Also, please have installed at least the trial versions of Photoshop and Lightroom. Both are available online with 30 day trials. – A lawn chair…trust me, you’ll want it!

About Your Instructors:

Kelly DeLay is an award winning photographer and a multi-media artist who is particularly adept at projects that require an innovative creative approach, strong content and design. A prominent social media figure, Kelly speaks at universities and industry workshops on business of photography, image processing and work flow management, and search marketing. In 2009, Kelly initiated his Clouds 365 Project, a photographic experiment shooting clouds everyday for a year. Documenting the sky each day for a year turned into a passion spanning over four years. Kelly has traversed all over the United States capturing unique landscapes and skies. Kelly specializes in weather and environmental photography, including lightning, time-lapse, and astro-photography. His images have appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, D Magazine, The New York Times, Le Monde Paris, ABC News, and John Grisham’s “The Litigators,” international edition book cover.

Mike Mezeul II is a self-taught, award winning, published photographer originally from New York, but is now based out of Allen, Texas. Having picked up his first camera 14 years ago, he has now been photographing professionally for four years documenting all subject matters ranging from landscape, astrophotography, severe weather & natural disasters, professional sports, commercial and advertising, weddings and air-to-air aviation photography. Mike has written several online articles discussing sky photography and techniques as well as held astrophotography workshops in some of the darkest skies of Texas., teaching students how to photograph the Milky Way, star trails, meteor showers and more.

Refund Policy: A 50%, non refundable deposit is required to reserve your space for the workshop or you may pay in full. The remaining balance is due 14 days prior to the scheduled workshop. If the remaining balance is not paid in full, your space will be forfeited. Please read our terms & conditions for cancellations and transfers.

Weather: There is obviously a big risk when it comes to photographing the sky. The weather is an uncontrollable factor in which our hands our completely tied. Even if we have overcast skies, we will still head out to our location for the night to shoot. We’ve had several instances when the night started out cloudy and then cleared up revealing an awesome starry sky. Actually, a few clouds can do more good than harm in our photo! In the random case that we are socked in with clouds all night, I can assure you, you will still learn valuable night photography lessons! In the case that the weather does not cooperate, we will need to be flexible and possibly shoot a different location or subject matter. Safety is my mine concern amongst the students, so we will not risk our safety if bad weather rolls in.

Accommodations & Transportation: Accommodations and transportation are not included in the workshop fee. We will be staying at the Chisos Mountain Lodge in Big Bend National Park. There are not many other locations to stay at, so we suggest booking here. The group will meet at this location for the meet and greet, post-processing sessions, and to depart for our shoots. Students will be required to take their own transportation to the shooting locations. If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me and ask away!