Overlanding Adventure: The Alien World of New Mexico (2025)
Investigate the Alien Landscape of New Mexico with Jess Santos and Ryan Oswald on September 16th to 21st, 2025 on this overlanding photography workshop. This year we will be visiting a very special location with a Navajo Guide.
One step into this desolate world will truly make you feel like you have left planet earth. Hidden valleys of towering hoodoos and extraterrestrial slate formations create the perfect foreground for photographing the cosmos. 🌌👽
During this photography workshop we will chase the Milky Way through New Mexico's remote badlands. Using advanced astrophotography techniques you will learn to capture stunning images of the night sky. Your experiences in the dark skies of this vast desert will inspire you to create imagery that truly tells a stellar story.
This workshop is a little different...
Every attendee will have their own self-contained room on wheels! We are securing overland rigs (or similar) for this adventure. Because of the remote nature of this location having the freedom to base camp near our locations allows us more photography time.
Together we will take you on a backcountry journey that will leave you with wild photographs and wild experiences. Many of the photography locations in this workshop are hidden far from civilization in the New Mexican Desert and there is no better way to explore than outfitted with your very own overlanding rig.
Pack your camera, your sleeping bag and your favorite pillow... leave the rest up to us! Even the cooking, breakfast and dinner are provided on this workshop in true camping style.
We will return to civilization mid-week to refresh and take you into the digital darkroom to learn the processing of your images from start to finish.
(Please see adventure inclusions below for more info and/or send us a message)
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Optional Add-On - Capturing Timelapse with Robert Oleysyck
September 22nd to 24th, 2025 | $900
Are you ready for to add time-lapse to your repertoire? Come with us as we explore the unique landscapes of the New Mexico Badlands with time-lapse photography in mind. Robert Oleysyck, the time-lapse master, shows you how to capture the dance of light, shadow, and motion in one video that we can't see with the naked eye. You will capture sunrises and sunsets melting into the horizon, dramatic cloud formations, and the Milky Way streaking across the night sky. Discover the expert settings and techniques you need to create captivating time-lapse videos!
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We will be including a Post Workshop Group Zoom Editing Session to cover putting it all together in the digital darkroom, this will be screen recorded for you to be able to finish your images at your leisure.
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⛰ All experience levels are welcome.
We are limiting each group to 10 students based on vehicle availability, to ensure that everyone receives our attention and to keep compositional possibilities uncluttered.
This workshop is astrophotography based so we have kept the itinerary flexible to be able to chase clear skies at night and light during day. If it rains or conditions prove unsafe to venture out we will work on post processing, image critiques and in classroom sessions, there's always so much to learn both in field and in the classroom!
This workshop will require moderate hiking (no more than 3 miles) through rocky or sandy terrain.
Planning your shoots
- Scouting and evaluating conditions
- Composing an image to grab the viewer’s attention
- Composing an image with a person in frame to show scale and tell a story
- How to work with light and how to find the best light for the scene
- Utilizing apps, such as PhotoPills, for more efficient planning
- Choosing the right lens, find your focal length
- How and when to use filters
- How to shoot with a plan or vision for editing
Capturing your image
- Histogram: How to read for perfectly exposed images
- Exposure control: How to use ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed in different scenarios
- Creative ways to use lens distortion
- Focus stacking & Focal Length Blends
- Bracketing and exposure blending
- Focusing at night to capture pin sharp stars and foreground
- Blue Hour Blending: How to capture blue hour & Milky Way
- Stacking for Noise Reduction: how to shoot the proper frames to stack
Bringing the image to life
- Lightroom and Photoshop: Learn our post-processing workflow
- How to blend multiple images together in Photoshop (Blue Hour Blends, Focal Length Blends, Exposure Blends, Composites)
- Luminosity Masks
- Dodging and Burning
- Blue-hour Blends
- Star-stacking: how to edit starry night skies with Starry Landscape Stacker (or Sequator)
- Understanding layers and masks
- Finishing touches using clone stamp and removing distractions
- Creating Orton glows and painting with light
- Sharpening: Creating sharpness in your final image
