Upcoming Workshop(s)

  • TBD, $1399  ($399 single supplement)
  • Included: Hotel Accommodations, all Meals, Park Fees, Workshop Fees
  • Not Included: Transportation to Page, Alcoholic Beverages, Hotel In-Room Concessions, Personal Items
You will be seeing and photographing some of the world’s most fantastic landscapes from Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park to Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Choose Sweet Light Photos as your guide and we will get you in the right spot at the right time to get a photo you can hang up in your living room.

At Sweet Light Photos we feel that where you stay and what you eat is an integral part of the overall travel experience.  However, to get the photograph we often need to travel to remote locations, and thus, we have limited food and lodging options.  So we commit to providing the best lodging and meals available. If we are out on a photo shoot, you can be rest assured we will have healthy and Gluten Free (GF) snacks and food available.  We want you to get the best possible photo at the right time and the right place – not going hungry doing so.

Moab is the central point for two of the United States most spectacular National Parks, Canyonlands and Arches. We will visit both parks multiple times to both view and photograph some amazing landscapes.

Imagine wave after wave of deep canyons, towering mesas, pinnacles, cliffs and spires stretching across 527 square miles. This is Canyonlands National Park, formed by the currents and tributaries of Utah's Green and Colorado rivers. Canyonlands is home to many different types of travel experiences, from sublime solitude in the more remote stretches of the park to moderate hikes through the Needles district to the opportunity to create your own version of one of the West's most photographed landforms, Mesa Arch. [from the Life Utah Elevated website]

Arches National Park contains the world's largest concentration of natural sandstone arches. Although over 2,000 arches are located within the park's 76,518 acres, the park also contains an astounding variety of other geological formations. Colossal sandstone fins, massive balanced rocks, soaring pinnacles and spires dwarf visitors as they explore the park's viewpoints and hiking trails. [from discovermoab.com]

The target audience is for beginners to intermediate photographers who love landscapes and would like to learn more. As long as you have a DSLR (we shoot Nikon but others are welcome), a laptop computer (we are Mac users), Adobe Lightroom (trial copy is fine), and a tripod you can successfully take and process your photos. We will provide instruction on the basic use of Lightroom and image composition. In addition, we will host group critique sessions.

There will be early mornings and late nights as we want to take advantage of the beautiful light at sunrise and sunset. So, sleep is optional. We will also be doing some light to moderate hiking to get to desired locations.

The itinerary below may be adjusted based on the time of year and weather. We will intersperse meals and work sessions as time permits (but don't worry, we'll eat!).

Day 1:

  • Arrive at Moab mid-afternoon and check into hotel
  • Sunset shoot at Fiery Furnace and La Sal Mountain Range (there is a one-hour drive with little walking)

Day 2:

  • Sunrise shoot from Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park (there is an one hour drive with 1.0 mile round trip - easy hike)
  • Vist to Turret Arch and Double O Arch in Arches National Park (45 minute drive, ~1.5 mile easy hike)
  • Sunset shoot at Fisher Towers (there is a 45 minute drive, 2.5 mile hike)

Day 3:

  • Sunrise shoot from Dead Horse Point in Canyonlands National Park (there is an one hour drive with a little walking)
  • Hike / photograph to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (there is an one hour drive with 3.2 mile round trip hike - moderately strenuous). Note: Delicate Arch is a must see in Arches, but not everyone is up for the carrying gear up a moderate hike. So we will provide the option to see it up close via the hike, and we will shoot it from a less strenuous viewpoint at sunset.
  • Sunset shoot at Balanced Rock in Arches National Park (there is a one hour drive with a little walking)

Day 4:

  • Sunrise shoot of Courthouse Towers in Arches National Park (there is a 40-minute drive with minimal walking).
  • Wrap-up work session and joint critique session

Weather and celestial calendar permitting, we may also do a star shoot of the Milky Way in Arches NP, as Arches is in one of the last remaining dark spaces in the US and provides a wonderful opportunity to shoot the stars.

Recommended Gear

What You Should Bring What's In My Bag
DSLR Nikon D800E
Wide Angle Lens (especially for Horseshoe Bend) Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8
Sturdy Tripod with Ballhead Really Right Stuff TVC-33 and BH-55 Ballhead
Extra Batteries Two Additional Batteries (Nikon EN-EL15)
Battery Charger Nikon MH-25A Battery Charger
Extra Memory Chips SanDisk 64GB Extreme Pro in camera, 2 additional 32 GB
Backup Device LaCie Rugged 2TB Thunderbolt HD
Medium Range Zoom and/or Longer Telephoto Lens Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8
Medium Range Zoom and/or Longer Telephoto Lens Nikkor 80-400mm
Cable Release Vello Shutterboss Version II
Polarizing Filter B+W 77mm (XS-PRO/NANO-MC) Kaesemn Circ Pol
Split ND Grad Filter Lee Filter System, Lee .9 ND Soft-Edge Grad

Call us at (480) 442-1011 to register. As part of the registration process, we will send you an email with all the information you will need. Included in the email will be:

  • "Workshop Participant Profile" which all participants must fill out
  • "Participant Questionaire" which all participants must fill out
  • "Waiver Sheet, Release Waiver and Indemnity Agreement" which all participants must sign
  • A copy of the "Terms & Conditions" which is stated in next tab

Call us at (480) 442-1011 to book now! (we require a 50% deposit upon booking)

Payments

Deposit: A 50% deposit is due upon booking. This will confirm your place on the workshop.

Final Payment: The remaining 50% balance will be due 60 days prior to the beginning of your workshop. We will send an invoice by email one week prior to due date. Should this final payment fail to process, we reserve the right to treat the reservation as cancelled and retain the deposit.

All payments are by credit card through PayPal or over the phone.

Cancellation

If you cancel more than 60 days prior to the workshop start date you will be given a full refund less a $100 cancellation fee. If you cancel between 30 and 60 days prior to the workshop start date, we will retain your deposit but will return any additional money that you may have paid. There will be no refunds if you cancel less than 30 prior to the workshop start date.

While this can be difficult to hear it is a necessity. Each workshop requires a significant amount of preparation and expense. In addition, it can be difficult to fill your vacated spot if less than 30 days remains. However, if your spot is filled, we will refund your entire payment(s) less a $100 cancellation fee.

Sweet Light Photo Workshops reserves the right to alter or cancel any workshop. In the unlikely event that we need to cancel a workshop we will refund all monies paid, in full. Notification of our cancellation will be made via either a telephone call or an e-mail to you at least 14 days prior to the beginning of a workshop. We cannot be responsible for phone messages and e-mails not being received in a timely matter due to your service providers. We cannot be responsible for non-refundable airline tickets unused or other travel arrangements because of a workshop cancellation.

We highly recommend travel insurance such as: Allianz Travel Insurance to assist you in case of last minute plan changes or emergencies.

Force Majeure

For purposes of the terms & conditions described in this document, Force Majeure shall mean a cause or event such as; war or the threat of war, riots, terrorist activity, civil strife, governmental acts, industrial disputes, labor strikes, injunctions, natural disasters, nuclear disaster, fire, or unfavorable or adverse weather conditions that is not reasonably foreseeable or otherwise caused by or under the control of Sweet Light Photo Workshops. Any delay or failure in the performance by Sweet Light Photo Workshops shall be excused if and to the extent caused by the occurrence of a Force Majeure.

Paperwork

All workshop members will be required to fill out our Workshop Participant Profile form, sign Waiver Sheet, Release Waiver and Indemnity Agreement, and sign our Model Release form.

Liability Waiver

All workshop attendees will be required to sign our “Waiver and Release of Liability” form prior to the start of the workshop. The form will be emailed to you at time of registration and with your final bill. It will also be made available on our website.

Terms & Conditions Acceptance

By paying the workshop deposit or submitting your Workshop Participant Profile, you are agreeing to accept all the above terms & conditions. The person who completes the Workshop Participant Profile does so on behalf of all the individuals included on it, so that all are bound by the registration conditions.

Contact us at (480) 442-1011 for more information.