Josephy Center Presents: Quiet Light

Quiet Light:
A dusk-to-dawn photographic workshop Including the New Moon and Orionoid Meteor Shower on The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, with Ellen Morris Bishop October 5th and 6th, 2018.

Wild landscapes come into their own in the quiet light of evening and night. This October, explore and photograph the wild landscapes of Zumwalt Prairie and of the night skies with the new moon and Orionoid Meteor Shower with photographer Ellen Morris Bishop. 

The workshop begins with an evening workshop on low light and night photography on the evening of October 5thth . The 90-minute class will cover why evening light provides extraordinary opportunities for landscape portrayal, camera, lenses, techniques and timing for night and moon-light photography (including cell phones – but don’t expect great results) and post-processing for best results.

The nights of October 5th and 6th promise to be special occasions for evening, night and astrophotograpy. The maximum intensity of year’s Orionoid Meteor shower coincides with the new moon, Oct. 5th and 6th. which means a dark sky and optimal visibility of both the meteors and the Milky Way which will be visible from sunset (about 8 PM) to 10 PM, and then a darker sky to focus on the meteor shower that will radiate from low in the northern sky. Early morning hours, 2 AM-dawn are best for the Orionoids. The Nature Conservancy has provided permission to camp overnight at the Summer Camp facility so that we can capture the Orionoids at their very early morning best.

We’ll meet at the Josephy Center at 4 PM on October 5th and carpool to The Zumwalt Prairie Preserve for evening and after-dark shooting. In the event of cloudy weather or other obscuring conditions, the field workshop on The Zumwalt Prairie will be held Sunday Oct, 7th, and Monday Oct. 8th. We are currently researching possibility of availability to stay over night with camping options if desired.
Workshop Schedule:
Friday, October 5th: 7-8:30 PM. Classroom workshop at The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture: Photographing and post-processing night skies. Covers equipment, the art and technical issues of long exposures, and post-processing to optimize your images. 
Saturday, October 6th.-early morning of Sunday Oct. 7th*: Saturday, 4 PM: Meet at The Josephy Center, carpool to The Zumwalt Prairie Preserve. 5-8 PM Evening photography near Harsin Butte, Cairn Monument Road, and/or other localities. Set up for dark sky photography (Milky Way, Perseids), and Shoot until the Milky Way sets. Return to camp for rest, and then arise return to plateau shooting site about 2 AM for best view of Perseids.  (Coffee provided!) Continue shooting as dawn breaks.

Cost: $ 75 covers both the evening Josephy Center workshop and field session. 
Photo equipment needed for field session: TRIPOD. Camera capable of long (15-40 second) exposures. Wide-angle lens (14 mm to 24 mm full-fame equivalent is best, wideaperture (f2.8 to f 1.4) recommended. For post-processing: Lightroom; Photoshop Other things needed: Bring prepared food that does not require cooking for dinner and for breakfast on the overnight field workshop. Coffee will be provided.  Maximum # participants: This workshop is limited to no more than 12 participants. 
* In the event of cloudy or otherwise obstructed skies, the field workshop will be October 14, and 15th.