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Bodie Photography Workshops

This is our Bodie workshop overview page. We’re offering four different itineraries in as many as six workshops in 2025, in May, June, July, August and September. We’ll release them momentarily (November 2024). We sometimes run a Black Friday sale in the second half of November as well, so stay tuned! We fill our Bodie workshops, and the popular dates go fast. We’ll open up the second sessions for a given itinerary after the first ones fill (or book one for your group/club). Fill out our contact form to get notified immediately upon release!

This will be our 14th season offering roughly 5 Bodie workshops per year, often with multiple nights in Bodie or morning interior access plus night. We’ve shot in Bodie in every month of the summer season multiple times. We live an hour north of Bodie Road; sometimes we visit 15 times per year. We’ve each encountered a lot more subjects and compositions in our ~80 special access sessions, in more conditions, than others with less experience in Bodie (and we compete to find new ones). I was asked this year about copyright… If you join us, you’re hiring us in part to lead you to compositions, so we wouldn’t think it appropriate for you to worry about potential copyright infringement of the concepts covered by our thousands of images from pasts visits (Bodie, Mono Lake, Yosemite, etc). We’re full time photography workshop guides and instructors, not moonlighting at this, so we’re very experienced at helping clients with all levels of photography and night photography experience. In Bodie. We’ll help you with optimized exposure techniques, lighting, and post-processing tools and techniques. And with so many nights experience in Bodie, we’ll move you through compositions efficiently, optimized to astrophotography opportunities available that week and time of night, and the conditions. 

These are honest representations of what you can capture. None of these results are faked. For ethical reasons we don’t substitute skies or fake reflections. You may do whatever modifications you choose, we just don’t want clients to feel tricked if they came and found out that the Milky Way was portrayed in impossible positions (which we’ve seen others do). We never create fake AI results (which plagiarize the original, actual creators’ hard work). We were informed by Inyo National Forest that none of the other operators running Bodie workshops had permits to shoot at Mono Lake South Tufa or other Inyo National Forest lands last year. Support serious, professional operators who would never risk their clients’ workshop (like getting shut down by their leader getting cited). Your success, your investment of travel and time, and your trust, is valuable to us. Many of our clients come back out with us again and again!

Bodie Night Photography Workshop plus Mono Lake, High Sierra
Four nights with one in Bodie plus morning access to interiors
May 28 – June 1, 2025
$TBD  Coming this week!

We run Bodie itineraries including interior access upon demand, and we had requests for two in 2024, so we’ll repeat that again in 2025! In May we’ll have Eastern Sierra wildflowers enhancing landscape photography opportunities, plus Bodie morning and building interior access, plus Bodie sunset and night photography! This night session will enjoy a 32% crescent moon for subtle illumination of our foreground subjects and the surrounding town, but it’ll be out of our compositions and not in front of the Milky Way. With roughly 65 nights experience shooting in Bodie by the start of our 2025 (14th) season, Lori and I can help you maximize the subjects you cover in the time we have available, and our compositions are optimized for the month and time of night as the Milky Way moves. In recent years we have updated our lighting, our exposure technique, and our post-processing tools and techniques. We’ll take advantage of 2-3 practice nights with interesting subjects in the area before our two Bodie night. We may be the only operator this year with permits for both Inyo National Forest/Mono Lake and Yosemite National Park. We’ll conduct post-processing sessions to help you produce the best possible results with your images!
More information here.

Bodie, Mono Lake, and Eastern Sierra Landscape and Night Photography Workshop
Four nights with two in Bodie
June 18 – 22, 2025 (second session August 20-24, 2025) 
$TBD  Coming this week!

Our two nights in Bodie will feature no moon in the sky, for preistie dark sky shooting conditions until we have to work our way back to the parking lot to be off Park lands by 1am. The Milky Way will be low to the horizon, on the east side of Main Street. We can capture compositions with the Milky Way prominent across the sky, as well as Milky Way arch panoramas. With dozens of nights experience shooting in Bodie, Lori and I can help you cover more subjects in the time we have available, as well as compositions optimized for the time of night as the Milky Way rises. In recent years we have updated our lighting, our exposure technique, and our post-processing workflow, tools and techniques. We’ll have two additional practice nights with interesting subjects in the area before our two Bodie nights. We’ll pursue daytime landscapes, wildflowers and sunsets as well. We’ll schedule post-processing sessions to make sure that you get the best possible results with your images.
More information and registration here.

Bodie, Mono Lake, and Eastern Sierra Landscape and Night Photography Workshop
Three nights with one in Bodie
June 27 – 30, 2025 (second session July 23-26, 2025) 
$TBD  Coming this week!

We’ll have two additional practice nights with interesting subjects in the area before our two Bodie nights. We’ll pursue daytime landscapes, wildflowers and sunsets as well. We’ll schedule post-processing sessions to make sure that you get the best possible results with your images.
Our night in Bodie will feature a 26% crescent moon setting behind the Bodie Hills around 11:10 pm. This is Lori’s favorite moon phase, since we’ll enjoy subtle light in the foregrounds of our Milky Way shots while the moon is up. Then we’ll have our usual dark sky night photography until we have to work our way back to the parking lot to be off Park lands by 1am. The Milky Way will be rising on the east side of Main Street. We can capture landscape and portrait compositions with the Milky Way prominent across the sky, as well as Milky Way arch panoramas. In recent years we have updated our lighting, our exposure technique, and our post-processing tools and techniques. We can’t wait to show you around our local park! 
More information and registration here.

Eastern Sierra Fall with Bodie Interiors and Night Photography Workshop
Five nights with one in Bodie plus sunrise/interior access in Bodie
September 22 – 27, 2025
$TBD (click price to enroll) Coming this week!

This itinerary offers a taste of early Eastern Sierra Fall colors plus Bodie sunrise and building interior access, plus Bodie sunset and night photography!  Full darkness arrives in Bodie at 8:14 pm, so we’ll enjoy over 4 hours of dark sky night photography! The Milky Way will cross Main Street, and be well positioned for the 1937 Chevy and more. We can capture compositions with the Milky Way prominent across the sky, as well as Milky Way arch panoramas. With over 65 nights experience shooting in Bodie by 2024, Lori and I can help you cover more subjects in the time we have available, as well as compositions optimized for the month and time of night as the Milky Way moves. In recent years we have updated our lighting, our exposure technique, and our post-processing tools and techniques. We’ll take advantage of 2-3 practice nights with interesting subjects in the area before our Bodie night. We’ll sample daytime landscapes including early fall colors spots, and we’ve expanded our itinerary a day this year to see more. We’ll conduct post-processing sessions to help you produce the best possible results with your images!
More information and registration here.

Itinerary

To ensure you get the best pictures and to accommodate for any adverse weather, we keep the exact daily itinerary flexible, so we can use weather forecasts and sunrise and sunset forecasts to maximize your success. 

We’re offering at least three different itineraries including Bodie in 2025, so revisit the detailed workshop description pages for each of the workshops above to see more detail. 

P.S. – It has come to our attention that some other workshops operating in this area do NOT have the Inyo National Forest permits required to operate at Mono Lake! I hear that it’s a bummer if your workshop is shut down due to lack of a permit! Lori and I are reputable, professional permitted operators, carrying the Wilderness First Aid training and liability insurance required to select from the best shooting locations as we operate in the area in Bodie, Inyo National Forest (including Mono Lake), and Yosemite National Park.

Sunrise in Bodie State Historic Park, California.
Bodie Photography Workshop blue truck Lori Hibbett

What’s included:

  • Guiding, based on our 80+ special access sessions, day and night, exploring the Park
  • Constant fine tuning of itinerary based on forecasts & conditions
  • Photography instruction, composition consultation
  • Post-processing instruction
 

What’s not included:

  • Lodging. Camping to luxury, your choice! We’ll recommend towns/locations upon registration.
  • Transportation – carpooling optional (no super-spreader van!)
  • Meals/snacks/beverages (outdoor dining or take-out, as available)
  • No onerous group lodging terms (high price, poor cancellation terms)

2024-2025 Workshop Calendar, Great Basin School of Photography

We limit group size to 8 photographers, with both owners Jeff and Lori, for a 4:1 guide to client ratio.

December 8-13, 2024  Death Valley Winter Light Photography  $1695  Last call!

February 18-23, 2025  Yosemite Horsetail Fall & Winter Photography  $1695  Over Half  full!!

March 2-7, 2025  Death Valley Spring Photography  $1695  Bring a friend!

March 28 – April 2, 2025  Death Valley 4WD Adventure (The Racetrack, etc.) $1695  Smaller group, half full!

May 10-14, 2025  Yosemite Spring and Moonbow Photography  $TBD  On demand, contact us to schedule. Great for a club/small group.

May 2025  Nevada Ghost Towns Photography  $TBD  On demand, contact us to schedule. Great for a club/small group.

May 29 – June 1, 2025  Bodie, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra Landscape & Night Photography  $TBD   4 nights with 1 night plus morning interiors in Bodie Coming soon!

June 18-22, 2025  Bodie, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra Landscape & Night Photography $TBD   4 nights including 2 in Bodie Coming soon!

July 18-20, 2025  Night Photography Bootcamp $695 Coming soon!

July 23-26, 2025  Bodie, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra Landscape & Night Photography $TBD  (3 nights including 1 night in Bodie) Coming soon!.

August 20-24, 2025  Bodie, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra Landscape & Night Photography $TBD   4 nights including 2 in Bodie Coming soon!

September 22-27, 2025 Eastern Sierra Fall Colors Landscapes, Bodie Interiors &Night Photography $TBD 5 nights (1 sunrise/interior session plus 1 night in Bodie) Coming soon!

November 1-6, 2025  Yosemite Fall Colors  $TBD  Coming soon, contact us to schedule.

December 9-14, 2025 Death Valley Winter Light Photography  $TBD  Coming mid-November!