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There’s something truly special about watching the Milky Way’s galactic core sink into the horizon over the wild Tasman Sea. In August, the compositions are endless here on the Coast. From crashing waves and silhouetted sea stacks dotted with starfish, to the mirrored stillness of our many lakes and rivers. These alignments create bold, moody nightscapes that are unique to this season on the West Coast. Each night we’ll begin with our famous West Coast sunsets, making the most of the golden light before turning our cameras skyward as twilight deepens into starlight.

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Over the course of the workshop you can learn:

• How to plan and shoot the setting Milky Way core in alignment with striking natural landscapes.

• Techniques for capturing sharp stars and balanced foregrounds.

• The best settings suited to your gear

• The essentials of panoramas, star tracking, and exposure blending.

• My full post processing workflow in Lightroom, PTGui and Photoshop.​

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Daylight hours will be spent in the classroom, where I’ll guide you step by step through editing your nightscapes.

We’ll be based at Riverstone House, my home on the banks of the Taramakau River between Greymouth and Hokitika. You will enjoy your own private king or queen bedroom and all main meals.

With a flexible itinerary shaped by the group’s goals and the weather, we’ll aim to visit some of my most beloved locations including the compositionally perfect Lake Kaniere, the many beaches, bays, rivers, lagoons and sea stacks along The Great Coast Road and the ancient Kahikatea trees reflecting at Lake Brunner.

 

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