FREE FIELD GUIDE The 2027 Photography Planner is here.
GET THE FREE PLANNERNew Mexico Badlands · September 23–27, 2027
Bisti is filled with extraordinary subjects.
The challenge is turning them into photographs.
Spend five days learning how to find order inside a landscape of hoodoos, eroded valleys and strange formations, then stay into darkness as the Milky Way stretches above the badlands.
September 23–27, 2027 · Farmington, New Mexico · 6 photographers
$2,999 · Private-room lodging included
Reserve your spot2027 workshop status · 5 spots available
One landscape. Four completely different ways to see it.
The badlands
Wide valleys, layered ridges and formations rising from an almost empty landscape.
This is where scale matters. A small change in position can turn a collection of strange rocks into a photograph with depth, movement and a clear visual path.
The hoodoos
Some formations dominate the landscape. Others disappear until you slow down enough to notice them.
We work with shape, separation, perspective and relationships between subjects instead of simply documenting every unusual formation we find.
Inside the details
Cracked earth. Petrified wood. Repeating textures. Color hidden inside gray desert.
Bisti rewards the photographer who can move between grand landscapes and intimate compositions.
After dark
As daylight disappears, the hoodoos become foregrounds beneath dark New Mexico skies.
We work through blue hour, night focusing, foreground capture and Milky Way photography so darkness becomes another creative opportunity instead of the end of the shoot.
The shots we're after
Five recent photographs from the Bisti Badlands: one place, made entirely different by light, weather and darkness.
I don't want six photographers leaving with copies of my compositions.
We work through why a photograph succeeds so you can begin recognizing those decisions for yourself.
★★★★★“The best photography workshop ever! Ryan was a great guide, instructor, and overall awesome host. Looking forward to the next workshop.”
Chris Draughon · Bisti Workshop Participant · Google Review
How we photograph New Mexico
We go into each day knowing the areas and photographs we want to pursue.
But Bisti changes with cloud cover, wind, road conditions and light. A clear night may keep us working long after sunset. Rain may change where we can safely go.
The itinerary gives us a plan. The conditions decide when we use it.The goal is not to complete a checklist of locations.
It is to be in the strongest place available when the conditions become worth photographing.
Why September 23–27
The workshop runs directly into the September new-moon window, giving us four evenings with strong opportunities for night photography.
Instead of depending on one clear night, we have another opportunity the next evening.
And another.
And another.
Clear skies are never guaranteed. Multiple opportunities give us a strategy.Sunset, blue hour and the badlands remain photographically valuable regardless of what happens after dark.
Five days in the badlands
The subjects are planned. Weather, road conditions, light and our Diné guide's final access plan can change the order.
We begin around the Cracked Eggs area.
The first lesson is not where to put the tripod. It is how to approach terrain that initially feels visually overwhelming.
We slow down, separate subjects from clutter and start finding foregrounds, relationships, shapes and pathways through the frame before the strongest light arrives.
Then we photograph through sunset, blue hour and our first possible night beneath the Milky Way.
The second day pushes farther into Bisti.
The obvious landmarks begin to disappear and the landscape becomes a compositional problem to solve.
We work with intimate scenes, longer lenses, repeating formations, scale and more complex foreground-to-background relationships.
By now, you are beginning to apply the process instead of waiting for me to point at a composition.
We finish with evening light and another possible night session.
A Diné local guide joins us for one of the signature days of the workshop.
We move into specialized terrain outside our standard Bisti route and photograph formations that create an entirely different set of possibilities.
The exact route follows our guide's 2027 access plan and current conditions.
We photograph through the afternoon, sunset, blue hour and potentially the stars.
Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah changes the visual language again.
New formations. Different spacing. Different relationships.
The skills remain the same, but the answers do not.
We spend the afternoon exploring and building compositions through sunset, blue hour and our final possible night session.
We return to Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah before sunrise.
Five days earlier, this type of terrain was unfamiliar.
Now you are approaching it differently.
You are looking for the hero. Watching the edges. Building depth. Thinking about where the eye enters the photograph and where it goes next.
We photograph the first light of the morning, work through final field questions and finish the workshop where the entire week has been leading.
Making more of the decisions yourself.Included in your workshop
One full workshop day includes a Diné local guide who leads our group into specialized terrain outside our standard Bisti route.
The guide and guide fee are included in your tuition.
The exact route and access plan will be finalized with our guide closer to the workshop.
Field to finish
Bisti may be one of the best places I know to practice composition because it refuses to make the photograph obvious.
We work through hero selection, visual pathways, foreground and background relationships, scale, separation, negative space, edge control and knowing what to leave out.
The goal is to stop reacting to everything interesting around you and start deciding what the photograph is actually about.
Once the composition works, technique should support it.
We work through lens selection, exposure, focus stacking, blue-hour foregrounds, night focusing, Milky Way exposure, star stacking and blending when the photograph calls for it.
You should understand why you are making each technical decision, not simply copy my settings.
We prioritize the landscape during our five days together.
After everyone returns home and has time to work through their photographs, we meet again for a recorded post-workshop editing Zoom.
We work through workshop images in Lightroom and Photoshop, including blending, stacking, masks, dodging and burning, color, depth, separation and final finishing decisions.
You can revisit the recording whenever you need it.
The workshop is five days.
The experience starts before you arrive and keeps going after you leave.
How I made this photograph
I first found this foreground while teaching a Bisti workshop.
A student was with me, so I gave him the composition. Workshops are for the students. After seeing the frame come together on his camera, I knew I wanted to return after the workshop and make it myself.
The lightning came from the previous night. Back near camp, I used a 300mm lens to isolate the part of the storm producing the strongest activity.
The following evening, I photographed the foreground at 14mm.
The finished photograph is a creative composite.Different nights. Different focal lengths. One interpretation of what Bisti felt like during that trip.
For me, that is part of photography too: understand what you captured, understand why you captured it and make deliberate choices about the final photograph.
Read how I made this photograph →I teach the decisions behind the photograph.
Why this subject? Why this lens? Why this position? Why does the frame feel unbalanced? What changes if we move six inches?
Those conversations happen while the landscape is still in front of us.
The goal isn't for you to remember where I stood.
It's for you to understand why you chose where to stand.Ryan Oswald · Landscape photographer and photography educatorAbout Ryan →Plan your New Mexico trip
The group will stay together in a whole-home rental in the Farmington area.
The exact property will be sent to participants once lodging is finalized.
Five photography days.
Four nights of lodging.
DRO is the primary commercial airport recommendation for this workshop.
Four Corners Regional Airport in Farmington is the closest airport and may also be useful depending on the 2027 flight schedule.
We will meet before leaving for the first Bisti field session.
If your flight schedule does not give you a comfortable margin to reach Farmington by 1:00 PM, arrive September 22.
Confirm your travel plan with Ryan before purchasing nonrefundable airfare.Every photographer has a private bedroom for all four workshop nights.
There is no double occupancy, camping or overlanding.
Transportation to New Mexico and between workshop locations is not included.
Final vehicle recommendations will be sent before the workshop.
Farmington has grocery stores, restaurants and options for field supplies.
Meal timing follows the photography schedule.
Sessions may involve several miles over sand, clay, rock and uneven terrain.
Some sessions begin before sunrise or finish after dark.
Contact Ryan before booking if you have mobility or balance concerns.
You do not need previous night-photography experience.
We will work through planning, focusing, exposure and capture in the field.
Clear skies are never guaranteed.
Yes. You should be comfortable with the basic operation of your camera, but previous landscape-workshop or Milky Way experience is not required.
Expect moderate hiking over uneven, sandy, rocky and trail-less terrain.
Some outings may involve several miles of walking and sessions may begin before sunrise or finish after dark.
Final vehicle recommendations will be sent before the workshop based on the locations and access conditions we expect to use.
Confirm with Ryan before reserving your rental vehicle.
No.
We will work through the complete process together in the field.
The plan changes with it.
Weather, road conditions, cloud cover and light determine which available location gives us the strongest safe photographic opportunity.
One workshop day includes a Diné local guide and the associated guide fee.
The exact route and access plan will be confirmed with the guide closer to the workshop.
Deposits are nonrefundable.
If you cancel at least 60 days before the workshop, the deposit may be transferred to an available future workshop secured within one year.
Cancellations within 60 days are nonrefundable and nontransferable.
Review the complete terms during checkout before paying.
New Mexico Badlands · September 23–27, 2027
New Mexico Bisti Badlands Photography Workshop
Five days photographing Bisti and surrounding badlands with Ryan Oswald.
September 23–27, 2027
Bisti will give us the subjects.
Light, weather and darkness will change what they become.
The rest is learning how to see them.