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Extreme Lunar Landscapes Photography Workshop
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Are you tired of being comp-stomped? Are you sick of shooting the SAME old thing as everyone else. Lofoten look overshot? Iceland seems too crowded? Sick of the same tree in New Zealand? Aurora BORING-alis, AM-I-RIGHT?? You're up to get the next big thing, right? Come with us to the Moon! We've scouted it, and kept those images off of social media for a couple years now...but we're EXCITED and ANXIOUS to finally get our first workshop to the moon. You can be one of the first people in your Instagram feed to throw out photos of the moon! How boring is everyone else's ‘stories' going to seem after they see you rolling in a buggy on the freaking MOON!? You in Yosemite, bro? COOL, I'm on the MOON.
This is a once in a lifetime chance to one up your friends, and be the most interesting person in ANY room for the rest of your life. The moon is full of interesting geological formations, and we're going to be the first to photograph them! There's no sunset or sunrise here, because the moon has no atmosphere, so really we can go out at any point to photograph. We'll put you in a fancy one of a kind space suit...gear you up in a specially designed camera housing and set you loose on an adventure unlike any other. If they can bring Matt Damon back from Mars, we can bring you back from the moon! What should I expect? You should come prepared for serious adventure. You're pretty much adventuring on a once in a lifetime journey. When it comes to sojourns Aperture Academy goes above and beyond (literally!) The good folks at Mercedes Benz, Germany are in the process of making the first Ap-Capsule photography space wagon. Just like our typical van, this capsule will be spacious, and roomy to provide you with plenty of comfort as we circle the moon.
ITINERARY Day 1-3 Our Journey takes a few days for us to reach the moon orbit. Our first night we'll try our best to get into a position to grab some shots of the Aurora over the north Pole...we'll also have a chance to photograph some of the planets more recognizable icons (Pyramids of Giza, the Great Wall of China, and the Himalayan mountain range). Make sure you bring those big zooms! We'll load up on Tang, and some freeze dried food for our first meal in space while we woosh past the earth. On our second Morning aboard we'll put on our fancy space suits and get out on a space walk. Here you will have your first opportunity to shoot some shots of Earth. Flat-Earther's need not apply! You'll be able to show those crazy tin-foil hat wearers FIRST HAND how round this marble is. Once we're done we'll get back aboard the ApCapsule and work on a little post-processing to really bring out the blues of all that water on Earth! During the evening feel free to practice your aerial gymnastics in our gravity free living! We can try to throw candy bars in to each others mouths while we draw near to the surface of the moon! Morning 3 we'll get our first up close glimpses of the moon. Another space walk, and some Pink Floyd tunes blasting out of our custom stereo system. You've never heard Dark Side of the Moon like THIS!!! Day 4-5 We'll board our landing pod and make our first descents to the moon. Our first day focuses on the Crater area of the moon...mainly the craters of Copernicus, Aristarchus, and Kepler. You haven't lived until you've seen the world from the rim of one of these magnificent craters. Our second day will be spent exploring the tallest mountain on the Moon...we'll help you find just the right foreground crater or crack as our Ap-buggy zooms us all over the base of Mt Huygens and we get a vista of the rest of the Montes Apennius. See firsthand why we call these the Tetons of the Moon! Why are there so many craters on the moon? Well asteroids, of course! You silly goose! We'll spend part of our 5th day and most of our 6th day cruising the atmosphere looking for some of these bad boys to point our cameras at. Sometimes they can get quite close too, PUNCH IT CHEWIE!!! Just when you think you've seen it all...we'll make sure we're on scene to witness and photograph the earth rise...nothing beats seeing the colorful swirls of atmosphere on earth as it rises and sets each day. There's no atmosphere where we are, so we'll always have an unobstructed view of the mighty blue marble each day as it starts it's orbit around the sun. Funny, from this high you can't tell how badly the planet is screwed up!
Day 6 Our final day we'll soar over the Oceanus Procellarum...see first hand why this is called the sea of storms! You've never seen volcanically formed features like this before; Astronomers think a giant sea of lava formed this whole area. We'll get some great shots of this crazy volcanic formation. Once we've finished our last shoot, it'll be time to relax and enjoy the few days back to Earth. Day 7-10 We'll have our annual no-gravity Olympics, and go over all of our images in an intense 15-hour post-processing session. Here's we'll help you process EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of your images. If you don't get something out of this epic session, you don't have enough images! Once again you'll have a chance to photograph some of the Earth's icons as we approach re-entry...but honestly after spending 4 days on and around the moon, you'll be hugely disappointed. Nothing will ever hold the same splendor or wonder for you again on Earth...that means there's only one thing left for you. MARS 2020!!!
DO I NEED ANY SPECIAL TRAINING?
Yes, yes you do...and lots of it! We recommend you start now. We'll host a few ‘warm-up days' where we're meet in Houston and go over all the latest and greatest endurance testing. We'll get into hi-speed spins; try to escape from a small emergency pod while submerged in a pool. Test the limits of your body at extreme temperature, and of course we'll do a lot of weight and cardio training. We recommend you be in the gym at least 2-3 hours each day building up strength and conditioning. If there were a marathon you can run every other weekend...that'd would be awesome as well. Also, we highly recommend that you go to the carnivals and ride all the rides with extreme spinning and drops. Every little bit helps! You definitely don't want to be the guy/gal who passes out upon re-entry...so embarrassing! You also must pass a very intensive physical prior to being allowed on the spacecraft. The suits we use also require a very specific height range to fit properly. If you fail the physical or can't fit into the space suit, you can't be allowed to board the spaceship without completing an added waiver form. Considering only about 1-100,000 people who apply get accepted into NASA for astronaut training...I'm sure you've got the ‘Right Stuff'
WHAT SHOULD I BRING/WHAT IS REQUIRED? Bring a positive attitude. We'll have long days and longer nights... We'll try to maximize the most of our time as possible, but being able to work in small tight quarter with others will help make our time aboard the spacecraft more enjoyable. There is no weather to speak of on the moon, so we won't have to worry about being rained out...however the temperatures can get a little warm. During the day the temperature of the moon can reach close to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and at night can drop to a whopping minus 387 degrees...you thought the temperature change in Death Valley was extreme! Of course you'll be outfitted and kept comfortable in your space suit, but we recommend having a nice comfortable base layer to put underneath your suit. REI has a great deal on space suit base layers in their outlet...just call and ask!
IS TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED? Yes! All you need to do is make it to Cape Canaveral, Florida and we'll zap you to space and get you around the moon.
CAN NON-PHOTOGRAPHER SPOUSES ATTEND? Absolutely NOT! How annoying is it to be on Earth and feel rushed around by those insensitive significant others.... why would you put up with it in space. You're free here to shoot until your hearts content without hearing, "Are you done yet?!?!" bear in mind that our suits only provide us with a limited amount of oxygen...so when WE tell you, "are you done yet?" We mean it...because you might run out of oxygen and well, that won't be good for you. DOES WEAHTER EVER ALTER OR CANCEL AN EVENT? Not on the moon! There is no weather, but like we mentioned...it's get HOT and COLD...so that whole part we mentioned about not lingering around when we have to leave...we mean it. If you run out of oxygen, and take your mask off you'll scorch to a crisp almost immediately during the day, and turn into a frostbitten corpse in the evening.
HOW SAFE IS IT? We don't really know...we think it's pretty safe, but like I said...it gets cold, it gets hot. We really do hope the space suits are as tested as we've been told. If there is any kind of ‘wardrobe malfunction' while we're away from the space-craft, we will attempt to save you by sealing any holes with duct tape. If you break free from the ship during a space walk...well, this is where life insurance is helpful. Really we hope you focus on all the potential for positive experiences...but this is the first one of these ever, so the chance of it going 100% to plan is very low. If all of us get back in one piece, it'll be a miracle. We're hoping for about 75-80% at best.
What is Required
Need Gear? Visit BorrowLenses for a special package designed specifically for Aperture Academy students for this workshop. WHY ONLY NIKON? Nikon has contracted with us to be the first consumer level camera into space...so as a result we are only are permitting participants with a Nikon DSLR to board the ApCapsule. Our instructors are all in the process of converting to the new Nikon bodies and lenses so that they'll be on the same page with all the participants. Most of them aren't terribly happy...but, hey whatever it takes to get to the freaking moon! Due to the poor weather sealing and low battery life of the other brands, they probably wouldn't withstand the pressure of space anyway. Each participant will be given a camera ‘pressure suit' these are custom built by a local company to ensure your camera keeps up to par with the rigor of space shooting. Think of an underwater housing, only 3x larger and more cumbersome! We'll have a lot of fun watching each other roll these bad boys around the moon. *If there is any malfunction of the space-housing your camera is probably going to be ruined. We recommend you back up your images every night. Also, remember the weight of a person is about 1/6 of the weight on earth...so if your camera isn't in the housing (which weights 200 space pounds) it will just float off...and you'll probably die trying to get it back. Just wave it bye-bye. Nikon swears their gear will hold up well in Space...so we'll see. NASA also seems to like their Nikon cameras, and they've been to space WAY more than we have...so we'll trust them. Although to be fair they haven't landed on the moon for awhile (maybe never, lol) so I guess we'll find out for sure once we drop down on that crater infested rock.
Lodging, Meals & Directions
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