Welcome to StarDude! As our website is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION, please bear with us while we building the way to a new frontier.
Learn a unique style of starry-night-sky landscape photography & astrophotography from Maxwell Palau and his guest associates. Meet-ups vary from local hikes, free lectures and photo walks to location workshops & campouts. Workshops vary from overnight location shoots within 100 miles from San Diego, CA — to multi-day workshops in Southern California & the Baja California Peninsula.
Upcoming Night Sky Photo Workshops
June Full Moon Photography/Viewing Event
San Diego, CA - August 22nd, 2021 @ 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Have you ever tried taking pictures of the moon but ended up with a washed out white ball instead? Well this is your chance to really get up close and take the Moon shot you've always wanted.
Take a look at the Moon like never before through a 4" Stellarvue SV105T Apochromatic Telescope. See awesome details like craters and mountain ridges on the Moon through some low and high power eyepieces.
Sony E, Canon, Nikon & Pentax DSLR users are in luck! We provide adapters that will allow you to mount your DSLR directly to the scope giving you the opportunity to take some incredible images!
Cuyamaca Lake Milky Way Reflections - Night Sky Photo Camp
Julian, CA - July 9-11, 2021
About an hour's drive from San Diego, Lake Cuyamaca is a picture-book 110 acre lake that is proof positive that good things come in small packages. It is surrounded on three sides by the 26,000 acre Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, which is 52% wilderness. Few places in San Diego County offer the pristine views that greet your eyes wherever they may wander!
At nearly 4600 ft in elevation, the night sky photography will be very clear! The combination of clean clear skies and less atmosphere, will provide amazing opportunities for night sky photography!
MIKE'S SKY RANCH - AMAZING 2 NIGHT PHOTO ADVENTURE
Mike's Sky Rancho, Baja California, Mexico - August 6-8, 2021
Are you ready to see the night skies like you have never seen them before!!?Imagine being thrown back in time when there was absolutely no light pollution or smog of any kind. This is that place!
Join us for 2 nights at Mike's Sky Ranch to have an experience of a lifetime!! This is one of the darkest night sky locations in the North American continent!
This is a night-sky/landscape/nature photographers dream come true. Amazing natural vistas, a nearby creak and waterfall and a night sky filled with innumerable stars!
Agua Caliente County Park - Night Sky Photography Camp
Borrego Springs, CA - September 3-5, 2021
Agua Caliente Park is a regional camping park nestled in the huge, Anza Borrego Desert State Park and is best known for its geothermally heated springs and rugged desert hiking.
Three naturally fed pools provide different ways of enjoying the park's mineral water. There are two pools outdoors, and an indoor therapeutic spa is heated to 102 degrees and outfitted with Jacuzzi jets.
Be part of this awesome event as we take a look at night sky objects like the Orion Nebula, the Andromeda Galaxy and even the planets Jupiter, Mars & Venus!!