Name: Photography - Red Valley Backroads: Camera Eyes on NPS #5 & 6 Roads
Start: 2026-08-04T08:00:00-0600
End: 2026-08-04T12:00:00-0600

Sign-ups will officially open on June 28th at 9 PDT/ 11 CDT/ 12 EDT. Activities without signup limits are available now. Need help? The Summit Handbook and our pick a hike guide are helpful resources! Email [email protected] with additional questions or message us in Sched!

Session availability is subject to change due to weather, availability, and interest. Classes with fewer than 5 participants are subject to cancellation.

Photography - Red Valley Backroads: Camera Eyes on NPS #5 & 6 Roads

Limited spots

Tuesday August 4, 2026 8:00am - 12:00pm MDT

Limited Capacity seats available

The land in Wind Cave National Park is sacred land to the Cheyenne and Lakota. There is a story of how the Lakota emerged from the spirit world through a passageway called MAKA ONIYE, or “breathing earth”. This was Wind Cave. People were to wait in this spirit world until Earth was ready for them to be born.

As I scouted the land above the cave, I used my “camera eyes”, perpetually scouring the landscape for great photo opportunities. As I peered across the spacious, rolling hills, I began to view the top layer of the prairie as skin. When the skin is peeled back, what’s below emerges. This field trip has us traversing two above-ground backroads of Wind Cave National Park. The entry road into the southern boundary of the Park is aptly called Red Valley Road, and red it is!! As we progress along these roads, we are quite probably traversing above some remarkable land features that are hidden to us by the prairie skin. In a few places, the skin has been peeled back by the great powers of the Earth – water, wind, and fire, and we become privy to the beauty underneath the prairie skin.

The treasures that await us are deep red winding gullies, solitary sentinel trees, yucca, mullein, bison, prairie dogs, fantastic rock formations, and curious donkeys. You’ll develop your “camera eyes” and with plenty of help available from your (mostly) fearless leader, you can maximize gorgeous compositions to bring home.

I will be bringing my cell phone, of course, but also my DSLR and one zoom lens that will accommodate my personal aesthetic. I found the brightness of this environment to be challenging, due to my cell phone’s screen being quite hidden by the glare of the sun. Cell phones will still gather amazing images, but help yourself out by bringing a wide-brimmed hat. (If you don’t own one, before the Summit is the time to shop for one!) It will shade the brightness sufficiently to help you see the screen and take your compositions more seriously. A DSLR will be the key to slowing down and really painting your compositions on your image sensor. With today’s image stabilization built in to most DSLR bodies and lenses, you will be able to make camera settings that allow you to leave the tripod at home or in your cabin. Your (mostly) fearless leader will assist you in knowing those camera settings.

This is a road trip, not a hike, and will be offered twice. We’ll stop and shoot at places where my “camera eyes” detected great opportunities for images that define the land that hides Wind Cave under the prairie skin. I aim for you to develop your own interpretation of this remarkable landscape, and maybe you’ll adopt my sense that the prairie has many treasures hidden below its skin.

Comfort Notes:
1) There are no bathrooms, but halfway through the trip, I’ve identified a pretty good spot in some trees to pee discreetly. Bring a bit of tissue and a plastic sandwich bag to collect your tissue. I’ll have a larger plastic bag to contain your used supplies and we’ll toss everything when we get to a waste bin back in civilization.)

I strongly frown on sandals or open-toed shoes for this trip. Closed shoes help protect from ticks. I wear leg gaiters permeated with permethrin. From the van to where you’ll stand for best compositions, you need to walk “over there” (i.e., not far) through short prairie grass. Bring closed shoes, some kind of tick protection, and leave the sandals in your room.

Faculty

Annie Tiberio

Photography Leader, Faculty

In 1979, Annie began a decades-long journey teaching photography through many institutions. She’s been teaching at Summits since 1987 and, although she has lost count, the 2026 Black Hills Summit is somewhere around her 40th (Perhaps you recall that there used to be four Summits... Read More →

Tuesday August 4, 2026 8:00am - 12:00pm MDT

Photography, Difficulty- Easy

Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

Annie Tiberio

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Family Nature Summits: Black Hills Summit

Annie Tiberio

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