Book · $120
Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek at first light, cottonwoods on both banks

Oak Creek, 6:12 am · f/11 · 1/60 · ISO 100 · 24mm

34°52′ N · 111°46′ W · Sedona, Arizona

First light
on the rock.

Sunrise and night-sky photo tours with Marisa Quintana, six people at a time.

  1. The Milky Way arching over junipers and the red buttes on a moonless nightNight sky
  2. Sunrise over the red buttes and the valley of Sedona from Schnebly HillSunrise
  3. A twisted juniper growing from swirled red slickrock, the sun low behind itDetails

01 / 24

Next sunrise · Sat Mar 13 · meet 6:05 am MST$120 · Book

Sedona · Arizona · since 2016

The rock puts on two shows a day. I take six people to each.

  • 6people at most, one guide
  • 24frames in my portfolio, one for each hour I love
  • MSTArizona never changes its clocks
  • 2014Sedona named a Dark Sky Community

A morning · Sat Mar 13 · Arizona time

One sunrise, minute by minute

Ninety-five minutes from the trailhead to the tailgate. The bar on the left is the sky’s own color at each minute, sampled from my frames of that morning.

  1. 6:05am

    Meet at the trailhead

    Headlamps on red, coffee in a thermos, a gear check. I put every camera in manual and we walk ten minutes to the ledge.

    Headlamp on red

  2. 6:14am

    First light

    The sky goes from black to indigo. Long frames now, while the rock is still a shape: the stars fade out of them as you watch.

    f/8 · 8s · ISO 100

  3. 6:25am

    The pink band

    The Belt of Venus sits right behind the rock. Ten minutes of the softest color of the day, and most people miss it in the car.

    f/11 · 1s · ISO 100

  4. 6:40am

    Sunrise, top first

    The sun hits the spires before anything else. Red, then orange, about forty seconds a shade. I call the exposure out loud.

    f/11 · 1/15 · ISO 100

  5. 6:52am

    The light walks down

    It slides down the rock to the creek. A graduated filter holds the sky; we bracket three frames each.

    f/11 · 1/60 · ISO 100

  6. 7:10am

    Close work

    Junipers, slickrock swirls, the long shadows. The best detail frames happen in these twenty minutes.

    f/13 · 1/200 · ISO 100

  7. 7:40am

    Tailgate review

    Three frames from every camera, side by side on my laptop, and what to change next time. Then breakfast in town.

    Coffee, round two

Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte lit deep orange by the first sun, the desert below still in blue shadow
05 / 24Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, 6:41 am · f/11 · 1/15 · ISO 100 · 21mm

Tours

Four ways into the light

Six people at most on every session. Tripods, a parking pass and coffee are included; you bring a camera or a phone.

  • Four photographers at tripods on a red slickrock ledge, seen from behind against a rose and indigo dawn sky
    03 / 246:20 am · f/8 · 4s · ISO 200 · 24mm

    All year · Saturdays and Sundays

    Sunrise session

    A different rock each weekend, chosen the night before for the clouds and the wind. We meet half an hour before sunrise and finish with a review over coffee.

    $1202½ hours from first lightBook

  • The Milky Way arching over junipers and the red buttes on a moonless night
    22 / 2411:48 pm · f/2.8 · 20s · ISO 3200 · 14mm

    March to October

    Milky Way night

    Sedona is a certified Dark Sky Community. We set up while it is still blue, focus on a star, and shoot the core rising over the buttes.

    $1603 hours, moonless nightsBook

  • A full moon rising behind the red cliffs of west Sedona in pink dusk light
    19 / 247:11 pm · f/8 · 1/60 · ISO 400 · 400mm

    The two evenings around each full moon

    Sunset and moonrise

    A long lens, the cliffs going pink, and a full moon coming up behind them on a time I work out to the minute.

    $1202 hours at duskBook

  • Oak Creek running over red stones under golden maples and white sycamores in late October
    13 / 2410:20 am · f/16 · 0.8s · ISO 64 · 24mm

    Any date I have free · one or two people

    Private day

    Sunrise, a slow midday in Oak Creek Canyon, a nap, then the stars. Your list, your pace, and editing in between.

    $480Sunrise, the canyon, the nightBook

The light calendar

Coming mornings and nights

Times are Arizona time (MST, UTC−7, all year). The last column is the same moment in your time, so you can book before you land.

DateSessionLightMeet, MSTYour timePriceSpots
Sat Mar 13Sunrise sessionSunrise 6:40 am6:05 am6:05 am MST$120 2 of 6 left
Sun Mar 14Sunrise sessionSunrise 6:39 am6:04 am6:04 am MST$120 4 of 6 left
Sat Mar 20Sunset and blue hourSunset 6:40 pm5:50 pm5:50 pm MST$120 5 of 6 left
Sat Apr 3Milky Way, before dawnThin moon · core 3:45 am3:00 am3:00 am MST$160 3 of 6 left
Sat Apr 10Sunrise sessionSunrise 6:02 am5:25 am5:25 am MST$120 Full · waitlist
Sat May 8Milky Way, before dawnMoon down · core 2:00 am1:30 am1:30 am MST$160 6 of 6 left
Sat Jun 5Milky Way nightNew moon · dark 9:23 pm9:00 pm9:00 pm MST$160 1 of 6 left

Portfolio

Twenty-four frames, by the clock

Different years and seasons, put in order of the hour they were made: from first light at 6:12 to the core at 2:40 am. The ticks are all 24; the lit ones are on this page.

  1. 01
  2. 02
  3. 03
  4. 04
  5. 05
  6. 06
  7. 07
  8. 08
  9. 09
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
A twisted juniper growing from swirled red slickrock, the sun low behind it
09 / 24Juniper on Doe Mesa, 7:04 am34°53′ N · 111°51′ Wf/13 · 1/200 · ISO 100 · 16mm
Sunrise over the red buttes and the valley of Sedona from Schnebly Hill
07 / 24Schnebly Hill, looking west, 6:52 am34°52′ N · 111°43′ Wf/11 · 1/125 · ISO 100 · 35mm
Cathedral Rock blazing orange above junipers and desert dusted with fresh snow
11 / 24Cathedral Rock after snow, 7:18 am34°49′ N · 111°47′ Wf/11 · 1/80 · ISO 100 · 28mmIt snows in Sedona two or three mornings a winter. I keep those Saturdays open.
Oak Creek running over red stones under golden maples and white sycamores in late October
13 / 24West Fork, Oak Creek Canyon, 10:20 am34°59′ N · 111°45′ Wf/16 · 0.8s · ISO 64 · 24mm
A lightning bolt behind a red butte under a purple monsoon sky, rain falling to the left
16 / 24Monsoon over Bell Rock, 6:58 pm34°48′ N · 111°46′ Wf/9 · 2s · ISO 100 · 24mm
A full moon rising behind the red cliffs of west Sedona in pink dusk light
19 / 24Moonrise, Coffee Pot Rock, 7:11 pm34°53′ N · 111°48′ Wf/8 · 1/60 · ISO 400 · 400mm
Marisa Quintana, the photographer, beside her tripod on red slickrock at sunrise
Marisa at Cathedral Rock, self-timer, 6:58 am

The photographer

Marisa Quintana

I came to Sedona in 2011 to build trails for the Forest Service, and for a year the rocks were just where I worked. Then one January morning the creek at Red Rock Crossing froze at the edges and Cathedral Rock stood in it upside down, red on blue. I had a borrowed camera and eleven minutes of light. That frame is still number one.

I started taking friends of friends out in 2016, then strangers, then strangers from Melbourne and Hamburg. I keep it to six so I can stand behind every tripod. I know which spire catches the sun first in March, and when the core clears Courthouse Butte in May, because I’ve stood there waiting for it a few hundred times.

Marisa

Marisa’s hands sliding a graduated filter onto a lens on a tripod, Cathedral Rock glowing out of focus behind
The graduated filter, 6:52 am: it holds the sky while the rock catches up.

Before you come

What to bring, and what you don’t need

I only have a phone.
Bring it. Half my guests do. I’ll show you night mode, the long-exposure setting and how to brace it on a bag, and I lend a small phone tripod.
Do I need a tripod?
For sunrise and night, yes, and I carry six to lend. A camera you can put in manual is all you need; any lens from 14 to 35mm is perfect.
How far do we walk?
Under a mile, on slickrock and dirt trail, sometimes a short scramble. Good shoes and a headlamp. I tell you the exact walk the night before.
What do I wear?
Layers. A March sunrise starts near freezing and ends in a T-shirt. Summer nights stay warm; bring water, always.

The kit list

  • Camera with manual mode, or a phoneyours
  • Wide lens, 14 to 35mmyours
  • Tripodlent
  • Headlamp with a red lightlent
  • Graduated and polarizing filterslent
  • Red Rock Pass for parkingon me
  • Coffee, and cocoa for night sessionson me
  • Water, layers, good shoesyours

Clouds? A solid gray lid or rain at 8 pm the night before, and your session moves free.

A framed print of Cathedral Rock reflected in Oak Creek, hanging on a warm white wall above a wooden bench

Prints

Take the morning home

Every frame of the 24 is printed in an edition of 24, signed and numbered on the back with its coordinates and the minute it was made. Guests on a session get 15% off.

  • 12 × 18 inArchival pigment print, signed$90
  • 20 × 30 inSigned, numbered of 24$240
  • 30 × 45 inFramed in walnut, white mat$480

Shipped flat or framed, anywhere in the world. Text the frame number to order.

Guests

In their words

★★★★★ 5.0 from 212 reviews

  • “We booked from Melbourne three months out. The calendar showed the meet time in our own time, which sounds small until you’re jet-lagged at 5 am.”

    Priya and TomMelbourne · Sunrise session

  • “I only brought my phone. Marisa showed me the long-exposure setting and how to brace it on my bag. The creek frame is my lock screen.”

    Dana R.Phoenix · Sunrise session

  • “I shoot weddings for a living and came for the night. She knew to the minute when the core would clear Courthouse Butte.”

    Luis M.Albuquerque · Milky Way night

  • “Six of us, and she still came round to each tripod four or five times. My father, 74, kept up fine.”

    Henrike S.Hamburg · Sunrise session

The Milky Way core standing straight up over Courthouse Butte, junipers in silhouette

24 / 24 · Courthouse Butte · 2:40 am · f/2 · 15s · ISO 6400

And when the rock goes dark, the sky comes up.

Book a Milky Way night · $160

Where

Sedona, Arizona

Two hours north of Phoenix Sky Harbor, forty-five minutes south of Flagstaff down Oak Creek Canyon. The meeting point is texted the evening before.

© OpenStreetMap contributors
Sedona, Arizona 34°52′ N · 111°46′ W. Most mornings: Red Rock Crossing, Bell Rock or Airport Mesa. Open the map
  • Flying inPhoenix Sky Harbor, then 116 miles north on I-17. Give yourself one night in town before a sunrise.
  • StayingAnywhere in Sedona or the Village of Oak Creek is within 20 minutes of every meet point.
  • TimeArizona time, MST all year. Your phone may change hours at the state line; Arizona doesn’t.

Questions

Before you book

Which time zone are the times in?

Arizona time, which is Mountain Standard all year: Arizona doesn’t change its clocks. In summer that is the same as Los Angeles, in winter the same as Denver. The calendar above also shows every meet time in your own time zone.

What if it’s cloudy?

Some clouds make the best sunrises, so we go. If the forecast at 8 pm the night before shows a solid gray lid or rain, I text you and your session moves free to another morning, or your deposit comes back.

Where do we meet?

It changes with the light: most mornings at Red Rock Crossing, the Bell Rock trailhead or Airport Mesa. I text the pin the evening before. Your Red Rock Pass for parking is on me.

Can I book from abroad?

Yes, most of my guests do. Book here before you fly; $40 holds your spot, and the rest is paid on the morning, by card.

Can kids come?

From ten years old, with a parent on the same booking. They’re great at spotting the first light on the rock.

How does the deposit work?

It holds your spot and comes off the price. Weather moves it free; anything else, you can move once up to 72 hours before.

Book

Hold your morning

Pick a session, a date and how many of you are coming. $40 holds each spot, and I text you the meet point, the forecast and a settings card the evening before.

Sunrise $120 · Milky Way $160 · Sunset and moonrise $120 · Private day $480. Arizona time, MST.

01 / 24Oak Creek, 6:12 am · f/11 · 1/60 · ISO 100
  1. 1Service
  2. 2Date
  3. 3Details
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