Nightscaper Conference Scholarship Renamed for Founder Royce Bair
As of today, the Nightscaper Youth Scholarship has been renamed the Royce Bair Nightscaper Youth Scholarship. The name is in honor of Royce's roll in founding the conference, inspiring the global Nightscaper community, and supporting the development of night photography skills and passion in photographers of all ages.
Royce has been a professional magazine and illustrative advertising photographer for three decades. He also finds satisfaction helping other photographers achieve their vision through his writings, international lectures and workshops. As a dark sky advocate, Royce was one of the early innovators to focus on a new style of night photography called “nightscapes,” or starry night skies with a foreground landscape feature. His unique astro-landscape images have received worldwide syndication through The Huffington Post, and he is the author of the book MilkyWay NightScapes.
Royce founded the Nightscaper Photo Conference in 2019, and handed over the reins to National Parks at Night LLC in 2022.
The Royce Bair Nightscaper Youth Scholarship supports aspiring astro-landscape photographers ages 13 to 20 by providing lodging and registration to attend the conference, being held this year from May 14 to 17 in Farmington, New Mexico. This opportunity is designed to inspire and empower the next generation of night sky storytellers.
Awardees have the chance to learn from industry professionals, engage with and shoot alongside the night photography community, and grow their artistic and technical skills in a supportive and inspiring environment.
The scholarship is funded by the generosity of the entire Nightscaper community, including conference attendees, community members, speakers, sponsors, etc. This year Nikon stepped in to enable the scholarship to accept more awardees, providing additional funds as well as gifting each scholarship winner a Zfc Mirrorless camera with 24mm f/1.7 lens.
Three young adults—aka “the Nightscholars”—were awarded with a scholarship for the 2026 conference: Eric Moulton of Pennsylvania, and Ellory Potter and Sullivan Reilly of Utah. The trio was selected from a group of aspiring young photographers who applied by submitting photographs and statements of artistic intent.
The scholarship is covering their lodging, conference ticket, meals and access to add-on events.
How do you stay involved?
If you haven’t yet, register for the Nightscaper Conference today!
Please share the 2026 Nighscaper Conference with your friends, other astro-landscape photographers and those who want to jump-start their skills. We also encourage you to share it with folks who are just getting into the craft.
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