Three-day photo expo features free admission, free vendor demos and free classes for beginning photographers, as well as 15+ reasonably-priced advanced seminars, classes and lectures with experts like Bryan Peterson. Hands-on learning includes iPhone photography and shooting raptors (live hawks, owls and falcons) in a natural setting.

The 2013 Nature Visions Expo, organized by seven photography clubs of the Mid Atlantic Photography Association, comes to the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Virginia  on November 8-10, 2013 (8 minutes from I-66 Exit 44 at the Prince William campus of George Mason University).

From Fairfax County Park Authority:

On Saturday, November 19, 2011, from 6 to 8 p.m., visitors will gaze through a 10-inch telescope at our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter, during Riverbend Park’s annual Night Sky Festival. Due to the dark, moonless night, Jupiter’s colors and banding should be visible. The planet’s four Galilean moons (Ganymede, Io, Europa, Callisto) are also expected to be seen. The festival occurs near the peak of the Leonid meteor shower and, although rare, participants may occasionally see shooting stars while listening to stories by a warm campfire.

From Fairfax County:

The warm days of summer are an excellent time for pitching a tent at Fairfax County Park Authority campsites in Lake Fairfax and Burke Lake Parks. While you’re there, remember the request that’s being made by park agencies throughout the region. Please don’t transport firewood out of Northern Virginia and, when camping outside this region, please use firewood from local sources rather than carrying it with you from Northern Virginia.