It is also one of the most spectacular places to capture the winter “essence” – amongst those iconic snow-covered trees and the northern lights dancing in the sky.
Wanting to do an absurd comparison, let’s just say: if Iceland is shouting its beauty out loud, with that kind-of “in your face” attitude between glaciers and volcanoes, waterfalls and geysers – Lapland is whispering its beauty, through endless forests and slow-running rivers. A place where, specially in winter, it feels like time has stopped – and it steals your heart with its silence.
Throughout this one-week-long photography workshop, we will explore two different areas of Lapland, where we will dedicate ourselves to capture the iconic “frozen giants” as well as frozen rivers, lakes and hopefully catching a glimpse of the magical northern lights too at night. We will also spend a full day in a photography hide to shoot golden eagles, woodpeckers and siberian jays – so that you will get a good dose of wildlife images too!
This workshop has been created for those of you who want to immerse themselves in nature at 360°, away from the crowds – with the purposes of improving their photography skills and shooting THE one and only Winter Wonderland, Lapland.
Are you brave enough to face the cold Finnish Winter and join Leo in Santa’s Land?
We will spend the first 4 nights of the workshop near Kuusamo, in the south-east part of the region, then we will move for the last two nights to the Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park, which is a fair bit up north – not far from Kittila, a major “town” of the area. You will find a more detailed itinerary down here.
As a reference for the airports, you should land in Kuusamo (KAO) and leave from Kittila (KTT).
Always keep in mind that Lapland is a very cold place: temperatures in winter can vary a lot, with minimums of -35°C (-30°F) and maxims of 2/3°C (35°F). You should ALWAYS prepare for the coldest conditions, specially if you are a cold person generally speaking. Your resistance to the cold will more often than not be an important variable when it comes to waiting for the good light (a.k.a. getting the best pictures!).
Winter in the Arctic means very little daylight: sunrise will be around 10AM and sunset around 3:30PM: the light will always be good, since the sun will never rise too much above the horizon. It will be like an endless sunset!
Right after the sun goes down – we’ll try to hunt the green lady every night: we will do our best to work with the weather forecast and find the best spots where we get the most chances of seeing the aurora borealis dancing in the sky!
The workshop is officially on! Leo will be at the Kuusamo airport waiting for you: what we generally recommend is to get on a flight that arrives reasonably early in the day, so that you can make good use of Day 1 too!
The other solution would be to arrive a day earlier so that you can just arrive at the airport without any rush on that morning.
Transfer to the Hotel: 10:30AM/12:30PM
The ride from the airport to the hotel won’t be too long: in just a bit more than half-an-hour, we will already be settling into our rooms. We will stay in Ruka, a little ski resort village perfectly positioned when it comes to photography locations.
Hotel Check-in: approx. 12:30PM
After the transfer, we’ll reach the hotel to check in and take a short breath before hitting the road again.
Sunset Session: 1:30PM/5:00PM
Our first official photography session together! Since it’s our first, we’ll have a longer session so that your workshop leader can assess your skills and give you the necessary notions to capture the golden light in the best possible way given the weather conditions of that day.
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
Yes, you reach that right! As unusual as it might sounds, since in most photo workshops we have to get up so early that breakfast is always AFTER sunrise, in this case it’s quite the opposite: we will wake up reasonably early and have an abundant breakfast before going out.
Days are so short here that our next big meal will most likely be dinner – we need to make the most out of the light we get.
Daylight Session: 8:30AM/4:30AM
In all our other itineraries you will generally find two separate descriptions, one for the sunrise and one for the sunset session; not here!
As we previously mentioned, the days are really short at this time of the year in Lapland so we will most likely stay out all day, from “sunrise” to “sunset”.
Today we will explore one of the most iconic areas of Lapland: the magnificent Riisitunturi. Chances are that if you have seen ANY picture of Lapland at all, they were probably from Riisitunturi. It will be an easy 30 minutes hike amongst white-out conifer trees; it is more of a walk than a hike and it’s doable for everyone. Once we are at the top of the hill, vegetation will be more sparse and you will then be surrounded by those frozen sculptures. We will spend there the majority of the day!
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
As for the day before, we will get breakfast at our hotel before going out.
Days are so short here that our next big meal will most likely be dinner – we need to make the most out of the light we get.
Daylight Session: 8:30AM/4:30AM
As we previously mentioned, the days are really short at this time of the year in Lapland so we will most likely stay out all day, from “sunrise” to “sunset”.
On our second full day around the Kuusamo area we will explore the frozen rapids of Myllykoski; this location is filled with compositions opportunities, from the more classic ones such as the little barn by the river or the ice chunks swirling around in a circle, to more particular ones where you can frame endless details of the landscape. It’s not rare that we see dippers playing around too, so make sure to bring your telephoto lens!
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
As for the day before, we will get breakfast at our hotel before going out.
Days are so short here that our next big meal will most likely be dinner – we need to make the most out of the light we get.
Daylight Session: 8:30AM/4:30AM
Today we will “switch” photography genres for a day! Even if the whole workshop is more focused on landscapes, today we will spend the whole day in a photography hide – shooting an incredibly wide variety of subjects. The mail goal will be to capture the gorgeous and mighty golden eagles, but we will get the chance to shoot woodpeckers, siberian and eurasian jays and several species of tits as well.
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
One last breakfast in Ruka before hitting the road for the only real “longer” drive across Lapland. The plan will be to leave Ruka reasonably early in the morning so that we can reach the next destination when there’s still light.
Transfer to Akaslompolo: 8:30AM/1:00PM
Sit comfortable and enjoy the ride, as we are about the cross a good part of the Lapland region! We will leave our beloved Ruka to reach Akaslompolo – another lovely mountain town that perfectly encapsules the spirit of Lapland.
Daylight Session: 1:30AM/4:30AM
Today our photography session will obviously be shorter – we will visit another lovely half-frozen river called Akasmylly, with several different compositions to find! This place is great also for northern lights shooting as it’s very easy to reach and you can get some incredible reflections in the river at night. We will make sure to return back here once it gets dark!
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
Different location – same formula: we will meet for breakfast before going out, when it’s still dark outside!
Daylight Session: 8:30AM/4:30AM
Our last photography session will be special: we will ride snowmobiles all the way up to some of the fells in the area – shooting once again those snow covered trees for which Lapland is so famous. The length of the session will vary based on how cold it will be – because specially on snowmobiles it can really get super cold very fast!
Dinner: 6:00/8:00PM
It’s been a long day: finally we will have the chance to sit down and have a warm meal with some beer to end it in the best way!
Northern Lights Hunting Session: 8:00PM/??:??PM
Writing down the times for a northern lights hunting session feels like one of the most nonsense things we could ever write in a itinerary, so we refused to write an end time. Truth obviously is that we will work around the weather forecasts, so there might be days when we stay out after sunset without returning back, there might be days when we stay out till early in the morning and there might be days when we can’t go out at all. That’s part of the game!
One last breakfast together – unfortunately it’s time to say goodbye! After breakfast, we will finish packing our luggages and we will start our drive towards Kittila.
Transfer to Kittila Airport (KTT): 8:30AM/12:30AM
The transfer will be around 1 hour long. With some great shots in your SD cards and some even better memories in your head, it’s time to say goodbye to Leo and Lapland!
– Scroll down, find the “book now” button, fill in your details and follow the process to the check-out. You will be able to leave a refundable deposit (500€ x person most of the times) via credit/debit card, bank transfer or even Paypal.
– Scroll down to the very end of the page to find the contact form or visit the “Contact Us” page to, well.. Contact us! We will be more than happy to help you with any request you have and set up the ideal workshop you have in your mind – and ultimately give you all the details to complete the deposit and secure your spot on the tour.
In either case, we only ask for a 500€ deposit to confirm your spot – we will then reach out around 2 months before your workshop starts with a link to complete the remaining part of the payment. If you booked last minute and need to pay the entire quote right away – we will be in touch as soon as we receive your reservation with the aforementioned link!
Why? So that you to get your own room for yourself without having to share it with anyone else. The single supplement is something we add at cost price (if not less), and as annoying as it might be, that’s something that unfortunately we can’t avoid.
That’s also how we manage to guarantee every workshop departure, even if you are the only participant for that date.
Of course you can opt for the single supplement even if you are traveling with friends and you like to have your own personal space.
– Digital Camera (preferably a DSLR or mirrorless camera, APS-C, micro 4/3 and FF will be more than fine);
– An ultrawide lens (e.g. Nikon 14-24mm, Canon 16-35mm, Tamron 15-30mm, Tokina 16-28mm etc); we recommend a lens with a wide maximum aperture (like f/2.8) in case we might do some night photography.
– A standard zoom lens (e.g. Nikon/Canon/Sigma 24-70mm or 24-105mm);
– A telephoto zoom lens (e.g. various Nikon/Canon/Tamron/Sigma 70-200mm);
– A super telephoto zoom lens (e.g. Sigma/Tamron 150-600mm); this lens is not necessary but we recommend it anyway since it allows to capture the far away details of the landscapes;
– A sturdy tripod that permits to do some long exposure photos, specially at twilight;
– A set of ND filters; these are the only filters we feel to recommend, since they become useful when you need to stretch the exposure time a little bit during some difficult light conditions;
– A camera remote to avoid blurry shots.
To start a Whatsapp chat, simply click on Leo's name down here!
