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Our Russian Lapland Photo Tour, from January the 30th to February the 5th, 2022, (with an optional extension from February the 5th to the 9th, plus additional dates for 2023), will be one of our first trips of the year. This amazing area is located on the Kola Peninsula, in the Russian Northwest, by the Barents Sea. At this time of the year, the area is simply perfect for winter landscape photography. But, besides this, it’s the best time to see and photograph the magical Northern Lights.
Despite being an area with extraordinary photographic potential, this is still not a very crowded destination. Therefore, we are talking about a great chance to enjoy winter photography at its best, avoiding the crowds we usually can find in places like Iceland or the Lofoten Island. At the same time, we’ll be able to find subjects not commonly seen in other destinations.
A wintry landscape photography photo tour is always a fabulous opportunity for amazing pictures, as well as a fabulous adventure to enjoy the wildest side of Nature. If you add such a unique destination as this, with so many possibilities, great shots are almost guaranteed!
During this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, we’ll have the opportunity to photograph so many different subjects and sceneries. Of course, this will be a trip focused in landscape and night photography (trying to capture the Northern Lights). The Arctic landscape in the Kola Peninsula will bring us fabulous opportunities of getting outstanding shots, anywhere we go in the area.
During 10 days, we’ll be photographing forests, mountains, frozen lakes, creeks and rocky beaches, under incredible winter conditions. One the most remarkable subjects we will capture during our trip, will be the gorgeous forests in the area. In them, we’d like to highlight the incredible ‘snow monsters’, those amazing trees whose branches are completely covered by huge amounts of snow. The many photo possibilities that these trees will bring us, both during the day and at night, will allow us to get extraordinary captures.
In addition to its forests, the Russian Lapland landscapes include wonderful wild rocky beaches. In them, we’ll find countless compositions, apart from being perfect locations for photographing the Northern Lights. We’ll visit some of the beaches both during sunrise or sunset, and at night.
But we will also find stunning peaks and beautiful lakes and creeks in the region. In all these locations, the great times and images are guaranteed.
However, for many people, the most important reason to join this trip, will be the extraordinary chances to photograph the Aurora Borealis. Given its situation, the area is one of the best options for Northern Lights photography. For this reason, we’ll check the conditions and try to capture this magical natural phenomenon. Given the length of this photo tour, chances of photographing the Auroras will be really high!
We are hosting this photo tour at this time of the year to enjoy the great wintry conditions and, at the same time, to maximize our chances to photograph the Northern Lights.
Undoubtedly, the snow will make these incredible landscapes look their best. The snow on the trees, the frozen or semi-frozen lakes and creek, and the, the snowy beaches, will mean constant opportunities for great shots. Winter landscape photography, despite the cold and the hard conditions, is always rewarding.
Then, as previously stated, this is one of the best moments around the whole year to capture the Northern Light. Consequently, traveling during this period will bring us very high chances to photograph them.
This Russian Lapland Photo Tour is suitable for everyone. Participants of all physical conditions, ages and photography levels will be welcome to join us.
First of all, this can be considered an easy trip, with no complicated hikes or requirements. Given this, there is not a minimum physical condition level to join us. Most of the photography locations will be very close to the places where we’ll park, and although there will be some hikes, they will be easy and short.
Equally, there are no age limits, anyone can join the trip as long as he or she is reasonably well.
Finally, no minimum photography level is required to participate. No matter if you are a beginner or a professional, our photographers will bring you personalized attention, adjusted to your needs, in order to help you capturing the best images of the Russian Lapland. Same way, you don’t need to have the best camera or a lot of lenses to join us. You will find an ideal photo gear list in the ‘More Info’ section, but there is not a minimum required gear to participate. Some clients have sometimes joined us just with their cell phone or a compact camera.
To sum up, this Russian Lapland Photo Tour will allow a maximum of 12 lucky landscape photography lovers to capture amazing pictures of this precious area. A unique opportunity to enjoy fabulous winter conditions and great chances of capturing the Northern Lights, while we explore a quite unknown region, and still not so crowded.
If you really like landscape photography, this photo tour is totally recommended for you. You will get lots of pictures of magical wintry sceneries, while you’ll probably be rewarded with several sessions of Northern Lights photography.
Do not miss your chance and join us on this fantastic photo adventure.
This Russian Lapland Photo Tour will begin with the meeting of the group at Murmansk Airport, in Russia. From here, we’ll move to the first area we’ll shoot during the trip, by a wonderful forest. After leaving the luggage at our accommodation, we will begin exploring the area, searching for our first images of the trip.
After dinner, if conditions are good, we’ll try best with our first Northern Lights photography session.
We’ll wake up early to capture the first sunrise of this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, in the surroundings. Being so far north, there are not many hours of daylight during this time of the year. However, the great news is that the sun will be quite low during this time, offering us that magical Arctic light. This means we’ll hace chances of getting nice images anytime during the day.
After sunrise, we’ll have breakfast and continue exploring the area, taking pictures of the trees and the beautiful sceneries around us. The famous ‘snow monster’ trees receive their name because of their incredible look, after their branches get covered by huge amounts of snow. Given the very cold temperatures, the snow gets frozen, and the trees keep that look for most part of the winter. These wonderful trees will bring us extraordinary photography opportunities.
Once is totally dark, we’ll check conditions and be ready to capture the Norther Lights, if conditions are good. At this time of the year, night comes really early, so we will have many hours to shoot each night if lucky.
After a much deserved rest, we’ll be waking up early again, to capture the first rays of sunlight of the day. One more time, we will be capturing the beautiful forest and trees bathed in the beautiful golden light.
We will pass the rest of the daytime exploring different parts of the area, while we take dozens of nice pictures of the forests and the trees.
After sunset, once again, we’ll keep an eye on the sky, ready to photograph the Northern Lights.
During the whole photo tour, we’ll be checking both the weather and solar activity forecasts, to study the chances of seeing the Auroras. We’ll be using different websites and apps in realtime, to be always ready for any possibility of seeing them.
Besides this, we count with great experience chasing and photographing the Northern Lights, after many photo tours and several years traveling to photograph them. Therefore, we’ll be often able to anticipate the situation, and get an idea of what it’s going to happen. Something which will be very helpful for maximizing our chances to photograph this magical phenomenon.
However, being in this area, as long as we have clear or semi-cloudy skies, we’ll probably have great chances to capture the Northern Lights, regardless the activity forecast. That’s the main advantage of being so far North.
Today, we will wake up early to capture sunrise, as the sun illuminates the forest. The golden light will hit the trees, the snow and the rocks, creating a yellowish ambient which will offer a great show for us. That way, we’ll have chances of getting wonderful photographs.
After breakfast, we will head to our following destination during this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, near Teriberka. This village is located next to the Barents Sea, as well as surrounded by several frozen lakes, beautiful creeks and spectacular wild beaches.
We’ll get to one of these beaches for sunset, where we’ll be enjoying the snowy surroundings, and the rocks covered in snow. At the same time, if there are chances to see the Northern Lights, we’ll stay some time in the area, before getting back to our accommodation to sleep.
We will wake up early again for sunrise, for what we will be visiting another of the wild beaches in the area. We will be hoping to get the warm lights illuminating the rocks in the beach, in contrast with the cold temperatures.
After our sunrise session, we will visit the village and the area, being able to photograph some abandoned ships, with interesting photo opportunities. Then we’ll keep exploring the surroundings, capturing the beautiful coastline by the Barents Sea.
For sunset, we’ll get back to the beach, trying to find rocks covered by snow. These rocks will work perfectly for our compositions, bringing us a fabulous foreground when shooting wide images.
Then we will get back to sleep at our accommodation, but keeping an eye on the sky for any Auroras chance.
Today we will leave early in the morning to drive South to our next destination, in the Murmansk Oblast. During this second part of the photo tour, we’ll visit the area between Kirovsk and Kandalakcha.
We’ll stay the following night by Kirovsk village, located at the foot of the Jibiny Mountains, and next to Bolshói Vudyavr Lake. As soon as we get to the village, we’ll visit some of the nicest locations in the surroundings, to photograph the sunset.
Afterwards, we’ll get to our accommodation to rest, although we will go out again if there are chances to photograph the Northern Lights, as usual.
Again, we’ll wake up early to get to Kalachakna, the next destination. Once we get there, we will visit a mountain in the surroundings, from which we’ll be able to get some of the nicest images from the trip. Apart from the amazing views of the city and the whole area, we will find here more trees covered by snow. The famous ‘snow monsters’ once again, will be a exceptional subject for our session.
We will stay here the rest of the day, capturing the sunset lights from the mountain. As soon as the night has come, we will get to our accommodation to sleep, but checking the conditions again, in order to photograph the Auroras Borealis if there are chances.
Today, we will get back to last day’s same mountain, this time for sunrise. We will search again for the ‘snow monster’ trees, trying to capture the golden light as the sun rises, while the scene gets the warm light from it. We will be ready to photograph the trees and the snow under this beautiful light.
During the rest of the day, we’ll move exploring the area and the surrounding ones, searching for the most spectacular images. After sunset, we’ll check the options for another night session, before getting back to sleep at our accommodation.
We’ll leave the area early, heading North to Murmansk, although we’ll be doing several stops to take pictures during our long way.
Once in Murmansk, we’ll spend the rest of the day visiting and photographing the city. Afterwards, we’ll get to out hotel, although we will try a last Northern Lights session if there is a chance.
Today we’ll get to the airport early in the morning, where this Russian Lapland Photo Tour will come to its end. Depending on our flight schedules, we might have a last photo session in the city or the surroundings.
This Russian Lapland Photo Tour is recommended for almost anyone, no matter the age or the physical level to join the trip.
We will be doing some short hikes during the trip, while we explore the area. Some of this hikes may take place by snowy areas, but they will usually be quite easy. Therefore, if you are able to hike for short periods of time, you you are welcome to come with us. This will be a mostly easy trip.
At the same time, there is no age limit for the tour, as well as your health and conditions are reasonably good.
There is no need of a minimal photography level to join this Russian Lapland Photo Tour. You don’t need to be a professional photographer to come to this trip, nor even having a lot of experience with your camera. All our photo tours are open to all levels, even for beginners, or unexperienced photography users. Sometimes, we even have people just taking shots with their smartphones.
One of our highlights is providing customized attention, so we will help you to get the best possible images, regardless your previous level. We’ll be there to help you becoming a better photographer!
During this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, we can expect very cold temperatures most of the time, although it should not be too hard if we are well prepared. Average temperatures during this period could vary between 0º to 36º Fahrenheit (-18º to 2º Celsius). At the same time, we could find strong winds and, of course, snow.
For this reason, you need to be perfectly prepared for a trip like this. You will need a good down jacket or parka, as warm as possible. We also recommend dressing in layers, so you can add or remove layers depending on the temperature. At the same time, a Gore Tex jacket or similar could be also useful, in case of rain. Snow boots would be perfect for most of the time. Once you confirm your booking, you will also receive a guide withe the recommended gear list for this Russian Lapland Photo Tour.
This Russian Lapland Photo Tour, as most of our trips, doesn’t include meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner). This will give us maximum flexibility during the trip, in order to focus mainly in the most important thing: photography. Normally, we will be having breakfast in the accommodation or in cafes, before or after our sunrise shooting session (depending on timing). For lunch, sometimes we’ll be visiting restaurants, but we’ll be also buying food at supermarkets (fruit, snacks, sandwiches, etc…), and sometimes we’ll have that food for lunch. Then, we will normally have dinner at the accommodation, or in town.
Anyway, we will have enough opportunities to enjoy the great food in this part of Russia. There are delicious options, such as venison or deer, for meat lovers, and salmon or trout for the fish ones!
Currently, the main payment option we have is the bank transfer. However, if you prefer it, we also have other payment options, such as credit or debit card, PayPal or Transferwise. Please notice that these other payment options may apply a commission fee. You can ask us about these different payment options.
If you choose to pay by credit or debit card, or by PayPal, you can process your payment online, when you finish the booking process. For bank transfer payment, you just have to proceed with the booking and then, once you finish the process with the chosen payment method, you’ll receive an email with al the instructions and bank details.
During this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, we’ll be staying in different kind of accommodations. Some of the areas we’ll be visiting don’t have many accommodation options, so we will sometimes stay at tourist category hotels, while other times we’ll stay in cabins or guesthouses. Each traveller will be staying in a shared room, together with other or several other participant/s in the tour (it will normally be 2 people per room, but at some accommodations it could be 3 or 4 people per room). Rooms will always include a private bath.
If you come with another person to the trip, you’ll share the room, However, if you are traveling alone, we’ll choose your roommate/s for you between the other participants in the trip (always same genre). Anyway, you will also have the chance to choose a single room for you, paying an extra supplement. Contact us for all details.
Anyone can join this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, no matter your country of residence. Our main travel agency is settled in Santander, Spain, but our trips are open to customers from countries all around the world. Therefore, we may have clients from different places in our photo tours.
This Russian Lapland Photo Tour begins at Murmansk Airport, in Russia. Therefore, all the participants need to get there for the first day of the tour, traveling from their country of residence, with no need to travel to another to fly together to Murmansk.
Once you have confirmed your booking for this Russian Lapland Photo Tour, we will send you the trip info with a recommended gear PDF guide. This will include suggestions not only about the photography gear, but also about the clothes and accessories you might need during this photo tour. To sum up, you won’t have to worry about anything, since our expert photo leaders and guides will inform you about everything you will need, so you can enjoy your travel as much as possible!
As a first tip, we would suggest you bringing a light color down or shell jacket(for example red, orange, yellow, light green, etc…). That jacket will protect you from the cold and the rain but, at the same time, you’ll look great when photographed in some of the most beautiful locations around all the Kola Peninsula!
