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Photograph Finland's fabulous
winter wildlife.

Finland winter wildlife workshop

In conjunction with Natures Images, join Nikon Ambassador Richard Peters on a photographic workshop in the Finnish forests during the depths of winter. In this stunning frozen landscape you’ll visit a variety of regions, providing an opportunity to photograph the elaborate courtship ritual of displaying Black Grouse at their lek. And, with a crisp white snow cover on the ground this offers a truly beautiful setting to photograph the Grouse. The trip also offers opportunities to photograph hunting owls with the Hawk Owl and Great Grey Owl being the primary goals.

DETAILS

Group size
This trip features a very small group of only 5, which allows plenty of hands on time for tuition and photographic advice.

Accomodation
This is based on a twin room basis in a Scandanavian guest house and research centre. A single room suppliment is available upon request.

Eyes on the skies
We will also be exploring landscape opportunities of the northern forests, visting the wonderful Riisitunturi National Park, always being on the lookout for spectacular Northern Lights during evenings.

Exeperience level
With a photographic guide on hand, any level of experience is welcome, with the aim being for you to end the trip having learned skills that you can apply on future shoots.

Fitness level
Walks to some of the hides can involve doing so in deep snow and up steep climbs. Generally these walks are no longer than 10 minutes in duration. Time spent in the hides can be up to 8 hours at a time so a good level of stamina is necessary along with appropriate cold weather clothing.

Seasonal changes
Each winter season is different so there are also alternative options to photograph the Golden Eagle which is a regular visitor, alongside Dippers fishing where ice has melted on nearby streams. Feeding stations are also in place for local specialities such as Siberian Jay and Siberian Tit.

 

GUIDE

Richard Peters is a Nikon Ambassador with a style that often favours dramatic light and contrast. He offers a relaxed, down-to-earth approach to his guiding and has won multiple international awards including twice in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year. He is also one of the only British photographers to have recieved the accolade of European Wildlife Photographer of the Year, alongside being a judge for both that and other international photography competitions.

 

TESTIMONIALS

N Kingston

As a fan of Richard Peters’ work I was delighted when my wife booked a 6 hour one-to-one workshop for my birthday. I have enjoyed taking wildlife photographs for a long time, gradually improving but realised I was taking the same old photographs. It was time for a new approach, good advice and a fresh pair of eyes. Upon arrival to our workshop, Richard bought me a coffee and we sat down to a short portfolio review. Richard looked at how I had composed, cropped and processed my images using Lightroom and suggested options and alternatives. It was a fantastic eye opener to have professional opinion and critique and Richard shared his technical skills and passion for photography, along with some methods of using light creatively. This Lightroom overview helped me learn some great shortcuts, which have since made a big improvement to my workflow. A run through of important camera settings, lots of questions from me and lots of great answers from Richard and we set off with our cameras to put the theory into practice. We soon spotted a very co-operative heron in some great light, I snapped away listening to Richards tips and it was great to see my shot then the next shot with Richards suggestions incorporated (you could really see the difference). The afternoon ended with an amazing sunset and, taking Richards advice, I waited until the sun had dropped low enough to experiment with backlighting. The 6 hours flew by and it was a fantastic day, with advice and encouragement from Richard throughout, and some great shots on the camera. Richard’s knowledge, and ability to pass it on in easy to understand ways, made this a valuable experience for me to push my photograph forward and help turn the same old photos into something new. Thank you!

K Bangs

As a relative newcomer to the world of photography, I booked a one-to-one with Richard with only 4 months experience of using a DSLR camera.

My aim was to improve my overall understanding of the different settings, including manual, with an overall objective to improve my wildlife photography (off the auto setting!) prior to my impending holiday to Africa. One of the specific issues I had been finding tricky was focusing on moving subjects, Richard soon put me on the right track and resolved this.

Richard also provided me with lots of well explained advice around different camera settings and image composition, which we put into practice throughout the day. I opted for the image review at the start of the session, I found this particularly useful as it helped highlight any areas that needed development during the session and also increased my confidence through the constructive feedback. Overall the workshop was really beneficial in terms of improving my knowledge and understanding, but it was also a really enjoyable day.

I would highly recommend a one-to-one to anyone wishing to develop their skills.

T Gehlot

Having seen Richard’s incredible work I was naturally a little intimidated when I initially booked my one-to-one with him. However he immediately made me feel at ease with his humour and friendly nature and our workshop had a great flow and was well thought out.

What I loved the most is that it was informative yet open and relaxed. Richard is a humble and passionate photographer who was very willing to share his tips and tricks and as a result of only a few hours together, I now have a much better understanding of where I am as a photographer and the areas I need to concentrate on to improve my photographic skills.

I wasn't sure going in how much benefit I would get from my workshop but it exceeded my expectations, everything was explained with great clarity and it inspired me to be more creative and confident.

Richard's knowledge and demeanour left me eager to push my photography further and once I’ve hit my next set of challenges, I’ll look forward to booking in again to learn more! Richard, thank you for such a wonderful experience.

ITINERARY

Day 1: Travel to Kussumo airport and transfer to our overnight base in Oulanka National Park.

Day 2/3: Hunting Boreal Owls, especially the hawk and Pygmy Owls, will be the priority and we will also visit the Riisitunturi National Park for spectacular landscape opportunities. Visiting a local stream to look for opportunities to photograph fishing black-bellied dippers and feeding stations for Siberian Jay and Siberian Tit will also be on the agenda. We will also look to spend at least one day here in the golden eagle hide which, in the snowy setting, offers beautiful photographic opportunities for those wishing to further target the species. Alongside the Golden Eagle, this hide also offers excellent opportunities for Black and Great Spotted Woodpecker too.

Day 4: Transfer to Utajarvi

Day 5/6: Our main target for the second part of the trip, in Utajarvi, is the spectacular Black Grouse courtship ritual at the traditional lek. Still a fairly common bird in northern Finland, we will spend three early mornings photographing the males as they perform their elaborate display. With a need to be in the hides before first light, each morning will require a very early start to arrive under cover of darkness. By 9am our session in the hides will have come to an end allowing us to spend the rest of the day looking for Great Grey and Hawk Owls in the Oulu region. Photographing these boreal owls can be hard to predict but our local guides will know what is working well and where.

Day 7: A final early morning session with the Black Grouse before departure to Oulu airport for our internal flight to Helsinki, to then catch our return flights back to the UK.

Please note: The nature of winter wildlife in countries like Finland means that although the general shape of the itinerary is fixed, the precise opportunities and in turn priorities/options on the ground can only be 100% finalised once the trip itself is running. The priority is displaying Black Grouse and hunting Boreal Owls so everything will be done to achieve this, however some years are distinctly better than others for overall success. The trip is designed to be sure there are plenty of alternative options for a rewarding photographic trip and experience, with plenty of good image opportunities, whatever happens.

PRICE & DATES

Finland Winter Wildlife, £2695

Date: 23rd - 29th March 2018 SOLD OUT

What’s included

All accomodation in Finland
All local transport
Entry fees
All meals

What’s excluded

International flights
Sundry items
Alcohol

More workshops available: see the full range

More workshops available: see the full range