Mushing Mindset
For our first night in Anchorage, our group attended the Mushers Gala to meet the mushers and learn more about the Last Great Race - the 52nd iditarod.
We traveled to the Dallas Seavey Kennel for our first photo shoot of the workshop. Dallas ended up being this year's Iditarod Champion! Each of our photographers had a chance to drive a dog sled and learn what it felt like to be behind a team of canine athletes. Marie (blue coat) used a wide angle lens to capture the action from the sled.
Anchorage Ceremonial Start
The Ceremonial Start is on 4th street in downtown Anchorage. We were there to capture all of the action as teams headed out on a short 11 mile run. We had the perfect position to shoot low perspective images of the dogs and mushers.
Official Iditarod Start - Willow, AK
We drove to Willow, Alaska for the official start of the race. Each team left in 2 minutes intervals, sprinting right by our shooting location. Tom used slow shutter speeds to freeze and blur the action.
More Time with the Dogs
Our plan for the day was to fly to the Iditarod checkpoint at Rainy Pass. The weather had other plans; it snowed most of the day. We used the time to head back to the Seavey Kennel and photograph in the snow. We also used the new Elinchrom 3 to create portraits of dog musher Ben Vaughn.
Low Perspective
People often ask how we get such animated photos of the dogs. The trick is to get a very low perspective by lying in the snow. We all dressed in warm waterproof layers and spent time shooting from the snow level perspective.
This is the perfect photo trip for people who love dogs!
North to Fairbanks
For the second part of the workshop we left the Iditarod behind and drove to Fairbanks for more winter photography. We started with an evening photo session at the World Ice Art Championships. We also stopped by our favorite ice bar at Chena Hot Springs to drink from hand carved ice glasses. Colorful lights in both locations made for dramatic photos.
Northern Lights
Fairbanks is the best city in the United States to photograph the aurora. We had aurora on 4 different nights on our workshop. Our first night was in Healy. We woke the group up at 2:30 am and everyone learned settings and techniques tophotograph the aurora. The final night had the best display with more than 2 hours of dancing green lights in the sky.
Thank you to all the amazing photographers who joined us this year!
Thanks to Salmonberry Tours and our awesome guide Harrison Brown!
Want to join us in 2026 for our Iditarod and Aurora Workshop? We have space! Click here