Helsinki
We started our workshop in Finland's capital of Helsinki, aka the White City. Helsinki boasts a mix of historic buildings and striking modern architecture like the Oodi Library. We photographed a working fish market, street scenes and took the ferry to a historic island in the Baltic Sea.
Aurora in Lapland
The next morning we flew above the Arctic Circle to our luxury cabins near the town of Ivalo. We stayed in glass igloos with cabins attached. This made it very easy to know when the aurora was out. We were rewarded with dramatic displays of aurora including a corona overhead.
Sami Reindeer Herders
On our second day, we photographed a Sami woman with several of her favorite reindeer. We used both natural light and an Elinchrom 3 studio strobe. Her traditional blue and red attire stood out in the snowy background.
Exploring by Dog Sled
The next morning we photographed a Finnish dog kennel and went on a beautiful 10 mile ride through the forest. We took turns photographing from the sled and driving our own dog team.
Moonlight Sleigh Ride
One of our photo sessions was planned for a moonlit night on sleighs pulled by reindeer. We were invited into a Sami tent where we drank heated berry juice from hand carved birch cups.
Snow Machine Tour
For our final tour we drove snow machines into the pine forest to explore the landscape. We tried creative techniques like Intentional Camera Movement and looked for light and shadows on the abundant snowpack.
A big thanks to all the photographers who joined us in Finland!
Want to join us on our next Aurora Workshop? We have space on our ARCTIC LIGHTS Workshop on Feb 23-28, 2026. We head to Arctic Alaska to photograph aurora, landscapes and beautiful light above the Arctic Circle. Click here
Join us for a Free Zoom presentation on Aurora Photography. February 11 at 6 pm MST Denver time. Click here and request the free link.
Credits:
Tom Bol and Cree Bol