photography tours in finland
This time last year
Those of you that have been following this blog for the last year or so may recall the trip report I posted on my visit to north west Lapland last September. It’s hard to believe that it was exactly a year ago that myself, my dad, brother and brother-in-law stayed in a small log cabin on the banks of the River Konkamaeno on the Finnish/Swedish border. It all stemmed from the fact that my dad had always wanted to stay in a cabin by a river in the wilderness. Quite a tall order but I knew Finland well and already had a number of contacts and colleagues living there that could help. After many weeks searching for the ‘perfect’ cabin, I eventually found it.
My brother-in-law Jim, my dad Roger, my 'daft' brother Malc and yours truly cooking sausages on an open fire infront of the cabin. Daytime temperatures were around 10 deg.C and at night would occasionally drop to minus 5.
Cabin at twilight.
50 metres from the cabin.
The cabin was basic, had an outdoor loo and no running water. Inside was comfortable with cooking facilities, no electricity (except for very weak solar lighting) and wood burning stove….perfect! The site of the cabin was fantastic. Just under a kilometre from the road down a track, you really did feel in the middle of no-where. To have a wash and brush your teeth, a short walk to the river was needed but this was all part of the experience. To add to this there was an adjoining sauna and rowing boat. The colours of Lapland at this time are absolutely stunning. The bright yellow of birch and aspen and the red of bilberry all combine to produce a kaleidoscope of colour. A day was spent exploring the Norwegian fjords (the size of which just blew us away) and to top it off, on the 2nd night, we had a full 45 minutes showing of the northern lights, all viewed just metres away from the cabin.
This was my sixth trip to Finland, the second during this season. In the past, in spring and summer, I have photographed bears, wolverine, orchids and owls but for landscape photography, nothing beats Lapland in autumn. Click here to see a temporary web page of many of the images taken on last years trip.
Frosty morning down at the river.
River Galggojohka, Norway.
Lapland Photography Holiday
I am looking at potentially running a Lapland Photography Holiday in Finland with a visit to Norway the same time next year and at this stage I am simply seeing what the interest is for something like this. The accommodation would be at a lodge not far from where I stayed where meals etc would all be taken care of. If, however, you would like to experience the basic, wilderness version then this may also be possible. As I said, I am merely ascertaining interest at this stage and would very much welcome your thoughts. Price-wise, you are looking at approximately £1200 for 7 days though this is just a ballpoint figure. This would exclude flights but include everything else, including transport.
One thing is for certain, this is quite unique. An adventure. There are no companies that do trips of this kind, anywhere. I will be putting up more details on this blog shortly but if you can’t wait till then and would like to register your interest, please contact me at rmcanis@msn.com or telephone, 07939 117570.
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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