Lapland photo-tour

Just over 3 weeks ago I returned from leading (along with our guide and photographer, Antti Pietikainen) a 7 day tour to Finnish and Norwegian Lapland to photograph the autumn colours and, with finger's crossed, the northern lights. As per usual with a trip of this nature, our days were dictated by the weather and we were fortunate to have some prolonged spells of sunshine. On occasion, we had some very dramatic lighting (especially in Norway) and on our first night the most stupendous display of northern lights!

The group were a joy to lead. Always willing to try new things (photographically and culturally!), happy to go with the flow and, from what I have seen of their images already, have come away with some wonderful pictures as well as, I hope, some great memories. Here's a flavour of what we got up to.

Upon arrival and with a clear night forecast, we headed out in search of the lights. Within a very short period we were greeted with this. The orange glow is'nt light pollution as it's, practically, non-existent here.

We then headed to a lake which gave us opportunities of shooing them reflected. This was the most dynamic part of the show and lasted for a further 2 hours! Curtains of green and violet moving across a star laden sky had us in awe - as you can imagine!

Naturally, the first 15 minutes were rather chaotic with everyone hurriedly setting up tripods and attempting to compose an image in near darkness. After a while, however, safe in the knowledge that they had "bagged" a few decent shots, everyone slowed down, made more thoughtful compositions and found time to just stand and watch what was happening before us.

It started to cloud over but Antti had this covered! A quick look at the satellite forecast on his tablet and a phone-call to a colleague and moments later we were bouncing along a forest track. Within 10 minutes we were under clear skies on the edge of a lake. This is why you have a local guide!

Northern lights, Muonio, Finnish Lapland.

Photographing the northern lights is not an exact science as it depends on many factors - widest aperture of your lens, light pollution and brightness of the northern lights. In short, however, you want the widest, fastest lens you can lay your hands on, set the iso to 800, focus on infinity and set the shutter speed to 30 seconds. Review the image and adjust accordingly. There are lots of other  things you can do to increase your chances of returning with some memorable images and I may well write a separate post on this in the foreseeable.

All my images were taken using a Nikon D600, 20mm f2.8, iso 800-3200 and shutter speeds ranging from 15 to 30 seconds. Needless to say, a tripod was used in conjunction with mirror lock-up and remote release.

After such a long day of travelling and photography into the early hours, a more leisurely late-morning excursion was called for. As Antti cooked salmon burgers and made coffee and tea over an open fire, the group spread out around the lake and waterfall shooting scenes and close-ups. The red leaves of northern bilberry set the landscape ablaze and no matter how many times I return at this time of the year, I can never resist aiming my lens at them!

On a warm blue-sky afternoon we visited the nearby Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. We drove high up to the visitor centre and hotel and so we didn't have far to walk to be up on fells where, after a short while, we came across some very obliging reindeer.

For the first 3 days we were based in Muonio which lies 300km north of the Arctic Circle and just a couple of kilometers from the Swedish border. It claims to have the cleanest air in Europe and has the longest snow season in Finland. I have to say, it's a lovely place. Surrounded by wilderness and life seems (on the face of it) to be at a very relaxed pace. I don't think such a phrase as 'traffic jam' even exists in this part of the world!

An extract taken from outdoors.fi on the national park which will give you more of an idea of the region we stayed in.

The scenery in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is dominated by fells surrounded by forests and mires in their natural state. Because the area’s nature is clean and beautiful and the terrain varying, the park is a wonderful place to hike, ski and enjoy the outdoors. The silhouette of the fells can be seen practically at all times and the marked trails lead visitors to the National Park’s most beautiful look-out spots. The picturesque beauty of the Pallastunturi Fells has made the area one of the Finnish national landscapes.

Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is Finland’s third largest National Park. The area of this park has doubled now that Pallas-Ounastunturi National Park and Ylläs-Aakenus Nature Reserve have been combined to create Pallas-Yllästunturi. The most southern fell of the chain is Yllästunturi Fell. It is outside of the park’s boundaries and used as a tourist ski resort hill. The highest fell in this chain is Taivaskero, which is 807 metres high. In the north the view is of the gently sloping upland-like Ounastunturi Fells.

Geologically Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park is located between Northern Finland, Forest Lapland and Fell Lapland, making it a very varied and interesting habitat. In the park’s forests and on its fells there is a mix of northern and southern species. It is also the area in which visitors can see the transition area where peoples livelihood changes from farming to reindeer husbandry.

On the 4th day we headed further north to our final destination, Kilpisjarvi (north-western-most part of Finland), a journey of, around, 3 1/2 hours. On the way we stopped for an hour at some rapids which everyone enjoyed and made the most of.

Hoping for a decent sunrise, the following morning we headed to a Lakeland setting. We did have a brief showing of colour in the morning sky but, sadly, not the sunrise we had hoped for. Always best to try as you just never know!

That afternoon we made our way to Skibotn in Norway which has a very nice, small, traditional harbour. We explored the length of the fjord and, as we did so, enjoyed the most dramatic light for the next couple of hours.

As darkness fell, Antti drove us a short distance through a forest to a clearing where he would make a fire and where, for the next couple of hours, we would hope to see the northern lights. The night sky wasn't terribly clear and, to the north, there were breaks but, alas, tonight was not to be our night. Anyway, it was great to be outdoors keeping warm by the fire, just soaking up nature.

With a cloudy day forecast, Antti and I decided it would be best to head back to the same forest as the previous night and shoot autumn colour as opposed to landscapes. This ancient Norwegian forest was just beautiful! Everywhere you looked was yellow with splashes of red from the bilberry and mountain ash and mushrooms clinging to, what seemed, every birch trunk. We spent over 4 hours, here, but I could have stayed all day - indeed, all week!

We were due to leave for Tromso airport the next morning (a drive of 3 1/2 to 4 hours) so after a fair-well tipple in one of the cabins we said our goodnights. However, the northern lights were still on our minds and, with skies clearing, were we to be given  a parting gift? Having been spoilt on our first day, some had decided to go to bed while a few others, myself included, thought we would give it one last try. It was a stunning night with the moon reflecting on the water. Not a ripple. With our cabins situated next to a lake, we stood waiting on the jetty. After half an hour, or so, we were blessed with one last display.

Our trip concluded with a cable car ride to the top of Mount Storsteinen which, at a height of 421m/1382ft, gave us stunning views of Tromso.