Nikon School Adventures : The Wildlife of Finland

Course Contents

No matter what your interest or level in photography there is something for everyone to photograph on this workshop. This is a great opportunity to see and photograph wildlife in their natural habitat. During this workshop, we will help you to develop and improve your wildlife photography skills while actually on location as all the photography will take place from comfortable hides which we can access at all times of day to make the most the animal encounters and the available light

We will guide you through the correct camera settings to make the most of the beautiful surroundings and cover techniques such as settings for photographing backlit animals, freezing action, focusing, techniques for capturing birds in flight and how to get pin sharp images when using long lenses. Throughout the workshop we will also provide guidance on composition ideas and when to shoot to maximise the light available.

The workshop will give you plenty of opportunity to ask questions about image composition, camera settings and lens choices. In the evenings, if we have no animal encounters, we can host image review and photo editing sessions at the accommodation to help you finish you images to the highest possible standard.

During the day we will endeavour to stop at a local cafe or restaurant for lunch, or in the morning we will stop at a local supermarket so you can buy lunch, snacks and drinks.

Outline Itinerary:

Arrival date 3rd August 2023 at Kajaani or Kuopio Airport, Finland

Depart date 8th August 2023 from Kajaani or Kuopio Airport, Finland

**All delegates are responsible for their flights to and from Finland

3rd August
Flight to Kajaani or Kuopio airport. At the airport, we will be picked up by bus which will take us to our accommodation for the week. The drive takes about 3 hours and we will arrive in the evening and have dinner together at the accommodation.

4th August

After the breakfast, we will give you an introduction for the week and run through how to photograph from the hides. We will then prepare for our time in the hides packing our gear for the first night in the hide. We will have dinner at 4pm. After dinner we will leave our accommodation to head off to the hides for our first experience of photographing wildlife

5 - 7th August
At about 8:00am we leave the hides and travel back to the accommodation to have breakfast. After breakfast, we will back up our images, charge batteries, enjoy the Finnish wood sauna (optional) or have some time to relax. On each day of the workshop, we will be on hand to answer your photography questions, help you with image review and give you some handy tips for photo editing. In the evening, we will have an early dinner at 4pm and then head off for an another exciting night of photography in the hides.

8th August
We leave the hides either in the middle of the night or in the early morning and pack our bags. Breakfast is served at 7:00am. At 08:00am we will be driven back to the airport and fly home again.

To book:

Please contact us Nikon School at [email protected] to book your space on this amazing photography workshop. To secure your place on the workshop a non refundable deposit of £500 is payable with balance due around 3 months prior to the workshop starting

Notes:

This is a Photographic workshop and will we prioritise the opportunity for you to shoot great images above everything. We will plan each day around the weather and light, which means that meal times may be at non standard times as well as the times we get back to the accommodation which may be very early or very late in the evening.

Due to the nature of the location, the accommodation for this workshop is in a bunkhouse, which means shared rooms with no en-suite facilities.

Norwegian breakfasts and dinners are included in the workshop

Fitness: We will be photographing from comfortable hides, however to get some of the best images you may need to sit / stand / lay at eye level to the animals for extended periods of times, plus ensure you have the fitness to do this with out disturbing the rest of the group.

The workshop takes place in Northern Finland, approx 8 miles from the Russian border. Phone and Internet signals are intermittent at best, effectively think of yourself as 'off grid' for the workshop which will help you take in the beautiful surroundings

Space is limited in the hides, so luggage is limited to one medium suitcase and one camera bag per person. This should give you plenty of room for all you need.

If you would like to borrow any specific cameras or lenses for this course please get in contact with us at [email protected] with your request. We require at least 2 weeks notice for any requests and we will do our best to bring them along if we can.