Lofoten Photography Tour
5 Days in the Magical Arctic
This Tour in a Nutshell
- Available seats: Booked! Too late.
- Subjects: Anything other than what everybody else is doing.
- Duration: 5 days.
- Dates: February 1st - Feb 5th 2025.
- Tour Leader: Daniel Laan
- Price: 4200 EURO per person (Private rooms), 5699 total if you bring a friend/partner and share a room.
- Deposit: 1000 EURO per person.
- Starts: Leknes Airport, February 1st, no later than 12.00 AM.
- Ends: Leknes, February 5th, no earlier than 10.00 AM.
- Includes: Professional landscape photographer guide and all tuition. Post-processing sessions, transportation between locations and airport shuttle service. Accommodation in single occupancy rooms in apartments, traditional Lofoten cabins and a hotel on the final day. Breakfast included.
- Excludes: Flights to and from Leknes Airport and associated costs. Private insurances, taxes, duty and visa fees. Meals other than breakfast not included, nor any personal items including (alcoholic) beverages, snacks, souvenirs and travel insurance.
Intimate Landscape Landscape Photography Private Tour 2025
If you think this particular tour is stopping at the same old yellow house or framing the same damn bridge in front of the northern lights, you’re not in the right place. After doing two tours like that, it’s time for me to shine. Because I excel at finding less obvious shots in more obvious places and vice versa. If you find yourself searching the web for a workshop that’s different, please read on and have a look at the pictures I took from this magical place in northern Norway.
A more advanced class
You know your way around your camera as well as in post-processing, but you struggle with finding your creative voice and notice that you might be doing the same things as everybody else on Instagram. Well, that’s one of the reasons why I strongly advice against getting inspired by other photographers. On this tour, we’re going to do a lot of things very differently:
We’ll omit buildings, man-made objects.
We often aim the camera straight down.
We’ll do photo composites.
I might advise to not expose to the right.
We’ll do a lot of focus stacking.
We’ll take pictures even if it’s stormy. In horizontal sleet if we must.
We’ll end up with a ton of images that could have been photographed anywhere. No particular landmarks needed to make art.
Al right, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s introduce you to a few images I have in mind for this week:
Why Choose this Tour?
No Trophy Shots
I’ll teach you the way of letting go of plans and expectations. The way I work is wing it, being in the moment and stretching what it means to be a photographer.
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High Chance of the Aurora Borealis or a Storm
It’s not without reason I plan this tour around a new moon. But I can’t plan for the weather. These parts are notorious for inclement weather, but my best images were taken in gale force winds.
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You Dictate the Tour
More of this, less of that? You got it. I’m just here to teach you whatever I know.
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Itinerary
Nope, we’re not doing that on this tour. We will leave the analytical, time-oriented mind at Leknes airport on February 1st. That’s when and where I’ll pick you up. You’re free to bring it with you again when you’re on your way home on the 5th of February after I drop you off and wish you well. In the meantime, we’re going to have a blast working the landscape. It’s about seeing not planning. The only time schedule you’ll get from me on this tour is when to get up. And we’re always sleeping in, as the sun rises at a leisurely 9 ‘o clock in the morning.
Payment & Reservation
This workshop is full.
We require the full amount 45 days in advance of the tour. We ask that that you transfer the remaining part through an online service like TransferWise to ensure no additional fees are incurred.
Cancellation and refunds
Unfortunate things can happen to anyone. Therefore we handle a refund policy when you have made reservations for this tour but can’t make it in the end due to whatever the circumstance. Based on the full fee of the tour, we strictly handle this schedule to cover the costs made on our end. If we need to postpone this tour due to Corona virus restrictions, you will not be charged extra. The tour will simply be held at a later date that we discuss together. If you decide to cancel on your end, this policy will apply:
Cancel 60 days before the start of the tour or more: Full refund minus € 200 service charge.
45 days or more: 75% refund
31 days or more: 50% refund
Less than 31 days: No refund
Physical requirements
Most of our destinations are easily accessible by car and on foot, but snow and ice can make any terrain treacherous and physically intense to traverse. You don’t have to be a marathon runner, but we do ask that you are in reasonable physical condition.
Please do not come on this trip when you have a heart condition, suffer from epilepsy or severe asthma or when you have a bad leg. This will hinder our ability to show you everything we have in store.
Disclaimer - The Weather in the Lofoten
The Arctic Circle is notorious for its ever-changing weather and as such, we cannot make any promises regarding the aurora or cloud cover. The northern lights are highly likely to be seen at any time during the dark days of winter here and Daniel has experience of finding the aurora as far south as the Netherlands. However, we can’t guarantee its visibility on any day during the tour. But don’t let that stop you as there are tons of photographic opportunities all around.
Snow and ice are also common this time of year, but rest assured that it’s not as cold as you might think. Temperatures of around freezing (0 degrees C) are to be expected in the valleys during the day, so it’s important that you dress for the occasion.
Daniel Laan ~ The Netherlands
Moody, ominous landscape photography is as much my passion as it is my career. For more than a decade now, I've had the mindset of developing a specific dark and moody style of photography that shows a part of myself through my images. I have a deep appreciation for the landscape, the weather and find something of beauty in trivial subjects. You could say that I have an instinct for inbound northern lights, having captured the Aurora Borealis successfully as far south as the Netherlands.
With a degree in design and visual communication and over 15 years of experience in Photoshop, it's my goal to train you to look at the landscape differently. While explaining everything from pre-visualizing to exporting for the web or for print, we uncover a truth. That the stunning landscape of Norway, isn't there to take home with you. The most important aspect is not to bag the best locations, but to appreciate your surroundings; to become aware of things that others walk straight by.
It is with this mindset that I will make you a better artist; and that is something you can take home with you.