Workshops

I bet that it's been a lo-o-ong time since you got as far as the 70th latitude, on your own accord… And here you are – on the furthest northern coast and by the most obstinate sea in our country.

Even approaching the coast, more than a kilometre from it one can feel the low sound of its breath. The tough northern wind, taking off from the pole is rolling the chains of deep-voiced waves onto the red granite shore, pierced by storms and tides during millions of years. Being caught into the traps of narrow canyons and cliffs cracks, waves wiggling like giant silver snakes jump out, a good ten metres high, up to the glittering sky; but not being able to touch the stars fall from vertical cliffs down, back to the laps of the night tide waters, turquoise in the light of Aurora Borealis.

And if you raise your head you will see the most wonderful and the most magic light show on the planet. Strips of yellow, turquoise and sapphire tints girdle the sky in their incredible dance twisting and interweaving like maiden braids, throwing around billions of glowing precious stones, sending generous gifts to the earth, as if trying to warm up the modest landscape of the northern lands with their magic warmth.

We suggest that you should go with us to the Northern Shore – a very special and unusual place where we are going to do our best on the beaches and in the canyons of the shores of the Barents sea during six nights. We shall follow the route of Aurora Borealis and try to capture the miracle created by nature, with clusters of red cliffs and magic light which came down from heaven…

So…

We have prepared a unique workshop in night photography and in post-processing material which is going to take place from November, 23 till November, 30 2020. Almost without diverting our attention on day photo sessions, we shall cast all our time and might onto Aurora Borealis hunt on the Barents sea coast. We are going to have a rest in the afternoon and in our free time we shall hold a workshop or two in processing the material.

What is going to be the target of our photo sessions and workshops?

Night photography in general and taking pictures of Aurora Borealis in particular is one of the most difficult subjects in photography. And there are a few reasons for that…

Firstly, there will be difficulties in building up the composition, bearing in mind that composition plays a bigger role during a night photo session than during a traditional one, with direct or reflected sun light.

Secondly, one should consider a number of rules taking pictures of a starry sky for the stars to look natural and definite and not to turn into defused tracks in the photo.

Thirdly, when a dynamic Aurora Borealis appears in the picture the photographer's task gets more difficult as we should not let Aurora's strips and rays turn into a bright mixture… For Aurora's details are a more important part of the photo than the stars.

Working with the foreground and the landscape… How can one make the picture definite within the whole field of the frame in case he has to work with F2,8 diaphragm? How can one minimize noise having a super long exposure? What software tools are there to be used to fight noise while processing the material? How can one highlight the key points in the picture in order to result in a masterpiece of an exhibition level? These are the tasks for our photo sessions and workshops in processing the photos. And while we are packing our bags and cleaning our objective lens for the hundredth time, we suggest that you should go with us to get a portion of emotions and good spirit meeting the Russian North, and we really hope to increase our skills of night landscape photography…

Travelling from the hotel to the photo sessions location can be organized in two ways: a bus, a snowmobile;