We had an amazing day of snow shoeing. The guide was knowledgeable and took us to quiet parts of the forest where we were the first hikers of the winter. The sausage and glogi treat at the end were great too. Beautiful day!
Great to hear about your wonderful day in snowshoeing adventure! First snow and first tours of the winter are always special, as we are able to face untouched nature and no visible trails! Thank you for joining the team!
As the name says small group tour we were just 8 people and they made sure we are all suited up well and also provided with all the necessary clothing.
we received a batch of instructions and weather update along with some idea of where we are heading to see the northern lights.
Beyond Arctic are real northern light hunters we traveled to the 1st location about 50 km and we were hoping to see the lights but we could not.
Our guide Kerrtu provided us with all the knowledge required for capturing the lights.
due to the cloud, we had to travel more about another 15 km on a lake out of nowhere where we waited for the right time and we finally saw Lights .
I must say Most tour operators will give 3 hours tour but they told us today is a little cloudy so we will be out 4 or 5 hours but we will catch the lights anyhow
i Highly recommend people who are interested in photography to choose Beyond Arctic as hour Guide had really great knowledge of night photography.
Thanks BA for amazing memories..!!
Thank you for your great review! I'm so happy to hear that our approach of hunting the Northern Lights was once again succesfull and provided you some wonderful memories! All the best and hopefully see you in Lapland again! ;)
I booked the private Northern Light Photography tour with Juho, who was so patient and helpful with this and also the Husky sledding booking I made (also an excellent trip). He called me as soon as we got to Rovaniemi and changed the night of the tour as there was heavy snow forecast for the night we had booked.
On the night our guide Finn collected us exactly on time, we stopped by the office to pick up extra warm clothes and we set off. He took time to find out what our expectations were - one photographer and 2 non-photographers so we wanted a balance. He initially took us to a very remote spot but we quickly realised we weren't up to the snow-shoe hike required, so we moved on to a more accessible spot by the lake but with some open water because of a weir. There was initially another group there around the fire but they left as alone at about 11pm. Finn's knowledge of the Aurora was incredible, the lights appeared exactly as he predicted and he patiently helped me as I discovered that at minus 20 spectacles get fogged up so I couldn't really see anything on the camera! The location was perfect as the non photographers could toast sausages and marshmallows on the fire while watching the sky, while I could stand with my tripod gazing upwards.
It was a perfect location, we had the absolute time of our lives watching the lights dance around the sky, topped off with Finn taking some photos of us - we haven't seen them yet but are excited to. We drove back with the sky still full of Auroras above us - it really was magical. To be honest I think we were all a little overcome with it all and perhaps didn't thank Finn enough as he dropped us back at our hotel - I think we just couldn't believe it had all worked out so perfectly.
I know were were lucky that the lights came out, but I have to say that Beyond Arctic gave us the best chance of seeing them, we all learnt so much about the science and I have some incredible photographs I would never have managed on my own.
Thank you for this great review! Seems like you really experienced strong auroras on that evening and I am really happy to hear that. It is great to know also that we could find the good location for you, even though the first location proved to be a bit too much of a hike in the dark. I really hope you got all the pictures you wanted during the evening with the help of the guide. I make sure Finns sees the review also!
We visited Rovaniemi during the last week of Jan 2019.
the weather was a bit extreme with lows of -18 and heavy snowfall.
since we had booked the tour well weeks in advance, so there was no option but to go out and try our luck.
On 30 Jan, We set out for the aurora hunt with our guide kertu and 6 others in our company. even though during the introductory briefing she implied that there was a good chance of seeing the lights that night, i was skeptical.
first, we headed to a place around 20 Min away. there was a passage through the snow laden trees and a footbridge across a frozen river. here we were shown the basics of night photography. we spent around 45 minutes practicing photography while keeping an eye at the skies for any green hues.
Later we drove another 20 minutes to a camp in the wilderness beside a frozen lake. apparently this was one of the best places to catch the lights if it were to show up. here we grilled sausages and had hot berry juice. we then did some night photography by the frozen lake where kertu showed us some tricks involving light painting. After about an hour an half it was still cloudy and snowing. By then we had lost all hopes of seeing the lights, so we decided it was best to return.
Overall, it was a pleasant experience and we could learn a couple of photography tricks. Only disappointment was the weather and the lights not showing up !
Dear Emil,
Thank you for writing us some feedback!
I'm happy to hear that you developed your night photography skills during the tour and had a great time photographing the nature and landscapes. Weather and Northern Lights activity are always causing the biggest disappointments because there is nothing we can do to change or control them. What we can do is having a good time together in the Arctic nature in a way of photography and learn new things about it!
I wish you all the best in your future travels! :)
Obviously the weather did not cooperate on the night of my tour. In addition to not seeing any northern lights, the wind came up to gale force, making it impossible even to stand outside and see any stars. Our guide took us to a spot by the river where we stood around while people tried to figure out how to set their cameras. I did learn a couple of things during this session, which was the one positive outcome of the tour. We then drove a long ways to a lake, where the wind was so fierce we couldn't even be outside. The guide built a fire inside the hut and we grilled some sausage. That was fun, but the pictures she took of us inside weren't very good. I was hoping to get a picture of me outside, if not with the aurora, at least some stars or the moon. But we didn't even go outside the hut during all this time. The worst thing about the trip was that during the drive, the guide had the radio tuned to some kind of awful rap radio station. I felt like I was inside of some nightmare or something. Afterwards I thought that we would be offered to join the tour the next night at no charge, but no, we could join, but by paying for it again. I think the tour was overpriced for what was received. I'm sure if northern lights had been awesome, we all would have felt differently, but this is my honest opinion of the tour the night I did it.
Dear Kate,
I'm happy to hear that there was some new things in photography you were able to learn during the night! That is always our main goal of photography tours.
Winds do get nasty sometimes here in Arctic which is why we provide high quality overalls and equipment for every tour. Sometimes we also have to push ourselves out of comfort zone and face the wind by going outside and try to capture that picture of Northern Lights, starry sky or milky way. But of course it is up to your own consideration if you decide to go outside for photographing or stay in the hut.
Our guides are really there for the guests to make sure you have a great experience with us. If you just tell the guide that music is something you don't like, she will definitely change the radio station right away and play something suitable for your music taste!
Thank you for your feedback!
