MAGICAL SENJA:
ARCTIC NORWAY PHOTO ADVENTURE 2026

February 11-17, 2026

Location: Senja, Norway
Dates: February 11-17, 2026
Price:- USD $4,999
Instructors:  Josh Merrill and Dusty Doddridge

OVERVIEW

Join us for a magical winter photography adventure. Experience the dramatic beauty of rugged mountains surrounding deep ocean fjords on the island of Senja, far above the Arctic Circle in beautiful Norway.

Endless possibilities to explore as we photograph fjords, birch trees, ice formations and dramatic mountain peaks at the edge of the ocean. It’s a place where big scene drama and intimate minimalism meet.

Senja is ideally located beneath the Auroral oval, allowing for dramatic displays of northern lights, even when there isn’t any enhanced activity from the sun. While we can never guarantee aurora, Senja is one of the best places in the world to put yourself for the best chances to see them.

Our lodging base is ideally situated in an amazing fjord so that, when the aurora are on display, we can literally walk right out our door and start photographing above dramatic mountains, rocky coastline, and reflective ocean Fjords . And from our base we can visit multiple fjords, beaches and frozen lakes on this arctic adventure.

SKILL LEVEL AND CAMERA EQUIPMENT

This photo tour is open to photographers of all skill levels. The low instructor-to-participant ratio allows us to spend more time with each participant. At minimum, however, you should be familiar with your camera's controls and understand the basics of composition. There is no need to worry if you do not have experience with night photography, as we will be teaching these techniques early in the tour.

For night photography, you will get better results with a camera that can handle ISO's in the 1600-6400 range with relatively little noise. A wide-angle lens with an aperture of f/2.8 or wider is desirable. Contact me if you have any questions on this. You should bring lenses in the wide-angle through telephoto range to capture the myriad of photographic opportunities in this region. We will be teaching post-processing techniques in Photoshop and Lightroom, so bring your laptop. Bring plenty of memory cards and extra camera batteries, so that we can keep the images rolling into the arctic evening.

WEATHER AND CLOTHING

 Senja is not as cold as you might think during Winter. During February, high temperatures average just below freezing. So, you will likely experience temperatures slightly lower than freezing for much of the trip, with some potential cold snaps below that. Bottom line – you will want to be prepared for cold weather. When outside, we will be within a short walking distance of our vehicle at almost all times.

TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS

Making your air arrangements - You’ll be flying into/out of Tromsø Airport (Code TOS). Ground transportation to and from Tromsø is included in your tour cost. You’ll need to book a flight that arrives on February 10th, and stay in Tromsø for the night to allow for an early drive up to Senja the following morning. Once we make the drive up to Senja, and begin the workshop on February 11th, we’ll have the luxury of lodging in one location for the duration of the tour.

We will make the drive back to Tromsø on February 17th. It may be possible to fly out late in the evening on the 17th, but it is recomended to stay the night in Tromsø once more.

Lodging - Once we arrive in Senja, we’ll be staying in one location for the duration of the workshop. We’ve secured two attached houses that are run by our hotel. This lodging will be perfect, in that, everyone will have their own private room, and we’ll have a spacious common area(including a kitchen) to congregate when desired. An excellent breakfast at the hotel is included.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

There will be no long hikes on this trip. Generally, we will be walking very short distances on snow and ice covered paths which are sometimes at an incline, as well as positioning ourselves on potentially slippery rocks, snow and ice. So, having good balance and the ability to walk up and down an incline (such as from a parking lot down to the shore) in snowy and icy conditions is important.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

We strongly suggest you purchase emergency medical treatment and medical evacuation insurance for this trip.

All of our workshops cover Craft and Creativity

Professional Craft for Landscape Photography:

• Getting fluent with your gear and developing a consistent workflow
• Achieving an optimal exposure
• Managing depth of field and achieving sharp focus
• Focus stacking for depth of field and stopping motion
• Capture for panoramic stitching
• Using filters effectively

Creativity in the Landscape: 

• Seeing the core compositional elements in the landscape
• Creative use of depth of field
• Long exposure techniques
• Learning and practicing new compositions
• Intentional camera movements and motion blurs
• Composing for different aspect ratios

And we'll also do at least one image review session and share some advanced digital darkroom workflow techniques. 

DETAILS

Operator - Josh Merrill Photography

Instructors - Josh Merrill & Dusty Doddridge

Price - USD $4,999

Deposit - A deposit of 30% of the tour price, and a completed registration form reserves your spot. Important - See "Tour Policies" (link below) for information on payments and refund policy.

Tour Includes:

• Lodging including excellent breakfast
• Local transportation including transfers to/from airport in Tromso
• Guiding and field Instruction: Craft and Creativity
• Image reviews
• Instruction on digital darkroom workflow
• Post tour image feedback and darkroom support

Not Included:
• All not noted above including airfare and travel insurance
• Meals other than breakfast

After reviewing the tour info and policies, please fill out the online tour registration form below.

We reserve the right to cancel the photo tour for any reason including low enrollment in the tour. We also reserve the right to operate the workshop with only one instructor if enrollment is lower than 6 participants