Grímsey Island Puffin Paradise Photo Workshop 2026

Our Puffin Photography Workshop in Grímsey, North Iceland, held in June, promises an unforgettable experience for nature enthusiasts and photography aficionados. Grímsey, a remote island on the Arctic Circle, boasts a thriving population of puffins during the summer, providing an ideal setting for capturing these charismatic seabirds in their natural habitat. It’s dedicated to Atlantic Puffin, Razor Bills, and other Arctic bird species, although there is also great landscape to be photographed on the islands and along the north coastline on our way to and from Grímsey. To top it off, you can stand on the Arctic Circle itself!

Participants in the workshop will be able to observe puffins up close as they go about their daily activities, including nesting, fishing, and socializing. With expert guidance from seasoned photographers, attendees will learn valuable techniques for capturing stunning images of puffins in flight against the backdrop of breathtaking coastal scenery.

If the idea of photographing Atlantic Puffins, other Arctic seabirds, and the spectacular landscape of Grimsey Island appeals to you, then now is the time to secure your place!

Timing
Our dates are carefully scheduled during the nesting season when the Puffins have their chicks in the burrows and constantly bring fish to their young. June has around 20 hours of daylight, and we’ll be lodging within walking distance from the seacliffs with thousands of bids. This means we’ll have every opportunity to photograph when the lights and conditions are the best. Grímsey Islands have an almost constant breeze, making great conditions for photographing the birds in flight. With a little bit of luck, we will have hours of golden light under the spectacular midnight sun.

During this workshop, our primary focus is photography. We will go over camera settings in detail and the correct techniques for wildlife and bird-flight photography. We’ll ensure you get the best possible results from each shooting session. We will provide instruction in the field and be on hand to give you any advice you may need. As time permits, we will also cover some aspects of post-production in the evenings when we return to the guesthouse.

Professional Local Guide
This is a unique opportunity to travel and photograph with a local Icelandic guide and full-time professional photographer with more than 15 years of photographic experience that can take you to the best bird locations that are off the beaten track and at the right time – when the light is best. Here, you’ll learn how to enhance your photography skills and capture amazing images of the Arctic birds. 

Accommodations
We will be staying in hotels and a homey guesthouse in Grímsey, which is spacey and comfortable for us to rest between shoots. Our group will have the whole guesthouse for ourselves, giving us plenty of space. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all included and will generally be held at the accommodation where we are staying.
This workshop is all about photography, and we will spend long hours in the field to ensure we get the best possible light for photography. We may also take food and drink into the field to ensure we are in the right locations to get the best possible light.

Workshop Transportation
We have our custom-modified 4×4 Sprinter van; this is our transportation for the whole trip from Reykjavik to and from Grimsey. While on Grimsey, we have our van on the island, which easily negotiates the island’s primitive dirt tracks. The van provides a dry shelter in case of a sudden squall, gear storage in the field, and a place to sit, and it reduces hiking to remote spots with heavy gear. Weather permitting, a chartered boat trip around the island lets us get close to floating rafts of birds and possibly a whale or two as well.