Floating Hide Photography – An Intimate Way to Photograph Waterbirds
Welcome to experience the great day with water birds in Northern Finland!
Floating‑hide photography is a unique and immersive way to photograph birds and wildlife directly at water level. By moving quietly inside a low, floating hide, the photographer becomes part of the landscape — allowing birds to behave naturally at close range. This perspective opens a world that is normally hidden from view: the soft glide of a smew across still water, the low morning light catching the wings of a diving duck, or the quiet moments of grebes, swans, and waders going about their daily routines.
From a floating hide you can create images that feel intimate and atmospheric: eye‑level portraits, reflections painted on calm surfaces, motion-filled take‑offs, and the subtle interactions of waterbirds in their natural habitat. The combination of low angle, proximity, and silence makes this method truly special — offering photographs that are both artistically compelling and impossible to achieve from the shore.
Nordic Wildscape offers floating‑hide photography as an optional add‑on for all our open‑water season trips, as well as a full‑day experience on its own.
Floating Hide Day - program
Facts:
Place: Pudasjärvi, Oulu, Finland
Availability: On request 1.5.–30.8.
Duration: approx. 5 hours
Number of participants: Min 2, max 6 persons
Price: 125 €/person
Meals: Hot drinks, cookies, meals by an additional cost
Distance:
Price includes: Activity due to the program, guidance, floating hide, screw for your own gimbal, bootfoot waders, instructions, hot drinks cookies
The price doesn’t include flights.
Equipment: Participants have their own winter hiking boots, windproof winter clothing, warm underwear, socks, and thermal layer according to the cold weather. Winter clothes can be rented from Nordic Wildscape.
Equipment included in the price: Floating hide, floating hide, screw for your own gimbal, bootfoot waders (inform your boot size/clothing size before booking)
By an additional cost: Winter clothing set 30 €/person/day. Winter clothing set includes winter jacket and trousers, mittens, hat. Camera gear.
Supplements: Meals
Payment: Invoice, cash, credit card
Tour level: Intermediate. Participants are required to have good basic fitness.
Languages: Finnish, English
Insurance: We require participants to have their own insurance for outdoor activities in Finland in winter conditions.
Itinerary: (approximate timetable. Photography is possible in the evening, early morning or at a different time.)
07:00 – Pickup & transfer.
Guests are picked up from Pudasjärvi area. (Inform your location, ask more before booking)
08:00 – Arrival & Gear Check
Warm clothing check, safety briefing, and introduction to the area.
08:15 – Start of the activity,
Photography from the floating hide
09:00 – Break
A warm drink and snacks are served
09:15 – Continue
11:00 – End of the session
11:30 – Return
A new perspective: water‑level wildlife photography. Get closer. Stay hidden. Photograph differently.
