Alaska Photography Tours: Expert Workshops

Picture this: You’re standing in an open expanse of tundra and colorful wildflowers, with the stunning backdrop of rugged, snow-capped peaks reflected in the still waters of a small pond. It’s quintessential Alaska, and you’re ready with your camera. However, the light isn’t quite right, so you brace yourself to wait for the optimal moment. After all, truly great images require truly great light.

Suddenly, you hear your tour guide shout, “OK, everyone back on the bus.” Unfortunately, your itinerary doesn’t allow for waiting for good light, so you pack up your gear and leave without the shot you wanted.

While Alaska has many great tour operators, most of their trips aren’t built around the needs of serious photographers. Either they don’t let you wait for the best light, or you’re competing with 50–100 people for the same vantage point that’s been photographed by about 10 million other people.

If you’re a serious photographer looking for a truly unique experience, consider taking a dedicated Alaska photo tour. Jump to list of tours.

Unlike tours that cater to the casual traveler, a photo-centric Alaska tour or workshop is geared towards providing photographers with the opportunities to capture their dream shots (along with all the expected logistics, like transportation, accommodations, and meals). That means timing your visits to places when they have the best light, and traveling in small groups (typically around 10 people) so you don’t have to jockey shoulders to get the best shot.

It also means having one or more pro photographer guides along who can give you professional advice and instruction, as well as fun, creative, and technical support. And of course, you’ll be traveling with a group of like-minded photographers, which creates camaraderie and new friendships.

Also, a dedicated photo tour lets you get close enough to wildlife for great photo opportunities—and to do it safely. Photo tour guides have experience with potentially dangerous animals to handle any situation.

In short, a photo tour offers much higher value to people who want the focus of their trip to be about photography. Tourists take snapshots, but if you want to capture great photos that you can be proud of, this is how you do it.

Who Offers Photo Tours

A number of out-of-state companies do photo tours in Alaska, but we recommend one that’s based here. Nothing beats local knowledge and experience for helping you find the best spots at the best times.

Jeff Schultz Photography

Jeff Schultz is a 40+ year Alaska Professional Photographer and Official Photographer of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. He offers a number of multi-day photo tours and workshops each year, as well as custom, private photo tours. Jeff gets high marks on client reviews for being most personable and taking his client’s photo knowledge to the next level. Learn more about Jeff Schultz Photography.

Alaska Photo Treks

This is an Anchorage-based company that offers a variety of tours and workshops year-round, including a four-hour evening Sunset Photo Safari, and several multi-day workshops. They can even put together an itinerary customized to your particular interests. The two professional photographer guides who make up the company have more than 50 years of combined experience shooting in Alaska.

Michael DeYoung Custom Photography Tours

For over 30 years Michael has photographed for a wide variety of tourism, commercial and editorial clients with hundreds of publication credits. And now he’s sharing both his knowledge of the state’s most beautiful places and his secrets for capturing incredible images. Everyone from beginners to experts can join a scheduled tour or book a custom, multi-day photography trip. As a longtime Alaskan, Michael knows the best spots to go. And he can carefully craft custom trips to take you to the most magical areas. His specialty is landscape, wildlife and adventure-travel based trips around Southcentral Alaska—places like Chugach and Denali State parks, and the region’s accessible glaciers.

Sitka Wonders Photography Workshops

Based in Sitka, Sitka Wonders offers small-group and private wildlife photography workshops led by award-winning natural history cinematographer and photographer Ben Hamilton. With experience filming in more than 36 countries for outlets like National Geographic, BBC, and Smithsonian, Ben brings a deep understanding of wildlife behavior, light, and storytelling to each trip. These boat-based workshops explore the rich marine habitats of Sitka Sound—home to whales, sea otters, puffins, eagles, brown bears, and seasonal phenomena like the spring herring spawn. Tours range from 3-hour small-group outings to full-day private expeditions, welcoming all skill levels and camera types while keeping group sizes intentionally small for personalized instruction and maximum time in the field.

Odyssey Lodge Shorebird Photography Tour

Based across Kachemak Bay from Homer, Odyssey Lodge offers a unique, all-inclusive photography tour centered on one of Alaska’s most spectacular wildlife events: the spring shorebird migration. Timed to coincide with the annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in May, this small-group photography expedition immerses participants in the movement of tens of thousands of birds against the dramatic coastal scenery of the bay. Designed for all experience levels, the tour emphasizes understanding shorebird behavior, capturing fast-moving flocks, working with early-morning light, and composing dynamic wildlife images. Guests stay in comfortable cabins at the lodge, enjoy locally inspired meals, and benefit from personalized instruction from two dedicated photography guides, making this a standout option for bird and wildlife photographers seeking a focused, festival-based experience.

Where the Tours Go

Photo tours visit a wide variety of places. You may want to shoot landscapes, glacier, and aerial photography in Denali National Park, around Anchorage and the Chugach Mountains, and in the Wrangell St. Elias Range. You’ll find Northern Lights photography workshops in Fairbanks and the Interior. Wildlife photographers can take tours to see brown bears in Lake Clark, Katmai, and Wrangell; birds in Southcentral Alaska; and polar bears in Nome and on the Arctic coast. In Southeast Alaska, Sitka-based photo tours focus on the rich marine ecosystems of Sitka Sound, offering opportunities to photograph whales, sea otters, puffins, eagles, and dramatic coastal scenery from the water. There are even Iditarod photo tours that follow the dog sleds along the course. And if you’re on a cruise ship, no problem: most have one-day shore excursions focused on photography. In Southcentral Alaska, Homer-based photo tours highlight the rich wildlife and coastal scenery of Kachemak Bay. Photographers can capture dramatic shorelines, snowcapped mountains rising straight from the sea, and one of Alaska’s most impressive birding spectacles—the spring shorebird migration, when tens of thousands of birds funnel through the bay. These tours are especially appealing for wildlife and bird photographers looking to combine dynamic action, moody coastal light, and intimate access to nature-rich environments.

Length

Workshops vary from single day to weekend to weeklong excursions in remote locations. Some focus on a single area for a number of days, while others allow you the chance to visit and photograph a variety of locations over the course of a few days or a week.

Many trips run in and out of Anchorage, which makes it possible to “add on” a photo tour or workshop to the beginning or end of your trip and combine it with another tour. Most tour operator itineraries allow for at least one or two extra days between when you fly in and out of the state, so if you’re already signed up for another tour, you may consider a one- or two-day photo workshop to brush up on your skills before heading out on the longer tour.