Aurora Photography Tour Fairbanks: Professional Portraits & Pizza

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/37

Duration6h

GroupUp to 10

LanguagesEN

PickupAt your hotel

Get professional aurora portraits, not just snapshots of the sky

This is a small-group aurora photography tour in Fairbanks led by Nathan, a professional portrait photographer with over 7 years of aurora experience and 25 years of Alaskan wilderness skills. You'll drive 15–40 miles north of the city to a viewing location, learn to photograph the northern lights with your own camera, receive free professional portraits lit with studio techniques, and spend the waiting hours in a heated shelter with wood-fired pizza and hot drinks. The tour runs 6 hours and includes a timelapse video, digital photo album, and an aurora guarantee: if you don't capture aurora photos, you're eligible for a free second tour within 2 years.

The Experience

The difference between this tour and others in Fairbanks starts with the guide. Nathan spent 10 years as a full-time wedding photographer before moving into aurora portraiture, and he's spent the last 7 years developing studio lighting techniques specifically for shooting people against the northern lights. Most aurora tours offer "free portraits" as an afterthought; here, the portraits are the reason Nathan built the tour. He uses controlled supplemental lighting to cut through the darkness and freeze detail in your face and the aurora behind you—the kind of technical control that takes years to master, not something you'll find on a standard sightseeing run.

You'll drive north of Fairbanks to one of several excellent viewing locations, then set up in a heated warming shelter while Nathan teaches you the science of the aurora and how to photograph it with your own camera. The group stays small—only 10 people per tour—so there's room to work and time for individual attention. While you wait for the lights to appear, the tour provides wood-fired pizza from a 930-degree stone oven, hot chocolate, coffee, chai tea, apple cider and black tea. You get hand and toe warmers, headlamps, water bottles and all the gear you need to stay comfortable in the cold. By the end of the night, you'll have a digital album with both landscapes and portraits, plus a timelapse video of the whole sky across the whole night.

The aurora guarantee means if the lights don't show up in your photos, you can book a second tour free within 2 years, based on availability. Nathan's 25 years of Alaskan outdoor experience means he knows where to position the group for the best chance of a display, and he carries the wilderness skills to keep everyone safe in the arctic winter. This is a tour built around actually getting you home with photos you'll want to print, not just the memory of having tried.

What’s included

Professional aurora portraits lit with studio techniques and included in a digital photo album.
timelapse video of the whole sky across the whole night.
bottled water.
hand and toe warmers.
heated warming shelter.
headlamps.
hot pizza flight with several different pies cooked in a wood-fired oven.
hot chocolate, chai tea, coffee, apple cider and black tea.
aurora guarantee—a free second tour within 2 years if you don't capture aurora photos, based on seating availability.

Good to know

Easy physical levelInfant seats availablePets welcomePublic transport nearby

Operated by Electric Moose Studios

Is this one for you?The 6-hour commitment means you're out for the full night when aurora activity peaks, which is what makes the professional portraits and the pizza breaks possible—you're not rushing through a shorter tour trying to fit everything in. If you have the evening free and want to come home with photos of yourself under the northern lights, not just snapshots of the sky, this is the tour built for that.