Canonical URL: https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/ # Why Photographers Keep Returning to Suomussalmi – Bears & Taiga Wildlife Published on August 24, 2026 [![One Of The Large Bears Bathed In Golden Light Amongst The Cotton Grass Photographed By Johnny Sodergard During The Natureslens Wild Brown Bears Of Finland Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/one-of-the-large-bears-bathed-in-golden-light-amongst-the-cotton-grass-photographed-by-johnny-sodergard-during-the-natureslens-wild-brown-bears-of-finland-photography-holiday.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/one-of-the-large-bears-bathed-in-golden-light-amongst-the-cotton-grass-photographed-by-johnny-sodergard-during-the-natureslens-wild-brown-bears-of-finland-photography-holiday.jpg) ### Article brief Editorial article Published August 24, 2026 [Suomussalmi](https://natureslens.co.uk/specific-location/suomussalmi/) sits deep in Finland’s eastern taiga, close enough to the Russian border that the [brown bears](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/brown-bear/) working this landscape move freely between the two countries, & our [Brown Bears of Finland photography holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/2019/08/16/brown-bears-of-finland/), based at Viiksimo & guided by Johnny Södergård since 2016, has become the trip a remarkable number of guests come back to for a second or third July. Working from a network of forest hides overlooking meadow, lake edge & taiga tree line, this is photography built around genuine patience rather than a guaranteed encounter, & that honesty is exactly what keeps people returning. This is about why bears in this particular corner of boreal forest are worth going back for. [![A Wild Brown Bear Bathed In Golden Light Amongst The Cotton Grass, Photographed During The Natureslens Brown Bears Of Finland Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/one-of-the-large-bears-bathed-in-golden-light-amongst-the-cotton-grass-photographed-by-johnny-sodergard-during-the-natureslens-wild-brown-bears-of-finland-photography-holiday.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/one-of-the-large-bears-bathed-in-golden-light-amongst-the-cotton-grass-photographed-by-johnny-sodergard-during-the-natureslens-wild-brown-bears-of-finland-photography-holiday.jpg) ## Why does Viiksimo hold such a reliable brown bear population? The forest around Viiksimo forms an unbroken corridor of taiga running east into Russia, & that connectivity, largely undisturbed & rich in the berries, ants & carrion bears rely on through summer, is what makes this specific stretch of border forest so consistently productive for Brown Bear sightings. Hides here are positioned overlooking open meadow & lake margins where bears regularly come to feed & drink through the long July evenings, & Johnny’s years of working this exact ground mean the hides sit precisely where bear activity concentrates rather than simply where access happens to be easiest. ## Why does July’s near-endless light change how the sessions work? This far into Finland’s boreal zone in midsummer, true darkness barely arrives at all, & that near-continuous light stretches the working day into something closer to a single extended session than the sharply bounded dawn & dusk windows further south demand. A bear emerging from the tree line at what would be midnight further south can still be photographed in a soft, dusky pink glow, cotton grass lit low & warm across the meadow, & that unusual quality of light, sustained for hours rather than minutes, is one of the more distinctive rewards of working this far north in summer. ## Why does hide discipline matter more here than almost anywhere else? Sessions run long, often through a full night in the hide without disturbance, since bears here are wild, wary animals & the slightest noise or movement at the wrong moment can end a promising approach before a bear ever comes close enough to properly photograph. That sustained stillness, watching a meadow edge for hours before anything happens, is as much a part of what this trip teaches as any specific camera technique, & it is a discipline that transfers directly to hide-based photography anywhere else in the world. The reward, when a large male finally ambles out of the taiga & wades into the shallows of one of Viiksimo’s lakes, his reflection breaking cleanly across still water, makes the wait feel entirely worthwhile. [Wolverine](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/wolverine/) turns up at these same hides with genuine regularity, hurtling past at a speed that catches most photographers off guard the first time, & a resident population using the same forest edge means a returning guest often arrives already knowing roughly when & where a wolverine sighting is most likely, sharpening their reaction time considerably on a second visit. [Wolf](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/wolf/) sightings are rarer, a genuine border-forest specialist that only occasionally shows itself at the hides, but Johnny has recorded enough sightings over the years that a wolf is never entirely out of the question, & that possibility adds a current of anticipation to even the quietest sessions. ## What does the wider taiga forest add beyond the bears themselves? [White-tailed Eagle](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/white-tailed-eagle/) works the airspace above the lakes, occasionally drawing the attention of gulls determined to see it off, & the forest’s quieter residents, Red Squirrel working the hide surroundings & the boreal specialist birds moving through the pines, give a session something to focus on during the inevitable stretches when the meadow itself sits empty. Female Goldeneye leading chicks across still morning water, mist still lifting off the lake, is a gentler, more intimate subject entirely removed from the scale of a bear encounter, & it is exactly the kind of detail that guests on a repeat visit increasingly make time for once the pressure of securing a first bear image has already been satisfied. Crested Tit & other boreal specialists move through the pines around the hides in the early morning quiet, giving a small, close subject to work while waiting for the meadow to properly wake up, & that habit of using the slower stretches productively rather than simply waiting is something every guide on this trip actively encourages. ## Why does returning to the same hides change what a guest actually captures? A first visit to [Viiksimo](https://natureslens.co.uk/specific-location/viiksimo/) is dominated, understandably, by the sheer novelty of a wild [brown bear](https://natureslens.co.uk/photograph/brown-bear/) at close range, & most guests leave that first trip satisfied simply to have secured a clean, well-lit portrait. Return for a second or third July, though, & the conversation in the hide shifts noticeably toward behaviour & composition, working a mother with cubs moving together through the cotton grass, catching the exact moment a bear pauses to scratch against a tree, or waiting specifically for the golden, low-angle light that only holds for a couple of hours even during a long midsummer evening. Johnny has watched that shift happen with guest after guest, & it is precisely why he tailors a returning guest’s hide placement differently to a first-timer’s, prioritising the angles & light that reward patience over the more straightforward, front-on encounters a first visit is built around. ## Who tends to get the most from this particular trip? It suits photographers who are genuinely comfortable with long, still hide sessions & who understand that a bear encounter, however likely, is never guaranteed on any single night. The group is kept small, between four & five photographers, essential for keeping hide sessions quiet enough not to compromise a sighting, & it particularly suits anyone who has found more conventional wildlife-watching trips too fast-paced, since this is a discipline built entirely around sustained patience rather than covering ground. ## So what keeps photographers returning to Suomussalmi? It is the combination of a genuinely wild, undisturbed bear population & light that, this far north in July, simply behaves differently to anywhere further south, stretching a single evening into hours of workable colour. That instinct sits alongside the wider case we make for wildlife photography in [Finland](https://natureslens.co.uk/discover/europe/finland/) in [why photographers are drawn to Finland](https://natureslens.co.uk/article/why-photographers-are-drawn-to-finland/), & you can read more about the region’s habitat & species in our [field guide to Suomussalmi](https://natureslens.co.uk/field-guide/place/suomussalmi/). If you would like to talk through a July departure, [get in touch](https://natureslens.co.uk/wildlife-photography-holidays/about-us/contact-natureslens/) & [Johnny](https://natureslens.co.uk/about/johnny/) will explain what the hides are producing this season. - [![Illuminated By The Softer Evening Light This Puffin Poses For A Classic Skomer Image Photographed During The Natureslens Atlantic Puffins Of Skomer Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/illuminated-by-the-softer-evening-light-this-puffin-poses-for-a-classic-skomer-image-photographed-during-the-natureslens-atlantic-puffins-of-skomer-photography-holiday.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2018/11/16/puffins-of-skomer/) ### [Puffins of Skomer by Sue](https://natureslens.co.uk/2018/11/16/puffins-of-skomer/) November 16, 2018 Sue attended our Puffins of Skomer photography holiday in June & has kindly sent in some of her images to… - [![A Leopard Staring Down The Lens At A Waterhole At Kavinga Camp The Camp Used By Natureslens In Zimbabwe For The Wildlife Of Mana Pools Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/A-Leopard-staring-down-the-lens-at-a-waterhole-at-Kavinga-Camp-the-camp-used-by-NaturesLens-in-Zimbabwe-for-the-Wildlife-of-Mana-Pools-Photography-Holiday-300x225.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/09/21/why-is-eye-contact-in-wildlife-photography-so-powerful/) ### [Why Is Eye Contact in Wildlife Photography So Powerful?](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/09/21/why-is-eye-contact-in-wildlife-photography-so-powerful/) September 21, 2026 Eye contact in wildlife photography can transform a technically good image into something far more powerful. We look at how… - [![A Resting Puffin On The Snow Photographed By Alison Jenkins Who Will Be Leading The Natureslens Arctic Wildlife of Varanger Photography Holiday](https://natureslens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/A-resting-puffin-on-the-snow-photographed-by-Alison-Jenkins-who-will-be-leading-the-NaturesLens-Arctic-Wildlife-of-Varanger-photography-tour-300x200.jpg)](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/04/21/arctic-wildlife-of-varanger/) ### [Join us for Arctic Wildlife of Varanger in 2027](https://natureslens.co.uk/2026/04/21/arctic-wildlife-of-varanger/) April 21, 2026 Arctic Wildlife of Varanger reaches its peak in early April, & our fully redesigned 2027 photography tour is built around… In this articleJump to section 1. [Why does Viiksimo hold such a reliable brown bear population?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#why-does-viiksimo-hold-such-a-reliable-brown-bear-population) 1. [Why does July's near-endless light change how the sessions work?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#why-does-julys-near-endless-light-change-how-the-sessions-work) 1. [Why does hide discipline matter more here than almost anywhere else?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#why-does-hide-discipline-matter-more-here-than-almost-anywhere-else) 1. [What does the wider taiga forest add beyond the bears themselves?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#what-does-the-wider-taiga-forest-add-beyond-the-bears-themselves) 1. [Why does returning to the same hides change what a guest actually captures?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#why-does-returning-to-the-same-hides-change-what-a-guest-actually-captures) 1. [Who tends to get the most from this particular trip?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#who-tends-to-get-the-most-from-this-particular-trip) 1. [So what keeps photographers returning to Suomussalmi?](https://natureslens.co.uk/why-photographers-keep-returning/why-photographers-keep-returning-to-suomussalmi/#so-what-keeps-photographers-returning-to-suomussalmi) ### Author Next step ### Find your next wildlife photography holiday Browse small-group trips by destination, subject, season and photographic goal. 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