Photo Expedition to
Mystical Javakheti
Discover the ancient land of Georgia with your lens, with the first-ever photo expedition in mysterious Javakheti, one of the most remarkable and least-known parts of Georgia. This unique workshop on the road blends portrait, landscape, and social photography. Led by Georgian artists and photographers Ana Patladze and Elene Glonti, and Ukrainian wine specialist Anna Popruga, this adventure will hone your skills while Georgia enchants you.
Ana and Elene are an artistic duo and lifelong friends, who have spent years working inside and outside Georgia. Our wine expert Anna has been working with Georgian winemakers village by village and has an intimate knowledge of Georgia's gift to the world. Our expedition is an initiation into the real Georgia, starting in our magical capital city Tbilisi, and then venturing into the two southern regions of Javakheti and Meskheti. Locals will guide us to and through the hidden treasures of their countryside, gastronomy, and legends. A better situation for the joys of photographic practice can hardly be imagined.
Join us by clicking the button below!
June, 2024 - 750$
During our days in Tbilisi, we will focus on street photography as we explore the town, old and new. We will also explore it narratively by hearing the unique Tbilisi tales of Georgia’s best contemporary writer.
In Javakheti we will visit its secluded towns and will hone our skills in social and portrait photography. We will rest and discuss at St.Nino nunnery in Poka where our lunch will prepared from wholly local foods in the monastery by the charming nuns who live and work there.
The next day in Meskheti we will discover a magical haven in the cave town Vardzia for still Life photography, discuss our work, have a masterclass and do some shooting inside the ancient caves.
For the unscheduled part of the tour, participants are free to explore and experiment.
On our last day, back in Tbilisi, we will have a final masterclass with leading Georgian photographer Giorgi Shengelia about developing and experimenting in the darkroom.
Not only will we print our own photographs from the tour, but we will be able to infuse them with different meanings and expressions through the darkroom experimental techniques we learn in the masterclass.
Included
Not included: flight, insurance, airport-hotel pick up and drop off.
Ended
2100 ქართული ლარი
The first-ever photography workshop expedition in Javakheti
In all of Georgia’s long and heavy history, Javakheti has probably been one of its most suffering regions. Its borders were closed up until 1991 even within Georgia - resulting in a region only two hours from Tbilisi but deeply isolated from the rest of the country. But its people are resilient. Mystical Javakheti offers breathtaking views, deep cultural roots counting back to 12th century B.C., a mosaic of people of different ethnic groups and religions living in the same villages on the coast of lakes that seem to flow within one another forming a road leading our expedition to Vardzia - a monastery of caves where 500 monks once used to live and pray in the middle ages.
The famous Silk Road connecting Europe and Asia ran through Javakheti. Georgia is believed to be the cradle of wine and wheat, specifically born in the region of Javakheti. Javakheti's history is transparent in its present. For us, it is crucial to see and show the real stories, the real people behind these landscapes, to live with, work with, and celebrate the locals, where we will have the chance to touch their lives and learn from them while enjoying their gracious hospitality as we hone our photographic craft.
The first floor of the Writer’s House Tbilisi is the cultural mecca of today's Georgia, the evenings and nights are booked up with cultural gatherings, poetry readings, and discussions, and the second floor offers you the Museum of Repressed Writers of Georgia, and the third floor is a residency, making it the best place to stay and experience both the contemporary cultural life of Georgia and its historical past. The trip will start with a welcome breakfast at Writer’s House Garden and a guided tour of Tbilisi by one of its greatest writers.
Join us on this amazing journey, let's explore "where do we come from, and where do we go.... "
