Albania: October 2026
An intensive project-based workshop
Albania! One of our favorite countries to visit and photograph. We’ll be holding our fourth workshop here in the fall of 2026. Elena has Albanian roots and deep knowledge of the country. Dan returns for the spectacular scenery, delicious raki, and astonishment around every corner. Suffice it to say, we love Albania and want to share it with you.
This workshop is designed around photography and cultural immersion. In addition to our daily assignments, one-on-one and group sessions, we’ll also be discussing a wide variety of tools that will help you expand your work and reach a wider audience.
Cultural Heritage / Natural Beauty
Tirana
We’ll begin in Tirana, the new capital of cool, bathed in color and with a stunning mix of contemporary architecture and communist-era buildings. Here, eras collide. We’ll shoot Skanderbeg Square, the center of life in Tirana, which is also home to an 18th-century mosque and minaret, a domed Albanian Orthodox church, a set of government buildings that echo the fascist architecture of Mussolini’s Italy and a Brutalist monolith that houses the National Historical Museum. We'll see the newly opened Secret Surveillance Museum and Bunk’Art, Dictator Hoxha’s five-story underground nuclear bunker, and much more. Tirana also has incredible restaurants and cafes, street markets, photo-rich parks and out of the way places where the city's denizens gather and live.
Albanian artist friends and photographers will also share their stories and work with us.
We’ll spend the first two nights at a centrally located four star hotel with a pool and spa.
Valbona / Albanian Alps
From Shkoder we’ll take a ferry through Albania’s incredible fjords, and disembark near Valbona National Park. Sometimes called ‘Switzerland without the crowds’, the Accursed Mountains are a stunning landscape of limestone peaks, alpine forests, rushing snow-melt river and wild horses. Located in the country’s far-north at the borders of Montenegro and Kosovo, the mountain range encompasses two of Albania’s most popular national parks: Valbona Valley and Thethi.
Photographing Valbona will be a highlight, with soaring peaks, fields of wildflowers, traditional village life and amazing light. Remote and relatively undiscovered until the fall of communism in the early 90's, there were no paved roads and no visitors to this region until about ten years ago. This place is incredible.
Our home here for three nights will be our favorite inn with a fantastic patio, great views and delicious food. Here, we’ll spend ample time reviewing our week’s work and teaching the many ways in which you can expand your creativity and audience.
From Valbona we’ll drive back to Tirana through Prizren, Kosovo, adding another dimension to our trip.
Our last two nights will be spent in Tirana, finalizing and presenting our projects, and enjoying our last days.
Berat
Often called the City of a Thousand Windows, Berat is a beautiful, high stone city and a UNESCO World Heritage site, designated for its collection of white ottoman houses. Here, we’ll wander and shoot throughout the cobblestoned streets of the old town and Boulevard Republika, stepping back in time with historic churches, ruins, traditional restaurants and stone houses scattered across the hilltops. At sunset, we'll climb up to the fortress walls, offering sweeping panoramas over the Osum River, the Gorica Quarter, and the endless mountains beyond. Berat also has some of the best food in all of Albania.
We'll spend one night in a central, historic hotel
Shkoder
From Berat we’ll head north to Shkoder, one of the most ancient cities in the Balkans, and the gateway to the Albanian Alps. A personal favorite of ours, Shkoder has a truly unique personality: urban and cultured yet relaxed with incredible vistas of the lake and mountains. Here, traditional music and arts still flourish. We’ll photograph life on Shkoder’s streets, sometimes accompanied by the city’s freely wandering horses. We’ll climb up to the ancient Rozafa Castle, for a 365 sunset view. Shkoder also has the Marubi museum of photography, which tells the visual history of Albania - truly beautiful and insighful.
Because Shkoder is the bike capital of Albania, we’ll also rent bikes (for those who wish), and ride along scenic Shkoder Lake where we’ll stop to swim, and visit some of the last female weavers in the country.
We always stay at a lovely traditional inn with a great courtyard, live music and wonderful food
Details & Pricing
Pricing includes single accommodations for ten nights; breakfast and seven group dinners; activities and entrance fees for everything on the itinerary; all in-country transportation and guides
For more information, payment options and other questions, please email directly
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Carefully selected hotels & inns
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Private in-country transportation & dedicated drivers
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All breakfast & 7 dinners
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Local Tour Guides
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All museum and public entrance fees
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Photography instruction and discussions
(both private and group) -
Pre-workshop notes and logistical assist
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Post-workshop Zoom review
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Physical level: active, including hiking
What's Included
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Airfare to and from Albania
(but we’re happy to help with booking your flight) -
Travel & medical insurance
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Activities outside the itinerary
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Alcohol other than wine
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Any fees or charges that you incur as a result of you canceling this trip once you have made a reservation
What's Not