Maramureș lies in northwestern Romania, along the border with Ukraine. It is a region of hills, forests, valleys, wooden churches, carved gates, and villages where everyday life still carries visible traces of older forms of knowledge.
Some of its villages and wooden churches are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Others remain outside the usual routes, held in the memory of local communities rather than in guidebooks.
This workshop begins there…
…not with the idea of discovering a hidden world, but with the responsibility of looking carefully at a place where tradition, migration, faith, labor, and modern life continue to meet.
Our point of departure is Lucian Blaga’s Elogiul satului românesc, his 1937 reflection on the Romanian village as a spiritual and cultural space. We will not treat that vision as a monument. We will use it as a question.
What remains of the village Blaga imagined? What has changed? What is still alive, and what survives only as performance, memory, or image?
Over six days, participants will work through documentary photography, field observation, editing, sequencing, and the creation of a visual publication. The aim is not to produce picturesque images of rural Romania, but to build a body of work that listens to the place, respects the people who live there, and asks what a village can mean today.
Workshop instructors
The workshop will be led by Dorin Mihai and Sorin Onișor, two documentary photography authors with complementary visions.
Dorin Mihai brings a sensitive, intimate approach shaped by years of documentary work and based in Rimini, Italy. Sorin Onișor brings a deep knowledge of Romania’s villages, rural traditions, and visual culture.
Together, they will guide participants through fieldwork, environmental portraiture, ethnographic reportage, editing, and storytelling sessions, helping them build visual narratives grounded in observation, respect, and direct experience.
Cost and details
Number of participants: 4–8, to ensure personalized feedback.
Dates: July 28–August 2, 2026
Cost: €900.00
Bookings are confirmed only after payment of a €350.00 deposit by bank transfer. The deposit is fully refundable up to 20 days before the workshop begins. After that deadline, the deposit is non-refundable. The remaining balance must be paid before departure.
All participants will meet at Cluj-Napoca Airport on Tuesday, July 28, at 4:30 p.m. local time.
Participants are responsible for purchasing their own flights, but they will receive guidance throughout the booking process.
The workshop fee includes:
- accommodation, breakfast, and dinner in a traditional-style 3-star B&B
- rental of a 4×4 SUV
- return transfer to Cluj Airport
- personalized assistance throughout the workshop
The workshop fee does not include:
- round-trip flights to Cluj. Current prices are approximately €100 round trip, including one 20 kg checked bag. Flights to Cluj depart from Milan, Bologna, Venice, Rome, and Bari
- fuel used during the workshop, approximately €30 per person
- packed lunches
- health and accident insurance
- tips, if any
- entrance tickets to sites or museums, if any
Required equipment:
- digital camera and lenses. Wide-angle and/or normal lenses are recommended
- Type C/F plug adapter
- laptop computer
- comfortable shoes and waterproof clothing, including at least one change of clothes
For more information
- info@ayzoh.org
- Tel/Whatsapp: +39 328 388 7347
