Peru’s Sacred Valley and High Andes Photography Workshop

July 3, 2028: Arrival in Lima

Arrive at Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM), Lima, Lima before 4:00 PM today. Air travel delays are common. Please arrive early, possibly even the day prior, so you don’t miss any of the workshop.

Upon arrival, you’ll be met at the airport by a dedicated taxi and transferred to our hotel in Miraflores. After time to settle in following your international journey, we’ll gather this evening for introductions and a welcome dinner.

July 4, 2028: Flight to Cusco, Visit Pisac and Inkariy Museum

This morning, we fly from Lima to Cusco and begin our descent into the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

Our first photographic stop is Pisac, where vast agricultural terraces and Inca stonework climb the mountainside high above the valley. We’ll use the elevated viewpoints to explore how perspective, scale, and the repetition of the terraces can be used to build interesting compositions, while looking for ways to balance the human architecture with the natural landscape.

We’ll continue through the valley, stopping at the Inkariy Museum for context on Peru’s ancient Andean civilizations and the cultures that shaped the region, before settling into our hotel for the evening.

July 5, 2028: Sunrise at the Maras Salt Mines, Sunset at Moray Concentric Terraces

Our day begins early at the Maras salt mines, where thousands of individual salt ponds cascade down the mountainside. From above, the irregular shapes create an extraordinary patchwork of lines, textures, and tonal contrasts, while tighter perspectives allow us to incorporate the people who still work the ponds as part of their daily lives.

From Maras, we continue toward Chinchero and the community of Umasbamba, where we’ll spend time photographing traditional weavers. This is an opportunity to work with environmental portraiture, capturing gestures and details while learning about techniques passed down through generations.

In the afternoon and into sunset, you’ll photograph Moray, whose immense concentric terraces create some of the most graphic compositions of the Sacred Valley. We’ll work here as the light softens across the surrounding farmland and mountains, before heading back into town for dinner.

July 6, 2028: Explore Ollantaytambo, Train to Machu Picchu

We start the day in Ollantaytambo, one of the best-preserved examples of Inca urban planning in the Sacred Valley. We’ll photograph its monumental terraces and stonework before exploring the old town, where narrow cobbled streets, ancient walls, irrigation channels, and everyday life create opportunities for architectural and street photography.

After lunch, we board the train for Aguas Calientes. The route follows the Urubamba River as the landscape narrows and becomes increasingly lush, carrying us from the high Andes into the cloud forest below Machu Picchu.

July 7, 2028: Sunset and Sunrise at Machu Picchu

We begin from the elevated terraces above Machu Picchu, giving you time to photograph the classic relationship between the citadel and the surrounding mountains as morning light, cloud, and mist move through the valley.

For each visit, we’ll have our own privately chartered bus between Aguas Calientes and the entrance. That means we are not dependent on the regular public shuttle system or its queues. After our first session, we return to the hotel for lunch, rest, and an image-review session.

In the afternoon, we return for a second session, working from within the lower areas of the citadel as the light softens toward the end of the day.

July 8, 2028: Sunrise at Machu Picchu, Return Train to Cusco

We return to Machu Picchu early for a final session, giving us another opportunity to capture sunrise above this wonder of the world. We’ll combine broader viewpoints with time among the central terraces, plazas, and temples, allowing us to move between grand landscape compositions and more intimate studies of Inca architecture and stonework.

After lunch, we board the train back through the Sacred Valley to Cusco before resting up at our hotel.

July 9, 2028: Photograph Sacsayhuaman, Evening Views of Cusco

We begin above the city at Sacsayhuaman, where immense blocks of stone form some of the most impressive surviving examples of Inca masonry. From here, we move into San Cristóbal and San Blas, photographing across tiled rooftops, steep cobbled streets, colonial architecture, and scenes of everyday life.

After an afternoon break and image-review session, we head out again for the changing evening light over Cusco, photographing the historic center as the warm tones of sunset give way to the first city lights.

July 10, 2028: Fly to Anta, Cordillera Blanca

Today, we leave southern Peru behind, flying via Lima to Anta, the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range. 

After lunch, we head straight into the mountains. The road climbs through an increasingly dramatic landscape of deep valleys, glaciated peaks, and high-altitude terrain, eventually reaching viewpoints above 15,400 feet.

It is our first introduction to the immense scale of the Cordillera Blanca and a complete change in photographic pace from the first half of the workshop.

July 11, 2028: Experience Rural Andean Life, Afternoon at Lake Parón

This morning is devoted to documenting rural life in the high Andes. The exact activity will depend on what is naturally taking place at the time, allowing us to photograph genuine agricultural work and everyday life rather than a staged recreation. In the week before our visit, our local team will work with nearby communities to identify where harvesting or other seasonal activities are taking place and arrange for us to spend time photographing them.

After lunch, we drive toward Lake Parón, where intensely turquoise water sits beneath a wall of snow-covered mountains. We’ll remain through the afternoon as the light moves across the valley and stay into the evening, working with reflections, changing cloud, and the scale of the peaks surrounding the lake.

July 12, 2028: Explore Cordillera Negra

Today we explore the Cordillera Negra, whose drier slopes and broad views provide a striking contrast to the snow-covered Cordillera Blanca across the valley. Our route takes us through high viewpoints and rural communities, with opportunities to capture images of agricultural landscapes and everyday life along the way.

We’ll also photograph the extraordinary Puya raimondii, whose towering flower spikes rise above the high-altitude grasslands and provide unusual opportunities for near-far compositions of this plant in the wider landscape.

July 13, 2028: Sunset in the Llanganuco Valley

Because the morning sun rises on the wrong side of the mountain range for the compositions we want, we’ll take advantage of a more leisurely start to the day. After breakfast, we’ll have time for an image-review session before heading back into the mountains.

After lunch, we travel into the Llanganuco Valley, where brilliant turquoise lakes sit beneath glaciers and some of the most dramatic peaks in the Cordillera Blanca. We’ll work our way through the valley, stopping at different viewpoints and looking for both grand landscapes and more intimate details.

From there, we climb toward Portachuelo de Llanganuco, where sweeping views open across the surrounding peaks and valleys. We’ll remain through the late afternoon and sunset, using the strongest light of the day as it moves across the mountains before returning to the hotel after blue hour.

July 14, 2028: Flight Back to Lima, Farewell Dinner

After a relaxed morning, we transfer to Anta Airport for our flight back to Lima. This evening, we’ll gather for our farewell dinner, giving us time to look back over the journey and the extraordinary range of photographs we’ve made along the way.

July 15, 2028: Departure Day

Flights out can be made anytime on July 15, 2028.