Croatia Photography and Istria Workshop

After Carey and ‘s first workshop in Croatia in October of 2015, I didn’t think our experience there could get any better, but our workshop return in 2016 proved us wrong. It feels like we get deeper into the richness of the beauty, culture, and food with each visit, and going back to the hilltop villa perched above the Istrian valley feels like going back home. There’s just something so incredibly comfortable, warm, and welcoming about that house, and the country as a whole, that just draws you back. The people, the food, the wine, the scenery…it really does make for the perfect workshop setting.

For this past workshop, we shot and styled set ups all around the house’s sprawling property, our subjects being delicious banana butterscotch bundt cakes and mini pies made by Linda Lomelino, with styling session tips from Marta Greber. The attendees were greeted with wrapped little welcome gifts placed on their beds, including chocolates, Heirloomed garden aprons, Facture Goods ceramic honey drizzlers, flake sea salt, and Nershi Woodworks wooden plates. We had delicious meals prepared by Carey, myself, and our insanely talented assistants Inge, Laurie, and Christiann, which were enjoyed at an ever-migrating dinner table that went from the front lawn to the beautiful stone shed to the covered patio and back. We shot with and ate off of intricately textured ceramic dishes handmade by local Croatian ceramicist Lidia Boševski. We wandered through the cobblestoned streets of the hilltop town of Motovun, with stomachs full of a rich Croatian lunch, and tried to spot our home nestled in the hills across from it in the distance. We learned firsthand how to open a bottle cap with our molars and also experienced some spontaneous tooth loss (which were, oddly enough, not related incidents). We visited Coronica’s vineyard and saw the deep red clay earth that gives the wines of that region their signature minerality, and were able to enjoy their range of vintages at their tasting room afterwards. And we finished it all off with a trek into some of the densest, most vibrantly green woods, following a pack of Croatian truffle dogs on a foraging expedition with Karlic Tartufi that began with our guide’s mother making us delicious truffled eggs and ended with an awe-inspiring chase through the woods. It was the best adventure of them all. A huge thank you to all of our attendees, Nikole, Anya, Joelle, Gia, and dear Dasha,  and especially to our new Croatian BFF attendees Maja, Anja, and Tamara for all of their help with the logistics and translating. I miss you all so much and am so thankful for having been able to spend 5 days with such a hilarious, talented, and beautiful group of women, inside and out.

And it is because of the magic of this special place that I’m going back again this year, for our third workshop in the same beautiful home, and this time I will be joined by my good friend Trisha Hughes of Eat Your Beets, as well as the incredibly talented Linda Lomelino from Call Me Cupcake. My Secret Supper partners-in-crime, Mona + Jaret of Tournant, will also be coming along to take full advantage of the giant wood-fired hearth in the house’s kitchen, and Danielle Firle will be joining to bring her sommelier skills to our wine tasting excursion in the fertile Istrian valley. We’d love to have you join us! You can register here or via the link below, hope to see you soon!!

SOLD OUT

A huge thank you to all of our sponsors for making this workshop possible!
Lidia Boševski Ceramics | plates, bowls, & glasses
Coronica Winery | wine tour + tasting
Karlic Tartufi | guided truffle foraging
Heirloomed | garden aprons for each attendee
Facture Goods | honey drizzler for each attendee
Nershi Woodworks | wooden plates for each attendee