Sri Lanka
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Documentary photography & film · February 2027

Ten days inside Sri Lanka

Take the thing you love doing somewhere that gives it back.

A harbour before sunrise. The patient work inside a small workshop. A conversation at a market that turns out to be about something else entirely. Ten days, a handful of places, and enough time to look past the first image.

You will not shoot much on the first morning, and that is the point. On the first day you are a stranger with a camera. On the second they stop noticing you, and that is when the work starts.

You can work with a stills camera or with film — you choose. There is time to shoot, time to put the camera down, and time by the sea to think about what you have seen.

The market hall before sunrise
Working the coir fibre by hand
The beach at the end of the day

Films

Four conversations and one game

Not workshop samples — my own work from the island. They show what is available there, how you approach people, and that it is genuinely possible to talk to them.

material in progress
Interview · subtitles

The man who cuts what you bought

March 2026 Beruwala fish market

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The fishermen at Wasana Beach
Interview · subtitles

The fishermen at Wasana Beach

February 2026 a short walk from the base

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material in progress
In the edit

The cinnamon oil works

February 2026 two vats, four workers

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material in progress
In the edit

The fireworks yard

February 2026 a workshop in a garden

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Cricket
Side project

Cricket

March 2026 for Jonty Tours

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Chapter 01

The roadside forge

Archive 2019 three blacksmiths by the road

The roadside forge
Workshop wall hung with tools
The tool wall. None of it was bought — they made all of it themselves.
A blacksmith's feet and a hammer on the ground
Waiting for the iron to come up. This is the frame a tourist never makes — it means standing still.
Hands over a bowl
Hands. Always hands.
Interior of a house, an older woman and a child
The house across the road.

Chapter palette

As far as we know this forge has closed. So it is here as an archive, not as a promise.

You would have two mornings here. The first so they stop noticing you, the second for the conversation.

The fish market at half four

Chapter 02

The fish market at half four

February 2026 fishermen before a two-month trip

The market hall with sellers
The hall before sunrise. In two hours there will be nobody here.
A man holding a large fish
The moment someone lets you in — he looks into the lens.
A fish seller sitting by his scale
A pause between two customers.
A seller under a price board
Prices go up in the morning and get rewritten by the afternoon.

Chapter palette

Out at four, back at the hotel by eleven. The rest of the day is yours.

You won't have time to think about your settings here. That is rather the point.

Locations

Thirteen places. You will work in three or four.

Not a list of sights. Places where they know me, or where Amal can take us. Each one says honestly whether it was confirmed on the last trip, or comes from an older archive we are still checking before the workshop.

Fishermen at Wasana Beach

Fishermen at Wasana Beach

Confirmed · February 2026
The fish market

The fish market

Confirmed · February 2026
The local produce market

The local produce market

Confirmed · February 2026
material in progress

The cinnamon oil works

Confirmed · February 2026
material in progress

The fireworks yard

Confirmed · February 2026
material in progress

Gem mining in the river

Confirmed · February 2026
Roadside shops

Roadside shops

Confirmed · February 2026
Coir rope making

Coir rope making

Archive 2019 · confirming
The coir fibre farm

The coir fibre farm

Archive 2019 · confirming
A family after the tsunami

A family after the tsunami

Archive 2019 · confirming
A family on a river island

A family on a river island

Archive 2019 · confirming
The primary school

The primary school

Archive 2019 · consent pending
The roadside forge

The roadside forge

Archive 2019 · likely closed

How it works

Ten days, in pairs, with someone who knows the way in

  1. 01

    Ten to twelve people, working in pairs

    Never one big group photographing the same scene. Each pair gets a local guide with a tuk-tuk who handles transport, timing, translation and the introduction.

  2. 02

    You pick three or four subjects

    Not all thirteen. We match them to you — a quieter person to a household, a bolder one to the street. Typically two days per subject: the first for the place, the second for the person.

  3. 03

    Fieldwork in the morning, the day is yours

    Out at four for the market, back around eleven. The rest of the day is for working through what you got, for the sea, or for a one-to-one with me.

  4. 04

    We look at the material together in the evening

    Every other evening the group sits down with a projector. We go through what you shot, pick what works, and decide where each story goes next.

  5. 05

    You leave with a documentary story of your own

    A photo series or a short film — yours, not a set of postcards that everyone else on the trip also has.

The base

Aida — The Queen Palace

Induruwa Galle District on the beach

Everyone gets their own room — nobody shares with a stranger. A room with a projector for the evening sessions. A partner or family can come with you and have their own programme.

Accommodation on the beach among palms
Placeholder — to be replaced with the hotel’s own photographs.
The beach with fishing boats
The fishermen pull their boats up a few metres from breakfast.
The coast from above
The beach is long — it never feels crowded.
Awaiting material

Rooms, the meeting room, interiors and the hotel’s own film. We have permission to use their original photographs — they still need to be requested.

Bringing someone

A partner or family can come with you

While you are in the field, we can arrange a separate programme for them — or none at all, if the beach is the point. Children get their own room. Tell me on the call and we will work it out.

Price

Confirmed before anyone pays anything

I am still closing the arrangements with the hotel and the local partners, so I am not publishing a number I might have to change.

Planned to include
Workshop guidance, local guides and transport, your own room with breakfast, evening sessions, selected activities
Not included
Flights, insurance, personal expenses
Dates
February 2027 · ten workshop days

Applying

I am not selling places. I am choosing people.

You cannot buy this workshop with a click. We talk first — twenty minutes, so you know what you are walking into, and so I know who I am bringing to the families who let me in. Ten to twelve people.

Book a call

Led by Jan Varchola, with Lenka Varcholová and our local partner Amal. Who we are →