Belgrade · 15-18 October 2026

RAW Photo Festival

Sardines Collective

Ten Artists. Immersive Workshops. Unlimited Creativity.

01

About the Festival

The RAW Photo Festival is an immersive workshop series offered by the ten international artists of the Sardines Collective in collaboration with local hosts and event co-founder and organiser Mia Mujović Van Vugt.

Alongside an engaged and passionate community of artists and photographers, over four days you will move through the complete journey of a photograph, from concept to creation, printing, and sharing your work alongside your lecturers and fellow photographers.

We celebrate slow and intentional image making, getting together in real life, learning and growing in our photography practice. The programme will combine concept building, practical shooting, editing, and final presentation. Digital and analogue shooters, all levels welcome.

The workshops and final presentation will take place at Naše More. Development and printing support will be provided by Karmir Lab in Belgrade city centre.

Your Lecturers

Ryan Muirhead

Ryan Muirhead

Born in 1981, Ryan Muirhead is a photographer based in Utah, USA. His work is defined by attentiveness. He is drawn to the space between posed and unposed, where people settle into themselves and something real surfaces. Working with analogue mediums, natural light, and a documentary instinct shaped by melancholy, his images feel both immediate and enduring. He has been featured in campaigns for Kodak Film and Leica Camera, and has collaborated long-term with American rock band The Used. His solo debut exhibition, Ghost-Shaped People, opened at the Leica Gallery in Boston. He believes the most compelling images are often the least planned.

@ryanmuirhead
Chantal Convertini

Chantal Convertini

Born in 1992 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Chantal Convertini is a photographer and artist who has lived and worked in Basel for over a decade. With a deep passion for film photography and portraiture, she points her camera most intimately at herself, and then at her loved ones, artist friends, and collaborators. Her work has been published in several print and online magazines and shown in group exhibitions across Europe. She has also collaborated on larger exhibition projects as both artist and curator, through Imagenation and KBH.G. At the heart of her practice is a tender, honest attention: to the beauty of people, the dance of available light, the expressive power of the body, and the raw vulnerability that makes a portrait true.

@paeulini
Shannon Tomasik

Shannon Tomasik

Born in 1991 in Michigan, USA, Shannon Tomasik is a photographer and artist currently living and working in Grand Haven, Michigan. Her analogue self-portraits move through the shadows of conflicting thoughts and vulnerabilities within the human experience, dark and quietly searching, offering a glimpse into the depths of her mind as she works to understand life and navigate its harder edges. Through shared vulnerability, she creates space for empathy, connection, and the quiet reassurance that we are not alone. Her work has been featured in Unvael Magazine and Collater.al. She is the author of the photobook Bright Shadows, with exhibitions spanning internationally including Paris, Milan, and Barcelona.

@shannontomasik
Felicitas Schwenzer

Felicitas Schwenzer

Born in 1995 in Germany, Felicitas Schwenzer is a photographer and researcher in medical psychology, currently living and working in Hamburg. She began her creative practice in 2020, quickly turning to analogue medium format and the endless possibilities of the human form. For Felicitas, depicting the nude body is one of the most timeless, intimate, and honest art forms. She often composes with more than one person, using reflection and intensified movement to deepen the image and sometimes arrive at a strange, unique beauty. Her goal is to desexualise the body, portraying it as both a work of art and a means of emotional expression. Her work has been published in several magazines and shown in group exhibitions in Basel, Paris, Vienna, and Orlando.

@oh_ophelia_
Lilia Maria Carlone

Lilia Maria Carlone

Born in 1991 in northern Italy, Lilia Maria Carlone grew up among the backstages of theatres and the shifting seats of a Volvo Polar, following a family of theatre-makers and musicians on tour. That ever-changing landscape pushed her toward an artistic path between video and photography. After settling in Milan at ten, she attended art-oriented schools and began working as a videomaker in 2011. In 2015 she graduated from the Civica School of Cinema and Television, continuing to work in the field of cinematography while simultaneously discovering film photography as a means of refining her visual voice. What began as a technical exercise became a full artistic practice. Since 2017 she has worked on film and TV series as a camera technician, while pursuing personal projects that have shaped her parallel career as a Director of Photography and photographer. Her vision is cinematic: frames that feel stolen from a film never made, where natural and artificial light conspire to tell a story in a single image.

@lilia.carlone
Catia Simões

Catia Simões

Born in 1989 in Brazil, Catia Simões is a photographer currently living and working in Turin, Italy. After graduating in law in 2015, she found in photography the purest way to express herself without using words. Her practice began as a personal response to panic disorder and generalised anxiety, which led to the creation of her sensitive self-portraits. Working with analogue photography, natural light, and striking shadows, her images carry a persistent sense of melancholy and nostalgia.

@_gingercake
Mayara Scudeler

Mayara Scudeler

Born in 1989 in Londrina, Brazil, Mayara Scudeler is a visual artist currently living and working in Turin, Italy. Working across analogue media, film photography, drawing, and clay, their practice is rooted in the figurative: body parts, lines, and icons. Mayara explores identity, the body, vulnerability, dysphoria, and balance through work that is intimate and made by hand. Their work has been shown in group exhibitions in Basel and Cagliari.

@cyan.linus
Joana Betzner

Joana Betzner

Born in 1997 in Spain and raised in the mountains, Joana Betzner is a photographer and filmmaker based in Barcelona, with extended periods in Toronto, Canada. Growing up close to nature shaped the way she perceives and moves through the world, and her work always focuses on the interconnection of nature, the feminine, and the spirit in all living things. Her work has been shown in exhibitions internationally.

@joanabetzner
Ellard Vasen

Ellard Vasen

Born in 1982, Ellard Vasen is a fine art photographer based in Amsterdam. His images have a sculptural, timeless quality: bodies stripped of contemporary context, posed and lit in ways that make the familiar feel momentarily unrecognisable. The process is playful and collaborative, and the results sit somewhere between planned and discovered. In portraiture, the intention shifts: less about shape, more about sincerity; that fraction of a second in which something genuine passes between subject and lens.

@ellard_vasen

Co-created and organised by

Mia Mujović Van Vugt

Mia Mujović Van Vugt

Photographer and filmmaker based between Serbia, Spain and the Netherlands, creating meaningful experiences around art and community.

@chrono_naut

Venue & Partners

Naše More venue in Belgrade

Naše More

A cultural space in Belgrade hosting the workshops and final presentation. An intimate venue that invites visitors to get close and connect with the work.

Your chefs will be Olga Marković and Anja Mijatović.

@nase.more.beograd
Karmir Lab in Belgrade

Karmir Lab

Professional lab in Belgrade's city centre. Karmir will print the photographs, supporting the final presentation through their craft.

@karmir.belgrade
Film services, prices & turnaround
Complimentary festival roll

Karmir provides complimentary development and scanning of one C-41 colour film roll per participant. Rolls must be handed in after Friday's group shoot to be ready for the group photo selection on Saturday at 12:00. Black-and-white film cannot be included in this Friday batch because its turnaround is longer.

Additional rolls and opening hours

You are welcome to develop and scan additional rolls, including black-and-white film, during your stay in Belgrade. Reception is open daily from 12:00 to 20:00. On Sundays the reception is open but the lab is closed, so Saturday drop-offs receive one additional day of turnaround.

Current price list
ServicePrice
Processing
C-41 / B&W600 RSD
ECN-2800 RSD
E-61,000 RSD
Push / pull+300 RSD
Scanning
Standard scan (4547 × 2940 px)600 RSD
High-resolution scan (6188 × 4145 px)800 RSD
TIFF+300 RSD
Turnaround
C-411 day
B&W3 days
ECN-22–5 days
E-6Up to 3 weeks
Push / pull+3 days
Printing1 day
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Workshops & Schedule

Participant Programme

15 to 18 October 2026 · Naše More, Belgrade

Thu

15 October · Workshop Day 1

09:00 to 10:00

Official Welcome & Introductions

An introduction to the festival, programme, and lecturers, followed by participant introductions and a chance to share what has brought everyone together.

10:00 to 13:00

Where to Start: Drafting a Concept for Sculptural Body Photography

Felicitas Schwenzer

The photograph begins long before the shutter. In this workshop, Felicitas Schwenzer guides participants through the process of concept development in sculptural body photography, and how to move from an instinct or feeling toward a clear, confident plan.

13:00 to 15:00

Lunch break

15:00 to 16:30

Exploring the Self-Portrait Through Your Hands

Mayara Scudeler

A self-portrait does not have to begin with a camera. In this drawing-based workshop, visual artist Mayara Scudeler invites participants to explore self-portraiture through analogue materials, paper, pens, paint, and the expressive power of marks made by hand.

16:30 to 17:00

Break

17:00 to 18:00

Closing Assembly

A final practical prompt, exercise, or homework to carry into the next day, before closing at 18:00.

Fri

16 October · Workshop Day 2

10:00 to 12:30

Self-Portraits: The Why and the How

Chantal Convertini & Shannon Tomasik

Self-portraiture is one of the most intimate and demanding forms of photography. This workshop, led jointly by Chantal Convertini and Shannon Tomasik, unpacks both the technical and deeply personal dimensions of the form.

12:30 to 14:00

Lunch break

14:00 to 16:00

Cinematic Light: Combining Natural and Artificial Light

Catia Simões & Lilia Maria Carlone

Lilia Carlone and Catia Simões share an eye trained by film sets and analogue frames. In this workshop they bring those two worlds together to explore what it means to build a cinematic image from scratch.

16:00 to 16:30

Break

16:30 to 18:30

Group Shoot

Proposed location: Kalemegdan (to be confirmed). A practical group shoot timed to include golden hour and sunset.

After the shoot

Drop off at Karmir

Karmir provides complimentary development and scanning of one C-41 colour film roll per participant. Please hand it in after Friday's group shoot so the scans are ready for Saturday's 12:00 photo selection. Black-and-white film cannot be included in this Friday batch because it requires a longer turnaround.

Sat

17 October · Connect & Create

09:30 to 12:00

Healing Through Photography

Joana Betzner & Shannon Tomasik

Some of the most powerful photographs come not from a technical decision but from a feeling that had nowhere else to go. This workshop, led by Shannon Tomasik and Joana Betzner, explores photography as a practice of healing, self-expression, and personal storytelling.

12:00 to 13:00

Photo Selection & Submission to Karmir

Participants select their final presentation photographs together, then send the chosen files to Karmir for printing.

13:00 to 15:00

Lunch break

15:00 to 17:00

Organising Your Photography in a Digital Age

Ellard Vasen

This workshop is for anyone who has ever opened their archive only to find a tangle of folders, renamed files, and missing masters. Ellard Vasen offers a practical framework for building a digital archive that actually works.

17:00 to 18:30

One-to-One Mentor Sessions / Free Time

Mentor Pass holders meet with the lecturer of their choice to create together, have a portrait taken, or receive a portfolio review. Other participants have free time before dinner.

19:30

Group dinner

Sharing stories, reflecting on the days, and simply being together.

Sun

18 October · Presentation Day

Morning

Presentation setup

Final prints are arranged and hung at Naše More, preparing the space for the presentation.

14:00 to 16:30

Ghost-Shaped People: Life, Love, Death and Art

Ryan Muirhead

Ryan Muirhead did not grow up thinking of himself as an artist. He came to photography in his late twenties, and what happened next shaped everything. In this presentation he shares images and stories from across his artistic journey.

17:30

Presentation opening

The presentation opens to the public, followed by an open conversation between the artists, participants, and visitors.

The final presentation will take the form of an intimate print installation, with small-format photographs in 10×15 cm, 13×18 cm, and 16×20 cm. The works will be hung unframed on steel wires, creating a simple, tactile presentation that invites visitors to come close, move slowly, and spend time with each image.

03

Tickets

Full Ticket

€780
  • Full access to all workshops
  • Group dinner
  • Group activity
  • Complimentary development of one colour film roll per participant, courtesy of Karmir Lab
  • Present your work alongside your lecturers and fellow photographers
Apply

Community Ticket

Sold out

Everything in the Full Ticket, offered at a reduced rate for students, early career artists, and anyone facing financial barriers.

Although this tier is now filled, we do not want financial barriers to be the reason someone cannot take part. If this applies to you, please email us at belgraderawphotofestival@gmail.com and tell us a little about your situation so we can see what might be possible.

Mentor Pass

€1,540
  • Full access to all workshops
  • Group dinner
  • Group activity
  • Complimentary development of one colour film roll per participant, courtesy of Karmir Lab
  • Present your work alongside your lecturers and fellow photographers
  • Private one-to-one Mentor Session with a lecturer of your choice

You'll be able to select your preferred lecturer in the application below.

Apply

Assistant

Filled

Participate in all workshops in exchange for supporting the festival. Roles include driver, wellbeing, and general on the ground help.

04

Apply

Thank you for your interest! Spaces are limited. Once you apply we'll review your details with care and get back to you as soon as possible.

Questions before applying? Write to belgraderawphotofestival@gmail.com