Cappadocia Photo Tour 2023

Get ready for the most satisfying landscape and equine photography tour of the year! The Cappadocia Photo Tour will guide you through the best photo locations of Cappadocia’s unique, breathtaking UNESCO-protected landscape, formed by volcanic activity 60 million years ago.

Experience dozens of colorful hot air balloons floating in the sky above the iconic rock formations at sunrise. Get a taste of the experience yourself and shoot amazing photos of Cappadocia from the hot air balloon. We’ll dedicate enough time to capturing the local rugged landscapes from different vantage points.

More than 300 wild horses will surely make for a true highlight and a unique subject. Wild and semi-wild horses are led by experienced local cowboys. You will feel the ground shaking under your feet while your vision is obstructed by the huge cloud of dust illuminated by soft sunlight.

We will use horses as models on multiple shoots to add scale and give you another layer of interest to work with to make your images even more interesting.

We expect you to get a wide variety of images on this photography tour and thoroughly enjoy the extraordinary photo experience we have prepared for you.

No other photo tour in the region can match this one for its rich and varied itinerary put together by great local photographer Nuri Çorbacıoğlu and his team. Cappadocia has so much to offer to photographers like you!

As a bonus, you will taste delicious traditional Turkish cuisine that we believe you will fall in love with, along with Cappadocia as well.

September 23-28, 2023
5 days

3 395 EUR
Early bird price
3195 EUR

Small group experience
4 – 8 participants

Intermediate photography level.
Easy fitness level.

On the Cappadocia photo tour, we will regularly take advantage of soft light and shoot at sunrise and sunset. In addition to that, we have an interesting photographic program in place for the mid-day. You will also have the opportunity to learn how to make your images pop during our post-processing sessions.

The breathtaking landscape filled with valleys and unusual rock formations will be an omnipresent element on our photo tour. Each day we will dedicate at least one shoot to capturing its uniqueness. You’ll even get the chance to capture this beauty from a hot air balloon.

We will use horses as models on numerous occasions for our shoots. But by far the most interesting thing will be photographing a herd of about 300 wild and semi-wild Yilki horses led by local cowboys. They will perform a show for us to photograph.

Lake Tuz is a salt lake near Cappadocia and our subject for one sunset. Simple, minimalist shots with reflections are nice but we’ll bring along a couple of horses to shoot in soft late afternoon light. They make for a truly spectacular subject.

Ideally, we will all arrive in Kayseri on the same flight from Istanbul on September 23rd in the evening. We take a transfer to our stylish 4-star cave hotel in Cappadocia and enjoy the sleep after a long journey.

On day 1, we’ll take it easy and enjoy breakfast. After breakfast, we’ll get together to meet each other and go through the itinerary to give you more information on what’s happening in the upcoming days.

The structure for days 1 to 4 will be as follows: We always start with the sunrise shoot (except for Day 1), then we’ll have breakfast at the hotel. Our lunches will be between noon and 1 P.M. and we’ll finish each day with a late afternoon and sunset shoot.

The photo tour highlights will always take place at sunrise or sunset to use the best possible light.

Various activities await us during the mid-day, such as visits to the Zelve open air museum, an authentic pottery workshop to shoot evocative portraits of local artisans, exploration of an underground city, as well as some mid-day landscape photography of the fairy chimneys.

If somebody prefers to stay on firm ground as opposed to participating in a hot air balloon flight, there will be a photographic program for them to enjoy and shoot the scenery with the balloons in the air.

The daily break time will be typically after breakfast or before the sunset shoot for at least 1.5 hours.

After breakfast at the hotel, we will say goodbye to Cappadocia and move to the airport for our flights back home on September 28th.

To provide another benefit from this photo tour, we will also run post-processing sessions in Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. We will work on your own images from the tour and unlock their full potential.

Jan will take you on a journey from unattractive and flat photos to vibrant, appealing professional-looking pictures that will sell well.

In a short time, you’ll understand why editing your photos is so important and how to do it efficiently.

For post-processing sessions, we’ll use the time for rest and we’ll do it in small groups of two participants.

Upon request, we can also discuss various topics such as digital asset management,  backup workflow or anything else that’s of interest to you.

You will fly to the Kayseri Erkilet Airport. We will give you the recommended arrival and departure times, so you can use the included transfer between the airport and our hotel in Cappadocia. The Kayseri Airport is only a one-hour drive from Cappadocia.

We will use a comfortable Mercedes Sprinter with large windows and a spacious trunk for transportation (or another vehicle with the same standards) driven by a local professional driver for the entire tour.

Once your plane lands, we’ll arrange all transportation. You don’t have to worry about a single thing. The luxury van will have a cooler with bottled water for everyone to use freely.

Throughout the Cappadocia photo tour, we will stay in one 4-star hotel and it will be an experience on its own. We will stay in one of the finest cave dwellings in the region with warm and cozy rooms. We chose a hotel with high standards for you to enjoy and feel comfortable on our photo tour.

We arrange all your breakfasts and dinners (including soft drinks) from Day 1. Daily breakfast is included at the hotel. We try to use the best restaurants available in the areas where we will shoot. The chosen restaurants will always have an a la carte menu.

If you have any allergies or if you are a vegan or vegetarian, please, let us know when you make your booking so we can make arrangements according to your needs. Turkish cuisine is mostly based on meat.

Photo tour price: 3395 EUR early bird price 3195 EUR
Deposit: 800 EUR required to reserve your spot
Final payment / balance is due: June 15, 2023

The fitness level is easy. The Cappadocia photo tour involves some trail hiking and elevation gain to arrive at certain shooting locations. Some spots will be easily accessible from a parking lot or roadside. The trail hiking may be deemed moderate activity based upon the participant’s physical condition. In general, we will not walk more than 6 km (4 miles) a day. Anybody with regular fitness should not have any problems whatsoever.

Trail hiking surfaces and those beyond the parking lot are generally uneven – thus hiking boots are recommended. There is no climbing involved and more physically-demanding moments won’t last more than 1 minute and can only improve your composition, and are thus optional.

Participants do not need to be in prime physical shape, but one’s enjoyment will be based on good health and preparation. If unsure, please, consult with your doctor before attending our photo tour.

Intermediate photography experience is recommended. We expect you to know the basics of exposure and composition and be comfortable handling your own camera. Terms like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, or self-timer should be in your vocabulary.

If you’re unsure if this photo tour is right for you, get in touch with Jan.

It is better to have a jacket or polar and good hiking boots during the tour.

In September, the temperature averages around 23°C (73°F) during the day and regularly falls to 8°C (47°F) at night.

Sunrises are approximately at 6:28 and sunsets are approximately at 6:31pm on these dates.

Cappadocia Photo Tour is operated by Nuri Çorbacıoğlu İnşaat Med. Tur. Dan. San. Tic. Ltd Şti. with directions Mevlana Mahallesi, Taslak Sokak, No: 13/42, Talas-Kayseri, Turkey.

Hashtag Travel Agency is the agency we work with on this tour.