Photo of the Week: Guest House in the Albanian Alps, Thethi, Albania

Image/text by Gent Mati
27 December 2009

I took this picture on an early September afternoon in 2008, on a week-long trip to shoot a documentary on the Albanian Alps.

We had walked the whole day to reach the far northern alpine village of Thethi by crossing the Valbona Pass (almost 2000m, on an elevated trail surrounded by magnificent mountain peaks that overlook sheer glacier valleys.

The house of the Terthorja family (pictured above) was our destination – a guesthouse where we could rest and spend the night. It is located in the centre of the Thethi valley and most likely has the best panoramic setting of any of the other houses of this typical Albanian mountain village.

From the viewfinder of my trusted and relatively lightweight EOS 400D, I framed this ‘oasis of tranquility’ in the middle of the Bjeshket e Namuna (Accursed Mountains) as it was slowly flooded by sunset light – to remind me of such a reward after a long, remote and beautiful walk!

Camera: Canon 400D
Lense: Sigma 17-70; F 2.8-4 Macro
Shutter: 1/250
Aperture: f/4.0

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