PARO, BHUTAN
PARO TSHECHU MASK FESTIVAL
STREET & DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP
19th March – 23rd March 2027
Paro Tshechu is Bhutan’s biggest festival. For a photographer, it is colour, ritual and community in one place. Sacred mask dances in the courtyard of Paro Dzong. The giant Thongdrol unfurled at dawn. Families in their best gho and kira. Along with the festival we will also spend time with daily life in Bhutan. We’ll balance the big festival moments with everyday stories, through guided street and documentary practice.
What we’ll do- Festival immersion: Photograph the mask dances, the Thongdrol, the spectators and the crowds of pilgrims in traditional dress.
- Street life: Walk Paro’s old markets, vegetable markets, winding lanes and the town itself. Visit the local fairs, the monasteries beyond the dzong and a nunnery.
- Mentorship: Daily photo walks, evening reviews and group talks.
Why travel with me
Hi, I’m Komal. I’m a street and documentary photographer. I spent over twenty years in advertising across Southeast Asia, where I learned how a single picture can tell a story. Now I teach that and I love to share my passion for photography. I’ve co-authored three photography books, and my work has been exhibited both internationally and in India.
My workshops are small and hands-on. With so few of us, you get my time. We’ll learn to see, to wait, and to find the story in the big moments and the small ones. Expect daily guidance, honest feedback, help with editing, and plenty of time to shoot, think and talk, all while living inside the culture of Bhutan.
I want you to go home with an experience you’ll remember and pictures that feel like yours.
Fee: 4-day workshop
Foreign nationals: USD 550
Indian nationals: INR 50,000
Included: Mentorship fees.
50% advance reserves your spot.
Not included: Accommodation, airfare, food and drinks, travel insurance, transport, taxe and any other expense not listed above. Bhutan government taxes and levy apply.
Join me in Bhutan for an unforgettable journey!
Connect on: Instagram DM: @Kobeso / Whatsapp: +91 9599775148 / Email: komalbsohal@gmail.com
TRAVEL DIARIES: Paro Mask Festival: 30 March to 3 April 2026
Day One
Alarm at 2 a.m. in Gurgaon. Chaos at the Delhi airport. Two hours later, we were in Bhutan. The weather was almost perfect. Cool air, clean light, mountains all around. Kunzang, our guide, was waiting. We had coffee and croissants in the old bazaar and went straight to the festival. No easing in. Devotees who had gathered from all around the country had taken their seats and the dance had begun. Rhythm, colour, masks, movement, happy faces everywhere.
The evening was a children’s park. Bouncy castles, face paint, golden light. Laughter nobody was performing.
Day TwoWe drove up to a nunnery high in the mountains. Young girls live here, many of them orphans. Some come at three or four and grow up to be nuns. The girls are what stayed with me. Warm, open, settled, despite what brought them here.
Then the Paro vegetable market. Here, photography stops being a decision. It becomes instinct. Then back to the festival, where the crowd moved like a tide.
Day ThreeBack to the nunnery. The first time, we saw many of the girls barefoot in the cold. So we brought warm socks. We spent a lovely morning with them.
Then a boys’ monastery higher up the mountain, and back down to the festival. Bright costumes. Children playing. Monks and high priests walking back into the dzong. We stayed for the closing procession. You could feel the energy.
Day Four At dawn, the giant embroidered thongdrel was unfurled. It is believed to cleanse anyone who simply sees it. A crowd goes very still before something sacred. Then the scroll opened and the whole ground seemed to breathe out.
The King walked through the crowd, so warm that there was no distance between ceremony and people. Gho and kira, colour everywhere, prayer beads moving through fingers. We weren’t photographing an event. We were inside it. The afternoon slowed down and we sat with the devotees.
In the evening, the children’s park again. Laughter in place of chants. A whole arc of life in one day.
Day FiveBreakfast at the hotel, overlooking the river. Slow and quiet. Then the flight back. It’s rare for a trip to feel complete. This one did. It got under my skin and stayed there.
