In June 2004 international creative young photographers' camp took part. To say in other words, a group of students from Riga and their teacher Gunta Andersone, taking into account the bilateral agreement, came to Vilnius, Lithuanian Youth Technical Creativity Palace ready to make friends, expand their horizon and learn something new.

    (From the diary)

    The 1st day
    Start. From The Palace yard we are leaving for Trakai. We are not friends yet. We don't know yet that we will introduce near the lake: teachers will present us, we'll tell our names and all the introducing incobveniences and discomfort will vanish.
    … Here we are in Trakai. The fact that many Latvians, but not all Lithuanians had already been at Trakai museum before, astonished and made us smile. It was a chance to some of us to see monuments of our country. We visited all the halls and yards, went around the castle by boat. Students soaked in impressions and good feelings and photographed a lot - now we have all photos in a compact disc.
    After the hearty work, we were very happy there was 'kibininė' (some kind of café) in Trakai - everyone swallowed up a few 'kibinai' (Karaite national dish of meat and paste; Karaites lived in Lithuania since the end of XIV century). Latvian girls regreted there were no dishes like that in Latvia.
    …We are in the bus again. We took a turn of work, got new skills, so there was time to have some fun. We went to a recreational place, the master of which was model sports devotee. In this 'Lithuanian technical Disneyland' we enjoyed watching radio controlled models of ships and airplanes, learnt something about the difficult creation of these 'toys'. The time was passing violently. We had lunch, then had a game ball and swung a little. Nobody refused shooting with the air-gun. And, of course, we made a lot of photos, because real photographer never looses his hold of camera!
    It's sad but everything has the end. Evening was coming on and we were coming back to Vilnius thinking: the day was fun.

    The 2nd day
    The next morning we met near the supermarket 'Europa'. No, we had no aim to go shopping. We wanted to lift to the review site, from where almost all Vilnius is in sight. We lifted upstairs and admired bird's-eye view, a little foggy. More than half Vilnius city stretched in front of us (even more than from the Gediminas Castle) All photographers agreed it was amazing. But looking and photographing are different things, you know. Protective glass fence, making practically no influence on eye but giving veil, hindered us from photographing.
    Later on we went for a walk in Vilnius. We had a point "Vilnius in the guests' sight" in our program, so with cameras in our hands we got going round the Old Town. We talked a lot, took a rest at 'Užupis restaurant'. Visit to photoartist Saulius Paukštys was planned in the afternoon but by chance we met him at 'Prospektas Gallery', where he was preparing his works for the exhibition. We were rapt. Oh, his photos were charming and shocking, sticking in memory, unforgettable (but let the art critics better speak about his works). Artist was cagey, but the arranged meeting the next day in his studio was still in force.

    The 3rd day
    In the morning we came to Saulius Paukštys photostudio. So what? Will the silent artist say something? At first pauses between our questions and his answers were really uncomfortable. Actually, we got somehow confused. We were baffled… Thanks to God and our teachers, the ice slowly, but was melting... Communicating gathered full speed. Artist showed us his technique, commented the work at photostudio. It was amazing: not many words, but they were pointed and straight. S. Paukštys let us try to photograph. Well, our meeting passed successfully.
    All photos are saved in the compact disc. Supporters printed the most interesting ones and presented to their authors. The works were exhibited in Riga.
    The official part of our meeting we ended with the bowling competition. But nobody wanted to part. We decided to spend time without teachers (though they let us go). In the late evening guests felt hungry, so we went to café. All agreed that 'cepelinai' are delicious (Lithuanian national dish: big dumplings made of potato dough ant minced meat). We rounded off the evening with a dance in one of the clubs.
    Now it's our turn to go to Latvia. We hope we'll enjoy our trip, too.

    Asta Dovydėnaitė
    Lithuanian Youth Technical Creativity Palace
    Photostudio