Slovenia - day 6

By the time I got to bed last night I was not feeling at all well, but the wonders of a couple of paracetamol and a solid night’s sleep, albeit it only 5.5 hours, resulted in me feeling much better when I woke up this morning. 

We went to a location above Lake Bled to photograph the sunrise and the mist lake below, but the location was not great so once the sun rose we headed back down to photograph the church on the lake in Lake Bled which resulted in some amazing photography - perfect light, soft colours, thick mist - it was quite magical. I have so many photos from this location, as the light changed from soft pinks as seen here, to the more golden colours that came later. In the extras is one of the tiny ferry boat to the island which could hardly be seen in all that mist. It was one of my best mornings for photography and I have many images from this shoot that I really like. 

After breakfast we had a couple of hours to relax, as this is our last full day, so we packed as we won’t have time tonight after the sunset and dinner.

People often ask if I learn things on a photography workshop. The short answer is that I don’t. Photography workshops are more about being taken to the right locations to photograph something. Although all photo leaders say they offer tuition, in reality they don’t, most offer advice when asked but it is not an ongoing teaching session. On this workshop we were sometimes dropped off at locations and left to do our own thing which I don’t mind, as it means your photos are your own creation. The advantage of a workshop is that in a limited time period you can be taken to the right location in the right conditions to get the best photos. You have some laughs along the way and meet some nice people, so while I find them very tiring, they are enjoyable. Landscape photography is all about the light so early sunrises are necessary if you want to get above average images.

We went back to photograph the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows on Bukov vrh hill, but when we got there the light was very flat. So we sat and waited for about an hour, eating our packed lunch while we waited. We were rewarded with some lovely light that broke through the clouds, as can be seen in the second extra. Then on to photograph a church in the woods, St Primoz.

We tried to photograph a beautiful double bell towered church  - St Volbenka Church - earlier this week but there was a wedding shoot going on outside so we were unable to do so. We attempted to photograph it again today, but again there was a wedding in progress with the wedding party enjoying drinks outside the church. However we went back much later and captured the last of the late afternoon light on the church which was lovely - see last extra.

We had our final supper tonight at a very special restaurant in Bled in a cellar. At dinner one person in our group announced that today was her 60th birthday and she had ordered a bottle of champagne for all of us to enjoy, which was a lovely way to finish off our week.

We are departing at 5.30am tomorrow to drive back to Venice airport for our flight home. It would have been easier for me to fly home from Ljubljana but most people on this workshop come from the midlands and there is no direct flight from Birmingham/Manchester to Ljubljana, which is why we are flying via Venice. It has been a tiring week but I am very pleased with the photographs I managed to get on this workshop.