Making the Last Day Count
Today is the end of my excursion to Slovenia, I’ve been to many beautiful locations and traveled comfortably all the way. Sunrises were not always rewarding, but my first sunrise in Lake Bled was magnificent We were treated to a glorious, radiant, explosive view of the sun rising on Lake Bled. I posted that here. And today, I am posting my other most favorite sunrise for you to view.
Actually, it’s my favorite because it was not what was expected. See the little church on the hill to the left of center? The plan was for a rising sunbeam to illuminate that spot just as the sun rose over the mountain top. That never happened. Instead, this image was my 1st shot of the morning. As soon as I saw those trees with the fog behind them, I knew it would become a beautiful image.
Next Stop, City Center
The weather was clear and on the cooler side, just perfect for wandering around and enjoying the streets. But I was on a quest, I had only 18 hours left to enjoy Slovenia and I wasn’t going to waste much time eating or sleeping when I had exploring to do. And that’s exactly what I did. Moving through the morning Piazzas of Ljubljana, I remembered a building I wanted to visit; The National Library and I wanted to see it. I approached a busy entrance, tripod and camera bag in hand, thinking that many people are visiting today, it might be hard to get a great spot to photograph from.
But I didn’t let that stop me, patience, not my strong suit, helped me this morning as I waited and waited for that one 30 second window when hardly anyone was present. No sooner did my shutter close when a stream of Japanese ladies with a tour guide holding a stick moved a large crowd onto the staircase. I captured the vision of the Architect; the optical illusion of the mirrored entry appearing to float on a lake of seemingly still reflective water. Look closely, it’s not a reflection at all.
I was lucky that time, but luck wasn’t always on my side when it came to crowds. This time, I had my 30 seconds of perfection and I took it!
A Path to Heaven
After an incredible lunch at the outdoor markets I made my way to the incredible Ljubljana Cathedral; St. Nicholas’s Church. It’s green dome and twin towers were visible from almost anywhere on the river. I headed in that direction, ready to explore.
The Cathedral was delightfully quiet that afternoon, as I set up my camera for the Grand Finale of my trip. The massive Panoramic I’d been dreaming of since I visited quickly while walking by on the first day.
I set up my Sony A7r2 using my Sony FE16-35mm zoom lens lens dead center and I spend 10 minutes getting it level, then using a basic pivot movement, I made 8 vertical exposures from left to right, rotating 40% into the next frame, meaning I duplicate more than 1/2 of each frame into the next. This assures a quality stitch of the separate images into one cohesive image. Forty-Five minutes later, it was done and I had my prize, but I would not know for sure until I process the image.
To make a photo like this, it’s best to have a specific tool, a panoramic tripod adaptor will ensure you both level your tripod perfectly AND pivot on the center axis of your camera sensor. This ensures you get all the image area inside your sweep, so your panorama will appear perfectly surreal.
On our way to dinner, we stopped for “blue hour” to make one final exposure, it would be one of the most famous spots in the city; the 3 bridges.
Time To Go
And so it ends on that beautiful, temperate evening, standing alone in the streets of Ljubljana feeling filled with love for this city, over-tired, exhausted and ready to go home. With a 4:30 wake up call, I knew it would be a long travel day. Goodbye Slovenia, thank you for showing me your jewels, exposing me to your glory, your beauty, and your grace. To the people of Slovenia, you are truly world-class, and I don’t care if Americans have no idea where you are! 🙂
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