Here is where we went:
Lake Bled - at the edge of the Julian Alps - is in a lovely little valley with an alpine village. As you can see, there was some serious snow last weekend. I've seen such sights many, many times, but it is the first time I've seen it here. We came here as a P-Day and welcome to President and Sister Field. They have been in the mission since July, but it was the first day they were able to get into Slovenia.
Sister Ashurst and I both were impressed by this building, which is the Municipal Building of Bled.
I am impressed with the artwork around the top floor. It depicts scenes of historic battles, Saints, and mythology.
We came farthest of all the Slovenia missionaries, so naturally we were the first ones there. Here is Sister Ashurst with Sisters Perry and King.
Slovenia often posts signs that has the country name as sLOVEnia, so that's why the heart. It's an obvious place for photos. And this one (below) is also typical. There are probably thousands - millions - maybe billions of photos like these laying about..
I have a new camera, a Nikon D3500, and I was playing with it, practicing the new skills I'm working on developing.
I was trying very hard to be artistic with this one, and have a soft background for the beautiful flowers. Trouble is, I was so focused on the focus that I didn't realize the photo is focused on a dead flower.
This one is better:
I also got shots of a couple of birds. Sadly, I don't know what they are, yet.
This one was all black, with a subtle bit of a top-knot. It acted just like an American robin. It's call was like that of a robin. It was eating little worms and bugs from the grass - just like a robin.
This guy was eating the red berries in a yew tree. I have been amazed at red berries on an evergreen tree, to begin with, but these are very interesting. The European yew is very different than the yews in America. It is deadly poison in every part, except for the fleshy part of the red berries. The berries look a bit like pine cones, but they are very, very sweet. They have a large-ish seed inside that is poisonous, and they are coated with sticky sap which is not.
This is the Slovenia Zone, plus President and Sister Field, plus the Assistants to the President. I am not in the photo because I couldn't remember how to set an auto timer, and forgot that I can use my cell phone to take remote photos while the camera is on the tripod. Just above Elder Port's shoulder is the church on the little island in the middle of the lake.
From there, the herd decided to walk around the lake. My knee was aching just then, so I declined to go. I took this one as they left:
As it turns out, they didn't circumnavigate either, so I could have gone, but I wouldn't have been able to keep up with them. I practiced with the camera instead.
The trees are in their fall colors; not as flamboyant as we remember from Utah, but nice anyway.
I took several photos like this one:
The point is to learn how to set the focus on a macro (closeup) photo so the background blurs out, thus emphasizing the thing you want emphasized.
On my way to meet everybody for lunch on the hill, I found a hotel that keeps honeybees. Slovenian beehives are kept in little buildings or sheds or shelters of various sizes. This one is a common size. It has fourteen beehives in it and the bees were flying in and out. The hives can be opened from inside the building. This one has a window for selling honey. The main door to enter the building is on the opposite side.
Two rows of seven hives, and you can see the famous bee boards with colorful folk art.
The restaurant where we had lunch was near the cathedral on the hill. It is impressive from down by the lake. Here is a closer view.
And here is the impressive door:
And for the grand finale, I present another macro shot, this time of a stunning moldy leaf:
I could have chosen an intact leaf, but that would just be boring.
1 comment:
Great job on the photos. I’m glad the move went well. V
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