Fotokamp @ Tolmin – report

Last weekend I was running a photo camp at Labrca near Tolmin. We were photographing sporting activities such as whitewater rafting, mountain-biking, kayaking, mini rafts, and canyoning. Read more

The Wacky Wabbits

Too busy lately to post anything even though I have tons of new photos to show. Spring is here, my first group is already on the way back home and new guests arriving. This is why I am posting just a few shots of these wabbits so you know I am still alive;) Read more

End of Winter for me…

Last few months have been very busy for me and this is the main reason I haven’t been posting as often as I used to. Most of the time I was (and still am) working on Photography Tours project and the result of hard work was the Creator award we received in December.

Read more

On the Safari in East Africa – part I?

East Africa is one of my favourite places I’ve ever been. Its wildlife, landscapes, people and pure wilderness itself gets under your skin and you can never forget this unique place on Earth. I’ve been there many times guiding safari expeditions and vacations on Zanzibar island. Read more

Flight over Julian Alps

Julian Alps is one of my favourite places in Slovenia. The scenery is extremely beautiful at all times of the year and I’ve already spent a lot of time there photographing. This October I had an opportunity to experience this beauty from totally different perspective – from the air. As a part of the Autumn colours photo tour run by my company Adriatic2Alps (the website is being renovated) we flew two times; from the Lesce airport and from Bovec. On the first flight we were three photographers on board, Mary, Ana and myself. Read more

Adriatic to Alps

Židana marela did it again! Here is a completely new tourist offer for Slovenia and Croatia! Last year I received a lot of email regarding photographing in Slovenia and Croatia. For some people I organised a tour tailored to a photographer’s needs. The idea was born and the tours were a success.
Read more

Lake Bled – a bit differently

Bled is one of the most photographed highlights of Slovenia. No wonder – the place is just calling for it! When you look at the postcards and tourist brochures it seems it is impossible to make some unique shots. Well, there is always a way to get a different photos – you just have to find it.
Read more

Old Water mill on Mura River

On the way back home from Prekmurje I stopped at Verzej, a small town on the right side of the Mura river. There is one of the two water mills that are still left on the river. The one of Babic family is still operating in a traditional way and I wanted to make some photos of it. When I arrived only the miller’s wife was there and she was quite reserved. Her husband Vladimir joined us shortly and he was kind enough to take me around.
Read more

Magic pills!

These pills are way better than Viagra sir!
Read more

Sufi dancing in Cairo

Cairo, the capital city of Egypt is one of the most fascinating places I’ve ever been to. Chaos at its best; polluted air, traffic jams, rubbish everywhere, all the smells of the world, street touts – it all adds to the great atmosphere of the city. I really enjoyed Cairo this new year’s holidays and one of the things I liked the most was the Al Taura Troupe and their Sufi dance performance. Actually I’ve seen them couple of times before, but this time I had my camera with me, so I used the opportunity to make some shots.

Read on for more photos and information about the show.
Read more

A voyage down the river Styx

In Greek mythology, the “River Styx” is a river which formed the boundary between Earth and the Underworld, Hades. Last week my father and I visited the Krizna cave (Križna jama) in Notranjska region, Slovenia. A very interesting guy invited us to accompany him on his routine trip to the cave. Mr. Alojz Troha is regularly taking samples of the underground waters which are sent to the institute for further research. He is an experienced caver, a photographer with extensive knowledge about geology, history and biology. Although he was quite busy with taking the samples, he was an excellent guide and his tips on photography were helpful indeed.

Our trip to the underworld was an adventure I didn’t expect. We were using professional caving equipment; high waterproof boots, caving suits, battery lights and inflatable boats. The cave has a pleasant climate, the temperature is slightly above zero and the air is fresh. But being four hours in the cave wading in cold river can be chilly and we were wearing two pairs of skiing sock, skiing underwear and two! fleece sweaters under the caving suits.
A waterproof backpack is a necessity, but even that did not prevent me from dropping my flash unit into the river. Luckily it was turned off and the water was shallow.

Read more

Early morning at St. Ana hill

Usually I don’t like to get up early in the morning. But in photography early birds get the best shots. Sometimes even I manage to get my butt out of the warm bed take the camera and go shooting. It was a cold December morning and this time also Crt (you can check his photos here)joined me. We decided to climb the St. Ana hill, which overlooks the Ljubljana marshlands. The sunrise was beautiful and we managed to get a few excellent shots. Yes, a day like this can be really rewarding and we soon forgot, that we got up almost in the middle of the night… Enjoy the photos!

Read more

Photos from Southern Africa

Recently I returned from South Africa. I was leading a group of 22 Slovenian tourists and we visited Republic of South Africa, Swaziland and Victoria Falls from Zimbabwean side. We had a great time together and we were quite lucky with the weather. Since it was quite a long trip I took more than 1500 photos. Editing was hard, but rewarding. Here is just one photo, hope you like it. Some of the best are published in my personal galleries at Pbase. You can find them here: http://www.pbase.com/ratluk/rsa. I will appreciate any comments and if you find the photos beautiful, please share them with your friends. Thanks!

 

Pudong area, Shanghai

Shanghai is one of the most amazing cities I’ve ever been to. One of the things that fascinates me the most is definitely its modern architecture. Especially Pudong is futuristic and in the evening it is even more attractive. The Bund offers good opportunity for photography and there are always numerous photographers trying to capture these magnificent views. But usually the air is so humid and polluted, that it is impossible to see bright sky. This year I was there four times and only once I got lucky with weather conditions. It was a windy evening so it was difficult to get sharp photo, even with a tripod. Here is the photo from that night (it was in mid August): Read more

Istanbul – Charming city of the Orient

I visited Istanbul in the middle of October. It is a great time to experience this bustling city as it is the end of the peak tourist season. The weather is also pleasant with temperatures around 20-22 degrees Celsius. I thought five nights will be more than enough, but Istanbul has so much to offer, that a man could easily stay for two weeks.

Here are the photos and some useful tips what to do in Istanbul. Read more

ESOPRS conference in Ljubljana

Ljubljana was hosting the 25th ESOPRS ( European Society for Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery) meeting this year. On Friday, 14th September there was a Gala dinner organised and my company Židana marela was in charge of entertainment. Here you can see some photos from that evening. The evening was a succes!

This is the fancy ballroom of the Grand hotel Union.

Read more

You’ve got cash!

Today is a very special day:)! I just recieved an email from Moneybookers.com! And the first words I read were You’ve got cash! Man, that was really fast! I didn’t expect it that soon, I only requested a payment from Istock.com yesterday. These are my first 100$ and of course I wanted to try how the actual payment work. It is quite easy; First I needed to open an account at Moneybookers, which is simple and it takes only 5 minutes. Then I requested payment from Istock, where I just entered my email, that I use for MB and that was it!. The only downside is that a Dollar is loosing its value compared to Euro, a 100$ is only 71,6€.

Here is the photo that earned me the hundreth Buck:

Why is a pbase.com a great place?

It is almost two years now, since I joined Pbase community. At first I only wanted a fast and reliable place to publish my photos. So I bought 500Mb of disk space and started to upload photos. The service back then was quite spartan but I didn’t need any assistance or special features anyways. In fact I was glad, that it was so simple to use, so I got familiar with the system very quickly.
The best thing about Pbase is, that my photos are being viewed regularly without any extra effort. I just upload them, enter proper keywords, mark what equipment they were taken with and that is more or less it. Of course I browse popular galleries, leave a comment or two, so people return a favour sometimes. Pbase also gets high ranks at Google search engine. Since I joined (less than 22 months ago) Pbase community, my pages were visited more than 391.000 times! Read more

A helping hand for the newbies – Antony Mcaulay

Sometimes I check my name in the Google search engine. It is quite interesting to see where your name will appear. Yesterday I checked it again an voilla – I found this friendly blog post by Antony Mcaulay. Read more

African safari photo tips

One of my favourite travel destinations is definitely Africa. With the word Africa I do not mean the Mediterranean part of the continent, which reminds me more of a Middle East than real “black” Africa. It is hard to say what fascinates me more, the people, their music, unspoilt nature or unique wildlife? Probably the combination of all these things, but the biggest impression makes the savanna with its wilderness, beautiful and cruel at the same time.

Read more

About

As the founder of Adriatic2Alps Photography Tours and the company’s leading tour guide, Luka has been a professional tour guide for many years, leading trips and expeditions in Slovenia and abroad. While working for several travel companies, he visited more than 40 different countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and this experience led to him partnering to establish Židana Marela in 2004. In 2008, he finally realized the creation of A2A Photography Tours.

A passion for photography seized Luka while he was travelling around the world. Travel photography is his main field of work, but as a nature lover, he is also a keen landscape and wildlife photographer. His photographs have been published in different travel-oriented magazines, books, and travel catalogues all over the world. As a regular conductor of field photography workshops, he will be able to provide you with useful photographic tips. As his knowledge about Slovenia is extensive, you will also gain in-depth knowledge of the country from him as well.