Bears of Slovenia with Roger Brendhagen and Florian Warnecke

14-18th June 2023

Location: Slovenia

Not more than little over an hour’s drive from Ljubljana in the Slovenian forests lies one of the brown bear densest places in the world. On our photography holiday we’re giving you the opportunity to photograph this mighty animal from specially designed hideouts.

During June is the best chance of photographing bear cubs who, with a little luck, will be busy playing and having fun, which giving us a chance for fast-paced action shots. Our hideouts allow you to photograph in varied surroundings where a lot of time and effort has gone into finding the very right places to provide both the best light.

Nikon ambassador Roger Brendhagen and nature photographer Florian Warnecke will lead this trip. Providing individual guidance on how to achieve the best photographs.

Image credit: Roger Brendhager

Highlights:

The best place in Europe to photograph brown bears.
There are over 500 bears in the area.
Specially adapted hideouts for photography.
Many different hideouts in different environments.
At the best time of the year to photograph bears.
Cave trip by boat in the famous Cross cave (Križna Jama).
Learn from and develop together with three photographers.
Lectures and image editing with Roger Brendhagen.
Image reviews and constructive image criticism from Roger Brendhagen and Florian Warnecke.

Image credit: Florian Warnecke

Bears of Slovenia Itinerary

Day 1 (14/6) – Arrival and Evening Photography

Arrival in Slovenia and Ljubljana around lunchtime, where you will be met up at the airport by a chauffeur for transport towards Risnjak National Park where we will spend our days together photographing the area’s bears. After about an hour’s drive we arrive and check in at our accommodation. Here you will meet Roger Brendhagen and Florian Werneck who serve as assistant photographers and Zoom Photo Travel hosts. In the afternoon it’s time for the first photography session in the hideout. As the soft evening light descends over the forest, we look over the surroundings that spread out in front of our hideouts with excitement and anticipation and perhaps we will already have the opportunity to meet and photograph the mighty brown bear on our first evening. After the sun has set, we leave the hideout and return to our accommodation to share a welcome dinner followed by a lecture from Roger as well as photo editing. (D)

Day 2-4 (15-17/6) – Photographing Brown Bears

We spend the days photographing brown bears from our hideouts where we have a view of a hilly forest landscape. We are in one of the most bear-dense areas in the world and it is as serene as it is exciting to sit and wait for one of the area’s ca 500 bears to appear in our viewfinder. When something suddenly starts moving among the trees and the mighty animals appear, the green surroundings of the area together with stones and fallen trees provide plenty of composition possibilities. We focus our photography sessions on the evenings, as that’s when the bears are most active and the light is at its best.

Our photographers will rotate between the hideouts and each share their unique knowledge and tips and tricks. Having access to two very prominent photographers during one and the same trip fill our days with inspiration and you learn lots of new photographic angles.

When we visit the area in June, we have the best opportunity to photograph bear cubs playing, which gives us an opportunity for fast-paced action pictures. We do this from many different hideouts, which means that you will be able to take your pictures in different environments and with many different light conditions.

When we are not photographing, we go through today’s image hoard, work with the images in Lightroom and do image reviews where you can receive constructive criticism on your pictures from Roger, all so that we can develop and take even better pictures the next time we go out into the hideouts.

Since the bears are much more active in the afternoons, we will make a visit to the nearby Križna Jama cave one morning. This world-famous karst cave offers amazing photo opportunities as we slowly glide forward on the underground lakes in our dingeys.

On our last evening together, Roger and Florian will name the “image of the trip” that will advance to the final of “image of the year 2023” (B, L, D)

Day 5 (18/6) – Journey Home

After breakfast we leave Slovenia’s bear-rich forests and head back to the airport in Ljubljana where further transport on your own awaits. (B)

Image credit: Roger Brendhagen

Price: USD $2,285, £1,885

What’s Included?

Transportation according to the program.
Accommodation as part of a double room (Single room surcharge: £145 or USD $175 (limited number of single rooms)).
Meals according to program (indicated by B= breakfast, L=Lunch, D=dinner).
Access to hideouts according to the programme.
Transportation to and from hideouts.
Participation from Roger Brendhagen throughout the trip.
Various lectures and workshops with Roger Brendhagen.
Participation of Florian Warnecke as assistant photographer and a Zoom Photo Travel host.
Local taxes.
Travel documents and travel information.

Excluded: Flights to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Costs of a personal nature, such as drinks. Cancellation protection/travel insurance

Fly to Ljubljana by your own devices. You should be at the airport in Ljubljana no later than 12:00 on 15/6. The return journey can take place no earlier than 14:00 on 18/6.

What should I bring?

Your camera.
Telephoto lenses up to 500mm or mid-length lenses around 70-200mm, wide angle lenses for example 24-70mm.
Monopod or tripod.
A laptop with image editing software
Extra batteries, chargers etc.

A more detailed equipment list will be provided in the information material you will receive prior to the trip.