Waking up in the cosy warmth of a campervan and hopping straight out for the 20-minute hike up to the Ojstrica viewpoint over Lake Bled, made a refreshing change from driving, bleary-eyed through the darkness of night to get here. Mind you, Slovenia’s compact size means you wouldn’t have far to drive anyway. As the beautiful Karavank Mountains, fresh with a recent dusting of snow, revealed themselves through the soft, milky twilight of dawn and the peaks glistened alongside the lights of the island church, I was already in position and ready to shoot. Wedged between the Alps and Adriatic with just a total area of 20,273 sq kms, this also meant I could spend the morning photographing alpine lakes and snowcapped mountains in the breathtaking Triglav National Park, then the sunset and dusk on the Adriatic Coast after a 90-minute drive from Bled. And all this at the end of November when the days are short! The diversity of Slovenia’s landscape is unsurpassed, and for photography this provides an infinite array of subjects from towering mountain peaks, verdant valleys, lakes, and waterfalls to vast forests, sunny vineyards, undulating green hills riddled with caves, to the sparking Adriatic Sea. Not to mention cities and towns with ornate architecture influenced, not only by its own Slavic culture, but by the cultures of surrounding nations such as the Venetians and Austro-Hungarians.

Add to that a castle or church strategically placed in almost every view, and it’s easy to see why Slovenia is a truly special place. My day ended at sunset and dusk, photographing the gorgeous church of Saint George from a viewpoint further along the coast. It sits on an elevated position overlooking the beautiful Venetian town of Piran, which in turn sits on a spit of land jutting out into Piran harbour. As the church lights were switched on, and the twilight ensued, I snapped my final photos before the harmonious balance between the artificial light of the church and the soft waning twilight of the last light from the sun disappeared for another night. Heading off to my campsite, I thought to myself, “If I were tasked with taking every great photography subject and putting them into one small area, then I’d need look no further than Slovenia.”