Borut tried newly acquired Voigtländer lens but we did not get good results. The portraits we made were not sharp and we decided to try with much smaller (still very big though) camera Kodak Brownie. With this camera a large format film can be used but we wanted to stick with the 19. century techniques so we used aluminium plates and a wet collodion technique called ambrotype or collodion positive. The difference is that you get a positive image as an end result and not negative as with glass plates.

It took us about four hours to set up everything and to make three portraits. The exposure time is very hard to determine as there is no light meter in the camera and the sensibility of the wet collodion is approximately 8-12 ISO equivalent. It also depends on the thickness of the layer you put on the plate itself and on the development of the photo in the darkroom. For these three photos below the exposure time was around 4-5 seconds at f11. You can notice Borut’s dog is all blurry cause he moved during the exposure. it gives the photo even more vintage feel.

We were both pleased with the results and somewhere in the future I might even try this technique myself – it’s quite addictive! Below you can check out few more shots from that day.

To read more about these cameras and techniques visit Borut peterlin’s blog where he describes his experiments in 19.century photography.

Season of 2011 is well over now and most of us are already thinking about next vacations in 2012. Here at Adriatic2Alps we have set the tour dates for 2012. You can check them out on Photography Vacations page or click on specific tour on the list below:

• Slovenia Photography Tour; May, July, October
• Adriatic2Alps Photography Tour; June, September
• Balkan Photographic Adventure; August

And because there is a very special day coming in the next two days we offer a very special discount on any of the scheduled tours listed above. 11% discount on all bookings made on 11.11.11. (Nov 11th 2011). You don’t need to do a final booking – its enough to contact us saying you are interested and if you confirm your place on our tour by the end of the month the discount will be taken into account.

And tell your friends about it – share this information on Facebook or via email!

• Balkan Photography Adventure 16th – 27th Aug 2011 – Two places available
• Adriatic2Alps Tour17th Sep – 1st Oct 2011 – Three places available
• Adriatic2Alps Tour9th – 22nd Oct 2011 – Two places available

Our testimonials page is updated with two nice testimonials by Donna & Jody and Robert & Beverly.

And lastly, new photos have been added to our Slovenia and Croatia galleries. All photos of 2011 are newly added.

Good light, great shots and don’t forget to “like us” on FaceBook!

If you are thinking of heading to Bella Italia and seeing all that these classic beautiful locations have to offer for photographers, we have negotiated a 175 € (EUR) discount for all Adriatic2Alps clients, fans and followers. And Capture Italy also have a special offer on their September tour departing Rome 12th September – for any bookings made by 30th June, they will double the discount!

For more information you can visit the Capture Italy website: http://www.captureitaly.com/ or you can jump straight to the itinerary: http://www.captureitaly.com/itinerary.html.

Buon viaggio!

January and February are quiet months in terms of tourist season but we’ve been very busy nonetheless. Here is a short summary of what we have been doing, In January we went on a study tour to Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina. We were researching great photographic locations for our future tours. We are working on an outdoors oriented tour as well as a wildlife photography tour. In February we had two photo outings already – both to the caves. Firstly we went to Krizna cave with Michelle and Debbi and last week we’ve been on real caving adventure to Planinska jama. And lastly – we’ve been busy answering all your emails and reserving all tours for 2011 season – so far we have 9 confirmed tours – check out our tour calendar to see availability.

First of all there is a video about Mary and her photography. She was our guest in June. That was her second visit and this time we traveled to Dalmatia and Montenegro.

If you like the video and would like to help Mary promoting her cause , please do share it! We all will be grateful!

Secondly we want to share Bonnie’s testimonial. Bonnie and her husband Tames joined us for a trip to Krizna cave where we did some cool techniques with light-painting and catching the water drops. See her Slovenia gallery on Picasa.

And lastly – a few interesting web links:

• Vivian Maier – ever heard of her? Neither did we… Watch this amazing story on Chicago Tonight to learn who she was and if you like what you saw check out her work on this blog too!
• Troubles finding cheap & convenient flight? Not anymore! Try out this innovative flight search engine at Hipmunk.com. We tried it and loved it!

The A2A team wishes you many great shots in 2011, to enjoy your photography and to continue to improve your skills as a photographer! Hope to see you travelling with us in the future!

Its almost Christmas and 2010 is practically over. Time to hang out with our families and friends, time to unwrap cool gifts and to celebrate the forthcoming 2011. Its also a time to look back to the photos we made in 2010 – so many great pictures!

With so many things that happened in 2010 it is worth to check out world events in photos. Follow these three links to see some of the best journalistic photos of the year 2010 at Boston’s Big Picture Blog! Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3.

So what’s new on the website?

• New design with new company’s logo. Our designer did a great job, what do you think?
• Clear page structure, much easier to browse.
• New photos in the galleries. Check out time-lapse movies too! The photos are much higher resolution for enhanced viewing experience.
• New way of commenting with your Facebook account. If you don’t follow us on Facebook, now its the time – our community is growing each day.
• Updated testimonials page.

Departure dates 2011 for our photography tours are set. Read more

And here are some of the new photos from this season:

If you haven’t decided yet where to go on your photographic holidays this year check out our September tour to Croatia and Slovenia! There are still two places left and we would love to see you coming with us!

And for the last, here is a time-lapse movie made by our photographer Dan Briski. Enjoy the dramatic clouds over the Julian Alps as the sun is setting.