Urbex in Potpican

  Decided to have a small urbex adventure today. Had two choices, to explore a completely new place or to go to a spot where I had already been before, but where I didn't have the chance to finish my exploring. I chose the second one. This building is an abandoned coal mining facility in Potpican. Don't have more details for what purpose the building was built for, but it's definitely a cool place to visit. The light is extremely nice, and there is much of it because of the large windows, which are broken though. There's lots of staircases and holes in the building and of course no railings so it's kind of wise to stay alert and watch your step when moving inside there. Not a good idea to stumble or back in to a pit in the floor and find your self 20 meters down, smashed on the ground. Enjoyed my time there, and I'll be back there for sure. And next time I'll try to have a model with me for a photo shoot. This time I had to be happy with my self as a model. Good that the camera has a 20 sec. timer in it.

    

From door to door

  On Friday I had a few hours of free time, so I headed to old town Labin. My main target was the lovely wooden doors which are spread around the narrow alleys of this pictoresque hilltop town. There's just something about old worn out doors which make me want to make images of them. I guess it has to be the old, rustic and colorful look. New doors are not as cool. When you see an old door it just makes you wonder who've used the door during all the past years, what kind of events and stories it has "seen", and what's behind the door. When I entered the old town I was thinking that I'd love to use my 85 mm prime lens, but pretty soon I noticed that it's best to change to my 28-70 mm lens. In so many cases it's just impossible to back enough to make an image of the whole door, the streets are just too narrow. In many cases 35-50 was a good focal lenght, sometimes 28 mm, but 85 was just too long. So, when shooting narrow alleys and streets, I'd say that it's best to use a wide to normal zoom or then why not a 35 or 50 mm prime. Here's a couple of doors. 

I left my friend at home!

  I try to carry my tripod with me as often as possible, but it's not possible always. And so often it happens that just when you need it you don't have it. However I would not like to loose a nice opportunity just because my three legged friend is not with me. Pump up the ISOs, stabilize the camera against a tree or ground, take a series of shots and hope that at least one frame is decently sharp, there's lots of good options. Here's a few images shot in situations I'd really needed a tripod, but it was at home.

   

From the path and outside

    Exploring new places and paths is always cool. Past weekend tried a new route, a nature path from Rabac to Labin. It all started with a nice small pond and a waterfall and continued up a narrow and steep walk up through woods. The path is well marked, so no fear of getting lost. The best things though, are so often off path, and so it was this time too. At one point I just couldn't resist the temptation to get aside from the common route, and I ended up finding this small waterfall and pond, plus old ruins. The sad part was that I was running out of time so I couldn't finish my work as I wanted. However, made a couple of clicks and you can always return. Just remember, it's not always smart to jump outside the marked path, and if you do remember to watch your step.