Jamnik Church

The Church of Saint Primus and Felician ‎near the village of Jamnik is one of the most photographed locations in Slovenia, and you can pretty much guarantee to find a photography group at photographing the church at both sunrise or sunset. The church is positioned at the end of a small ridge and is backed by the Kamnik–Savinja Alps, a combination that combines to create a classic view. The main viewpoint for the church is from the road through Jamnik which gives a view of the church in the middle distance, nicely framed by the mountain Storžic in the distance.

We visited the church on three separate occasions. Our first visit was Friday 18th October on a very wet, overcast day. We did not expect to take any pictures, so this was just an exploratory visit to check out the parking and best viewpoints. The church was in thick fog, so we could not see it from the road, and it was only when we walked out to the church and were within a few feet of it that it appeared out of the fog. We took some pictures, and after a lot of editing to dispel the fog, the image below gives a close-up view of the church.

We returned before sunrise on Sunday 20th October. The morning was very misty, but we could see the illuminated church from the road, so could take some shots of it during the blue hour before sunrise.

As we waited for the sunrise, we could see the mist swirling about in the valley below the church. Unfortunately the mist also persisted behind the church, so rather than present a drab background, I have added some cloud textures and even the profile of the distant mountains to the images below, to show what we ‘could have seen’ in slightly better conditions.

We returned for a third visit late in the afternoon on Tuesday 22nd October. This time the weather was clear and sunny so we finally had a clear view of the distant Kamnik–Savinja Alps and Mt Storžic. , however we had spent most of the day walking around Lake Bled, and by the time we arrived at the church, it was already in the shade of the surrounding hills. However as the sun set, there was a bit of pink glow over the distant mountains which added a bit of interest.

From the local geography, it seems impossible to have both the church and the distant mountains lit by the setting sun – at least that is the case in October. Possibly a different time of year would give a different combination of lighting. Because of that, it seems that sunrise is the best time of day to photographt Jamnik Church, especially if there is some mist in the valley to add some atmosphere.

Kroparica Stream

To reach Jamnik Church from Lake Bled, the road passes through the town of Kropa before climbing through forest in a series of harpin bends. Just as the road starts to climb out of Kropa, there are some attractive cascades on the Kroparica stream in view at the side of the road which are worth a stop. We stopped here on our first visit to Jamnik which was a wet and overcast day, so ideal conditions for photographing the cascades.

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