2025 - Bearwatching in Slovenia
Four days in the Slovenian forest, photographing brown bears from a hide. Moss, dense foliage and changing light fill the frame long before an animal appears. Waiting is part of the experience: there is time to notice the surroundings, then very little time to photograph what happens next.
This journal follows those four days, from the first sightings to a mother with her two cubs, with a fox and a weasel making appearances along the way.
Thank you to Slovenian Bears for guiding the experience.
Day 1 – First encounters.
The first day begins with the forest itself: moss underfoot, birdsong and patches of light between the trees. Then come the first bear sightings. Through the camera, my attention shifts between the animals and their surroundings, looking for compositions that keep a sense of the woodland around them.
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
Day 2 – A lesson in coexistence.
From the hide, time seems to stand still. Hours pass in quiet anticipation until a brown bear emerges from the shadows.
In the same clearing, a red fox begins to feed, seemingly untroubled by the much larger animal nearby. Watching them share that small patch of forest, I am struck by their quiet coexistence. To me, the scene feels like a lesson in making room for one another: a moment that brings to mind how we, too, might share the world with more respect.
brown bear - ursus arctos
red fox - vulpes vulpes
red fox - vulpes vulpes
red fox - vulpes vulpes and brown bear - ursus arctos
red fox - vulpes vulpes and brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
Day 3 – A mother and her cubs.
Towards evening, a mother bear enters the clearing with two cubs. Keeping all three in view changes the pace of photographing: my attention moves from the mother to the cubs and back again, following their movements through the fading light.
More bears appear later. The same clearing keeps offering different photographs as the light changes and the animals move between the trees.
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
black bird - turdus merula
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
Day 4 – A farewell to the forest.
On the final afternoon, I return to the same hide. A small, swift movement catches my eye: a weasel (Mustela nivalis) appears, darting through the undergrowth.
Later, the same bear family from the previous afternoon returns. The mother and her two cubs move through patches of light and shadow. Watching them together again, I feel the same tenderness that made our first encounter so memorable.
Seeing both the tiny weasel and the bears in one afternoon feels like a fitting end to these four days. I leave grateful for the encounters, the time spent watching, and that quiet glimpse into their lives.
weasel - mustela nivalis
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos
brown bear - ursus arctos