Andrea in Max sta simpatičen par iz Kuala Lumpurja, glavnega mesta Malezije, ki je najbolj znano po dveh najvišjih stolpnicah sveta – po “Dvojčkih”, oziroma “Twin Towers”. Stolpnici imata 88 nadstropij in sta v 41. in 42. nadstropju povezani z mostom, ki pa ni tam le zaradi izjemne turistične atrakcije, ampak tudi zaradi stabilnosti stolpnic. 

Andrea in Max izredno rada potujeta, zato sta se odločila za potovanje po Evropi, Max pa je ob tem skoval še zanimiv načrt.

Zaželel si je, da bi svojo izbranko zaprosil za roko v Hallstattu.

Hallstatter See v Avstriji je le tri ure vožnje iz Slovenije. Je majhen kraj, ki je dobil ime po tamkajšnjem rudniku soli. Mesto je nastalo sredi železne dobe, nekateri arheološki dokazi kažejo, da celo že prej, ko so tam v rudnikih začeli kopati sol. Halstatt je uvrščen tudi na Unescov seznam svetovne dediščine. 

Je izjemno romantično mestece ob jezeru, ki ga v sezoni letno obišče tudi do milijon turistov. Hallstatt je zanimiv, ker leži sredi Alp, zato se vreme ves čas spreminja. In to se je zgodilo tudi meni pred in med fotografiranjem, ko je začelo snežiti. A to ni bil problem, saj so fotografije dobile  romantičen pridih.

V Hallstatt sem prispela en dan pred fotografiranjem. Sprehodila sem se po mestu in si ogledala lokacije, kjer se bomo fotografirali. Drugo jutro me je presenetil mali, a čisto pravi vihar, ko nisem točno vedela, ali bomo fotografiranje zaradi vetra in snega sploh lahko izpeljali.

Max se v prostem času ukvarja s fotografijo, zato je Andrei povedal, da je za Hallstatt najel fotografinjo in da se bodo vsi skupaj sprehodili po mestu ter skupaj fotografirali to krasno mestece.

Ko smo se srečali, sem jima dala nekaj napotkov, kako bo fotografiranje potekalo. Najprej naj bi jaz fotografirala njiju in ju med tem usmerjala, kako narediti dobro fotografijo. Na koncu fotografiranja pa naj bi fotografije skupaj pregledali. A ker ju je po 20 minutah že zeblo, saj je začelo snežiti in deževati, smo si privoščili vročo čokolado. Max je imel nujen klic, nakar mi je  poslal zasebno sporočilo, da zaroko opravimo takoj, ko popijemo, da ne bo Andrei postalo sumljivo.

In res – pridemo na lokacijo, za katero se je Max že predhodno odločil, da jo bo tam zaprosil za roko. On je pripravil stojalo za kamero in začel snemati video, jaz pa v nizkem štartu, pripravljena, da ujamem pomembnen trenutek.

Andrei se še vedno ni svitalo, za kaj gre. Nato pa je Max počasi iz žepa potegnil škatlico …

Vse ostalo bolje kot besede povedo fotografije.

Po pregledu fotografij sta bila oba s fotografijami izredno zadovoljna; povabila sta me tudi v Kuala Lumpur.

Andrea mi je poslala zasebno sporočilo, v katerem je pisalo: “Želim ti samo povedati, da sva zelo vesela, da si naju fotografirala ti in da so kljub dežju in snegu nastale prekrasne fotografije. Vse fotografije so neverjetne in te izkušnje ne bom nikoli pozabila!”

P .S.: Avstrijsko mestece Hallstatt je, kot sem že zapisala, izjemno priljubljeno med turisti; posebej med kitajskimi. Kitajcem je mestece celo tako všeč, da so leta 2012 na Kitajskem postavili njegovo kopijo. In sicer v mestu Huizhou v provinci Guangdong. Vas na Kitajskem, ki ima kopijo Halštatske cerkve z zvonikom, tam pa so tudi lesene hišice in vsi ostali objekti, je skupaj z umetnim jezerom vredna vredna skoraj 6,5 milijarde evrov.

Za kopijo mesta Hallstatta Max in Andrea nista vedela ; mogoče pa se bosta zdaj, ko sem jima za to povedala, poročila prav tam!

Andrea and Max are a nice couple from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, which is the best known for the two skyscrapers – the tallest skyscrapers in the world – the “Twins” or “Twin Towers”.

The Twins have 88 floors and are in the 41st and 42nd floor connected with a bridge, which is not there only due to the exceptional tourist attraction, but also due to the stability of skyscrapers.

Andrea and Max love to travel, so they decided to travel around Europe and Max came up with an interesting plan.

He wished he could ask his girlfriend for marrying him somewhere in Europe; he wanted to propose in Hallstatt in Austria.

Hallstatter See in Austria is only three hour drive from Slovenia. It’s a small place, named after the salt mine. The city was founded in the middle of the Iron Age, some archaeological evidence suggests than even earlier, when they began to dig salt in the mines. Hallstatt is also a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Hallstatt is an extremely romatic town by the lake, which is visited by up to a milion tourists a year during the season. Hallstatt is interesting because it lies in the middle of the Alps, so the weather is constantly changing. And that also happened to me before and also during the photo session, when it started to snow. But this was not a problem, as the photos even got a romanic touch.

I came in Hallstatt one day before the photo session. I walked around the city and saw the locations, where we could take photos. The next morning I was surprised by a small storm, when I didn’t know exactly whether we would be able to take photos due to the wind and the snow.

Max is also a photographer, but in his spare time, so he is an amateur photographer and he said to Andrea, that he hired a professional photographer for Hallstatt and that we will walk around the city and photograph this beautiful town together.

When we met, I gave them some tips on how the photo tour will go. First I was supposed to photograph them and in the meantime guide them on how to take the best photos. At the end of the photo shooting, the photos should be reviewed together. But since they were already cold after 20 minutes of our walk – as it started to snow and rain – we went for a hot chocolate. Max had an urgent call and after that he sent me a private message to make the engagement as soon as we drink so that Andrea would not become suspicious.

And really – we came to a location that Max had previously decided to propose there. He set up a camera stand and started shooting the video, and I was in low start, ready to capture an important moment.

Andrea still hadn’t figured out, what was all that about. Then Max slowly pulled the box out of his pocket …

Everything else is – better than in words – told by photos.

After reviewing the photos they were both extremely pleased with the photos; they invited me to Kuala Lumpur.

Andrea also sent me a private message, saying: “I just wanted to tell you, how happy we are that you took the photos, which are beautiful despite the rain and snow. All of them are amazing and I will never forget this experience!”

Post scriptum: The Austrian town of Hallstatt is – as I have already written – extremely popular among tourists; especially among the Chinese. The Chinese even like the town so much, that in 2012 they put up a copy of it in China, in Huizhou City in Guangdong Province. The village in China, which has a replica of the Hallstatt church with a bell tower, as well as wooden houses and all other buildings along with an artificial lake, is worth nearly 6,5 bilion euros.

Max and Andrea didn’t know about the copy of Hallstatt; but maybe now that I’ve told them about it, they’ll get married right there!