In January I had the pleasure of co-guiding the NaturesLens Dalmatian Pelicans of Lake Kerkini Photography Holiday, along with Pui Hang. We took a group out to Greece to capture images of an oft-overlooked bird – the Dalmatian Pelican. This is the first part of a series of three blog posts covering the trip & showcases some of the images that I captured.
It was looking to be a unique trip as Lake Kerkini had its harshest winter in over 16 years. In fact, the weather was so harsh that the whole 17km lake had completely frozen over! This was going to make the trip completely different from any other. In the past, the itinerary was such that we would be heading out onto Lake Kerkini in boats to photograph the pelicans in beautiful morning light. This trip was not to have the same itinerary in any way whatsoever, but it would offer a whole different experience altogether!
On the first evening the group relaxed and settled into the homely accommodation that would be our home for the upcoming days. We sat around the log fire enjoying the warmth whilst the weather outside was hitting a very cold -14c.
The next morning our local guide drove us 5 minutes to the lake to photograph the Pelicans at first light. There was literally only one area of the lake that had not frozen due to a constantly flowing stream that was entering the lake. Here the Pelicans could enjoy a small area of water to take refuge in. Luckily for us, the sun was rising directly behind the birds, the warmth of the morning light was starting to slowly melt the top layer of snow on the frozen lake giving us some amazing misty conditions. We spent several hours in this location before the sun became too harsh to get any more backlit images.
DO YOU WANT TO CAPTURE IMAGES OF LAKE KERKINI FOR YOURSELF?
We have a third trip that is to be run during January of 2018, this is an opportunity for you to undertake photography of the Dalmatian Pelicans on Lake Kerkini for yourself; the photography holiday costs £1049 each participant, this price excludes air travel to Thessaloniki itself – all ground transportation from Thessaloniki & back, & to & from shoot locations, accommodation & guidance/tuition is included, the dates for the Dalmatian Pelicans of Lake Kerkini Photography Holiday are January 6 – 11, 2018.
To hold a place on the trip, we only require a 20{c9c0a4696b7ac54bf73bcd0427c793d03ee76447581a2309f1c89b3325d12acb} deposit from you, with the balance due 12 weeks prior to the trip taking place.