Lake Kerkini workshop review

I’ve never eaten so much cake during a workshop before! I don’t think we have ever enjoyed a warmer welcome or better hospitality either. This was our very first trip to Lake Kerkini, a renowned manmade reservoir and National Park in Northern Greece near the Bulgarian border. This is a rural and authentic region. Kerkini village is home to around 800 people – while famously the lake is a refuge for over 300 species of bird, including the rare Dalmatian pelican. Named after the historical region of Dalmatia in Croatia, this is one of the World’s largest flying birds with a wingspan of up to 3.5meters. It’s a prehistoric looking giant that is most photogenic during the winter months when its in its breeding plumage. There is a colony of approx. 500 birds at Lake Kerkini, and over the last decade or two they’ve developed a special relationship with local fishermen who feed them daily. However, as Babis (our wonderful Greek guide during the workshop) explained, the birds do not grow reliant on this artificial food source, and when they are ready to breed they become fully independent again. Feeding the pelicans helps the birds successfully negotiate the harsh winter months at Kerkini, while its benefited local tourism too. Photographers and bird lovers now flock to the lake during winter to enjoy the pelicans close-up.

No experience needed

Although D2D prominently provides landscape photography tuition, we like to add and offer other themed workshops to our lovely clients, including workshops focused on printing, book-making, architecture, and wildlife photography. One of the benefits of visiting Lake Kerkini is that you don’t need to be an experienced nature photographer – you don’t require a long lens either. The photo opportunities are superb and with so many birds feeding close to the boat, you can learn how to capture flight, action, and creative techniques that you can then transfer and apply to other subjects in the future. All of our clients returned with a wide portfolio of pelican shots, from frame-filling portraits to wide-angle, environmental shots.

The workshop length was perfect. We met at Gatwick, having coordinated flights and timings via a workshop WhatsApp group. We flew to Thessaloniki Airport where we were greeted by Babis and another driver who transferred us to the Hotel Oikoperiigitis a short drive from the shores of Lake Kerkini. Despite arriving late (after the hotel had finished serving food) they still arranged a hot meal for us. The staff were lovely throughout – warm, welcoming, and friendly. The hotel is traditional – full of character, local charm, and very authentic. After dinner, we were told to meet at 6.30am the next morning for teas/coffees, and then we hopped back into our vehicles and were taxied to the Lake – a 2-minute commute. We were then led to the boat – a small, traditional wooden fishing boat – and taken out onto the lake prior to sunrise. This a tried and tested format. Yiannis (the hotel owner) and Babis understand photographers – our demands and the importance of shooting in good light and with good backdrops. Yiannis is heavily involved in the conservation work at Lake Kerkini – the Greek government appear to offer little assistance, so locals have taken it upon themselves to create breeding platforms, etc.

Yiannis and Babis’s enthusiasm was contagious – you could tell they desperately wanted us to enjoy the experience and the pelicans. And we most certainly did! Within moments of being on the water, these giant birds were flying alongside our boat, gliding effortlessly just above the water. And for the next three hours we had endless photo opportunities – pelicans in flight, portraits and wide-angle views of the birds as they bobbed next to the boat. When the boat was stationary, we would hang over the side of the boat using the camera’s flip out screen to capture low level shots of the pelicans using wide-angle lenses. Although the boat was small, we could all move and maneuverer and the entire group got equal opportunities. Wherever you were sitting in the boat, there was rarely a moment when you didn’t have a shot lined up. Pelicans would regularly land on our boat itself, providing great frame-filling images – and selfies!

Tea and cake

Time on the boat whizzed by. After a couple of hours of shooting, Yiannis would conjure up coffee, tea and the most wonderful home-made cake. Then, around 10am, we would head back to the hotel for a traditional Greek breakfast, followed be some downtime (an opportunity to recharge drained camera batteries and back-up images), before we met again around 12.30pm to do some editing on laptops, share images and ideas – or give a presentation/talk to the group in the hotel’s classroom. We’d then have soup at 2pm before returning to Lake Kerkini at 3pm for our second boat trip of the day, shooting until late light. After our second shoot of the day - and with memory cards overflowing - we’d head back to the hotel ready for dinner at 7pm and a few social drinks by the log fire!

We followed this format each day and it worked brilliantly. Although the Lake is home to lots of other wildlife – including flamingos, cormorants, herons and water buffalo – the water levels at Lake Kerkini were so high this winter that it restricted other opportunities. However, it never felt repetitive. The conditions were subtlety different each day providing fresh opportunities. And each day the group grew more experienced, knowledgeable and experimental, so photographs continued to improve. Focusing on just one subject is hugely beneficial, allowing photographers to take more risks and be more creative with composition, technique, movement and exposure. Ben Hall, who is one of the UK’s best wildlife photographers, was co-leading this workshop and really encouraged the group to embrace negative space and capture subjects within the context of their environment. Quite simply, this was a very productive and successful trip. After 3 full days photography, everyone had captured a diverse portfolio of shots that exceeded expectations. On the last night, as we chatted over a drink or two, we estimated that between us we had captured over 75k shots – surely a record on a D2D workshop! We had also eaten a lot of cake!

After 4-nights, we returned to the airport on Friday morning, ready for our flight home. The photography, experience and company had been superb. New friendships and many wonderful memories made. Everyone also had a daunting number of images to sift through and edit on their return…

Want to join us next time?

We plan to run this workshop again in February 2028. If you would like to receive notification of when this workshop is published on the site, please email us at: info@dawn2duskphotography.co.uk