Dalmatian Pelican Photography at Lake Kerkini

The forecast for the Dalmatian Pelican Photography wasn’t the greatest. By greatest I mean if you wanted to shoot from a boat. The problem was something that hadn’t happened since 2001, the lake was covered with ice. This made life tough at Lake Kerkini.

Video: Dalmatian Pelican photography from a boat

The week prior to my workshop they had snow, ice and zero possibility to be out on the water. This was of course tough for the birds, but also for the photographers that now needed to think outside the box. Still the photo material that I saw was promising even if it meant no boating.

Now weather changed and from Monday, the same week as the workshop, the boatmen could get out on the lake. Still many of the resident Dalmatian Pelicans had left for open water and the news I heard from Greece was that only 70 individuals where at the lake.

To our fortune the amount of Pelicans increased before we got there as more birds came back when the ice started to retreat. Still we had cold nights with minus seven degrees in the morning, but the temperatures climbed well over zero in the afternoon.

During the workshop we spent five sessions at the lake each time going out with a boat. We also attracted the Dalmatian Pelicans to the shore and had several sessions like this. All in all it resulted in many photos and four happy photographers.

Video: Dalmatian Pelicans by the boat

The days brought different type of light and we worked with everything from pelican portrait, high key, slow shutter speeds, wide angle and tele photos. It was all in all a diverse workshop and I felt that everyone was satisfied with the material they brought home.

My aim now is to make a full album of the trip and soon release the dates for the Dalmatian Pelican workshops at Lake Kerkini 2018. They aim is to have two trips on offer one purely for Dalmatian Pelicans and the other a combo with Pelicans and Greater Flamingo. Both of these workshops will be small with just four photographers each so if you are interested, then contact me straight away to pre-book your place. They will both run back to back around week three or four next year.

Please enjoy this small gallery of my latest Dalmatian Pelican workshop at Lake Kerkini.