Photography
φωτός (phōtos), genitive of φῶς (phōs), “light” and γραφή (graphé) “representation by means of lines” or “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light”.
This page contains information about photography in the area of Aigeira and Akrata, including suggestions about locations for those who are keen in the art of drawing with light.
General Information
As a general rule of thumb the area offers great opportunities for photography if you are mostly interested in the genres of nature, landscape, seascape, panoramas and to a lesser degree wildlife.
No matter of your personal style and preferences however, if there is one piece of photographic advice that this article should leave you with is that it is highly recommended that you bring along your polariser filter.
The light is very intense for the most part of the year and the combination of sea, blue skies, and radiant heat means that there is often a degree of haze in the atmosphere that is best to eliminate while taking the shots rather than in post-process.
In the blog section of this website you will find a selection of photos showcasing the area. In this page we have chosen instead to add photos from flickr and instagram.
Landscape/Seascape Photography
The main type of photography in the region of Aigeira/Akrata would be landscape and seascape.
As mentioned earlier a polariser filter is highly recommended even during the winter months. During the summertime is a must have unless you are deliberately aiming for the washout vintage look.
Sunrise/Sunset
To help yourselves you can use a great free tool to see the exact location of sunrise/sunset for any place, including Aigeira/Akrata here.
For reference here is an illustration of the sunrise and sunset map for the area on 1st August.
The bay of Aigeira and Akrata has a north east orientation which means that it is facing towards the sunrise for the most part of the year.
Sunset in the summertime is north-west and the expansive delta of river Krathis is a good spot for photos, like the one below from Nikolaos Pantazis.
However the best location for classic sea sunset photo is near the fishing port of Porovitsa which offers unobtrusive views to the west. Here is an example just a bit further west showing the iconic “Kriari” rock (Ram) in the distance.
Panoramas
The surrounding hills and mountains allow for capturing expansive panoramas that stretch far into the horizon.
Below you can see an example taken just a couple of kilometers south of Akrata.
A bit further afield, 10′ drive southeast of Aigeira is the Palaiokastro hill were the Ancient Theater of Aigeira is located. In addition to the theater itself with is a great subject on its own merit, the views are wonderful and nearly 360o.
Here is an example of a skyscape from at the Ancient Theater of Aigeira
and the map of the exact location.
Mount Evrostina Viewpoint
For the more adventurous types there is another point about 30′ by car which you can reach if you follow the route below (please note that as you can probably see Google Maps got a bit confused here and unnecessarily added a u-trip south of the village Evrostina).
For the most part the road is tarmac surfaced, however the last part of the route is gravel/dirt and is not suitable for vehicles with little ground clearance.
If you have the appropriate vehicle to reach the location at the plateau of Evrostina mountain you will be rewarded with the best vista in the area at an altitude of approx. 1140m.
For reference the location is that point in the photo.
Nature
For variation of nature photos one should head towards the mountains south of both Aigeira and Akrata, with the former having a softer feel to and the later a more rugged alpine character above 1,000 meters.
A few kilometers south of Akrata is Lake Tsivlou (or sometimes Tsivlos) which is beautiful year round but even more so after a good show fall.
A hike around the nearby villages beyond Lake Tsivlou is a good opportunity for photography.
Wildlife
Wildlife photography in the area is more difficult compared to other genres, it depends heavily on the season, and requires a degree of luck.
Birds
Near Aigio, just 2 km east of the city center, visit the “Alyki”, an enclosed salt lagoon protected area which is included in the NATURA 2000 network under the code GR2320006.
The lagoon is an important hotspot for wintering ducks, transiting waders and other migratory species. More than 235 species have been observed here. Bird watching is particularly popular in Alyki, especially in winter, when hundreds of aquatic birds are easily observed from the neighboring road. In the case of swans, more than 40,000 visitors have been measured over a two-month period.
Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is undoubtedly the most photographed specie amongst them.
Dolphins
The Gulf of Corinth is home to four species of dolphins. Risso’s dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin, the common dolphin, and the striped dolphin
(Stenella coeruleoalba) which in the Corinthian Gulf you can observe the smallest striped dolphins on earth that also behave very differently compared with the same species elsewhere e.g. they would actively approach vessels to bow-ride.
Photographing these magnificent mammals requires making arrangements for a boat trip.
If you really lucky however you might see them playing just offshore and very rarely they might be that close that you could almost swap your telephoto lens for a wide angle, like in this video below.