The small taste I got from my first attempt at photographing aircraft at low level in Greece in October 2024 drove me to having another try in March 2025, when I once again visited the the Vouraikos Valley in the Peloponnese region.
The Iniochos exercise draws varied participants, many of whom test their skills through the valleys. This draws large numbers of enthusiasts to the hills to wait, watch and capture images – there are no guarantees, as I found out in October but this time there were significant numbers of fly throughs from various types and air forces.
There are two main areas to watch the action – at the top of the hill towards the end of the valley, usually best for morning photography with the sun mostly behind you and then in the afternoon on the opposite side of the valley, lower down.
The increasing popularity of the location meant that by the time I arrived at the parking for the hill on the Wednesday morning at 6:30am it was already backed up to over a kilometer from the hill area entrance. I quickly decided that I was not going to carry my heavy camera gear all that way so I headed over to the other side of the valley. Although not as good from a lighting perspective, it is certainly a much easier location, as one can park on the side of the road and not have have to climb up to a vantage point.
It also has the attraction of providing some dramatic backgrounds for the images and although the aircraft are not always in as much of a dynamic pose, I think it offers just as good a sense of the skills and abilities of the pilots.
One of the most interesting participants are the Indian Air Force, with Sukhoi SU-35 Flankers – sadly they didn’t come low down into the valley whilst I was there. They did do one pass after exercise was complete – maybe I’ll revisit for a 3rd time!!
The Armee de l’Aire Mirage 2000’s did fly through a couple of times, one of whom certainly gave those on the hill plenty to think about on the Wednesday!!!
