A photographer friend of mine, Rick McEvoy, has spent a significant amount of time photographing the beautiful island of Santorini in Greece.
He loves it so much, he has a whole website dedicated to just his photographs of Santorini, which you should definitely check out. With his permission, I compiled many of his favorite photography locations for this guide.
All the images in this article were taken by Rick McEvoy and can be seen on his Santorini website.
Santorini Caldera
I am starting with the location Rick calls probably the best photography location in Santorini. From the top of the caldera, you can get beautiful views of Imerovigli, where you can capture warm sunrise tones against the cool blue waters.
Imerovigli Cliffs
The cliffs of Imerovigli are an excellent place to catch a sunset. From Imerovigli, you can get a beautiful view of the picturesque town of Oia surrounded by water.
Kasimatis Suites
Santorini is famous for its white-washed buildings overlooking the sea. Rick said it was a great place to easily catch sunrise or sunset just outside your hotel door (if that is where you are staying). If you are lucky, you may get a fantastic bank of clouds over the sea.
Here is another great shot of the architecture with all the great shapes and lines at the Kasimatis Suites. It is not surprising with all the buildings like this in Santorini that you could find an awesome composition like the one below and have it be completely devoid of other people during such a magical sunrise.
Skaros Rock
From Skaros Rock, you get a fantastic view toward Santorini’s capital city of Fira and all its white buildings. If you are there in the spring, the beautiful greenery and flowers make a beautiful foreground leading out to the sea, with Fira standing on top of the cliffs above the water.
From Skaros Rock, you can also get an amazing view of all the white buildings in Imerovigli.
Skaros Rock itself is pretty picturesque too. The image below shows the rock and the path leading to it from Imerovigli. This is the path that leads you to the very top of the rock. The path takes you goes around the back of the rock as you can see. At the back, there is a pretty steep little climb to reach the very top.
There is also a very lovely little church at Skaros Rock. The stunning Ekklisia Theoskepasti church is situated on Skaros Rock. You can only reach the church on foot by taking the path from Imerovigli down to Skaros Rock.
Ekklisia Profitis Ilias Church
The images that are most famous from Santorini are the blue-domes of churches that stand out against the white-washed buildings. Ekklisia Profitis Ilias is just one of the churches. You can visit this church or find one of the others throughout the island, but just make sure you don’t leave Santorini without a collection of images featuring blue-domed churches.
Fira
Santorini’s capital is full of beautiful white buildings along the edge of cliffs leading into the beautiful water. There are great photography opportunities all over and around the cities, but Rick says the best view is from the trail to Imerovigli.
I N Ayiou Mapkou Church
Another scenic church, but this one doesn’t have a blue dome. This beautiful little church has a small white steeple with a picturesque cross on the top. It is located at the edge of the caldera with great site lines to make for interesting compositions. Rick recommends heading there for sunrise.
Even after the sun gets a little higher in the sky, this church makes for a fantastic subject in the warm light, while showing off some of the beautiful Santorini countryside.
Imerovigli
Imerovigli is one of those classic towns in Santorini that you would expect to grace the cover of a travel magazine. It is full of the white buildings climbing the hills, with their blue doors and the churches with the blue domes.
This image above was taken on the path walking from Imerovigli toward the capital Fira, while Rick was looking back at Imerovigli.
The Former Windmills
The cities of Santorini used to have lots of big windmills. While those are no longer present, the buildings remain with their unique shape that is great for a good composition.
Church of Panagia
The Church of Panagia is found on the path from Imerovigli to Oia. The unique cross at the Church makes a perfect subject to stand out against a beautiful sunset with the sea in the background.
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