Filming Plitvice Lakes Through All Four Seasons

An empty walkway takes planning

A wooden walkway curves along the lake. There is nobody on it, so the eye travels freely across the water, branches and waterfalls. It looks entirely natural, and in a park full of visitors it was one of the hardest things to shoot.

On 27 August 2023, the photographer entered the park at around 6:20 a.m. to set up a tripod in peace. About half an hour later, he messaged the crew to say it was already busy. In the photo he sent with that message, the camera is still in the foreground, but visitors are already walking past the waterfall.

Visitors didn’t only decide who ended up in the frame. At some locations, the only place for a tripod was on the walkway itself, with people constantly passing, which made long exposures difficult. Arriving early improved the odds of a quiet shot, but only if access, the crew’s arrival and the equipment setup had been planned in advance.

Before the first shot: locations and nature’s calendar

The brief was a photo and video repository of Plitvice Lakes across all four seasons. We prepared themes and locations, scouted the terrain and used the park’s materials to work out when plants flower and when animals are active. We also put together a list of plants with flowering times and asked the park which ones to prioritise and where to find them.

Four seasons did not mean four trips. For weeks, the spring phase depended on a forecast that kept changing. By late May, we were worried that spring would be over before we had enough material. So we took even short windows when they came, and adapted the scope of each shoot to the conditions and whoever in the crew was available.

Some of the places we filmed are off the regular visitor routes. We arranged access with park staff and rangers, whose knowledge of the terrain helped us decide what could be filmed where, and when it was worth going.

Šupljara is a good example. We arranged the visit and an escort with the park, and in November a member of park staff took the photographer to the location. He managed to capture the material before rain stopped work elsewhere in the park.

Snow doesn’t wait for a shooting schedule

In late February 2023, the park let us know the snow was 68 centimetres deep. Branches and paths were white, but milder weather and a southerly wind could change the scene within days. Leave immediately, or wait for the conditions we wanted?

The camera, tripod and slider alone needed three people to carry them, and deep snow makes every step with that kind of kit harder. We considered sending the photographer separately from the video and drone crew, depending on snowfall and sunshine, and planned an overnight stay to shoot both night and morning. One winter trip took five people and two cars; preparation also included a separate location visit and a test shoot.

Winter also brought one unplanned swim: camera operator Marin ended up in the icy water. He joked about it with the crew later that day, and it has stayed with us as a memory of the shoot, alongside the photographs of snow and waterfalls.

A night at Veliki slap waterfall

One evening in March, part of the crew reached the Great Waterfall after a walk of about 35 minutes from the car. They were met by a fine mist of spray, which also made the night-time time-lapse harder; we talked it through again once the footage came in. Shooting at night meant planning three things: getting there with the kit, the conditions at the waterfall and the walk back in the dark.

Two crews, one location

On larger shoots, we went out with camera operators for photography and video, plus assistants, and the line-up changed with the task. Stills and video each have their own requirements, and they had to work together in the same place and the same light.

The behind-the-scenes photos show the same job in very different conditions: setting up a camera and tripod in snow, then working by rocks and waterfalls among autumn leaves a few months later. Each time, the kit has to be carried in, a position chosen and the shot set up.

From the ground, from the air and below the surface

We shot from the ground, used drones, rigs and time-lapse, and filmed underwater. Each approach showed a different side of the park. From the air, you can see how lakes and forest fit together. On the ground, paths, textures and small details come forward. Below the surface lies a space we only partly see from the shore.

Between shots, there was work that never shows up on screen, like charging drone batteries and getting them back to the crew. When the good light disappeared one day in January, we used some of the time to plan drone routes for the next day. Waiting for the sun is part of the job too.

Underwater shots need different light

The underwater phase in August 2023 needed its own preparation: a permit, coordination with the park, a boat and diving equipment. In the planning messages, we sorted out a boat on Lake Kozjak, wetsuits and weights. Empty walkways called for early mornings, but for this shoot we suggested going out around midday, for the sunlight below the surface.

That phase also left a video showing submerged branches on the equipment display. The display view and the final underwater shot show part of the work that went from preparation to the result.

Don’t forget to look at the leaves

In a big landscape, it is tempting to keep looking for an even wider view. But the repository also needed small subjects, so the photos include flowers, insects, roots, icicles and close-ups of water and forest.

These shots give a sequence its rhythm. After a sweeping view of a lake, we can stop on a leaf or a flower. That is another reason why researching subjects and timing each visit mattered: alongside the big scenes, there had to be room for things you only notice up close.

Same walkway, different season

Every return to a familiar place was a new shooting situation. Leaf colour, water levels, light, snow and ice all changed. For the edit, it also matters how well the earlier and later views can be compared.

That is why our brief for the January 2024 winter shoot focused on repeating shots. Along with reference photos, it asked for static shots and very slow pans to the right. It also asked for the tripod’s position and height, the camera, the lens and GPS coordinates to be recorded, to give us the best possible basis for transitions between seasons.

The summer and autumn photos of the same walkway show a change in nature, and also a change in camera position. That is what makes them worth looking at together: first we recognise the place, then we start noticing what has changed.

The shoot is over, but the material is still in use

We organised the photos and video clips by season, location and type of shoot. With thousands of photos and hundreds of videos, a clear structure means a particular scene can be found and selected again.

We are returning to that material to choose photos for this story. It also became a completed film linking all four seasons. Going through it again shows how many of these images began long before the camera was switched on: in the preparation, in conversations with the park and in those very early starts.

Crew and collaborators

• Photography: Vedran Metelko and Dorian Vukotić
• Video camera: Marin Nekić
• Aerial photography and video: Marin Nekić and Igor Bogdanović
• Camera assistance: Igor Bogdanović
• Photo post-production: Vedran Metelko
• Production: BROJKA

Planning a shoot across several locations or seasons? Get in touch and let’s talk about the preparation.

How we workWhat we plan before a shoot and after the final take →

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Plitvice Lakes National Park — digital repository →