“The feelings and emotions are really strong, raw, including for me. It’s a great moment to witness because they are arriving in a safe haven.” Yannis Behrakis, Reuters Photographer

When I first arrived on the island about a week ago I captured the arrival of some immigrants. A couple of them were scared and they put up their hands as if to surrender. I reassured them that I was a photographer and that they were safe.

Every morning more people arrive in small dinghies. The moment migrants land is amazing. They jump up and down for joy, some of them kiss the ground, they give each other high fives, they do selfies and some pray.

Every morning more people arrive in small dinghies.

“Where are we?” some ask, not realising that they are in Greece.

Sometimes 10 dinghies arrive in the space of 30 minutes. Between 40 and 60 people are packed into the big ones. The smaller versions contain from four to 10 people and in those it means paddling, as there’s no motor.

Then it’s day two and they start the process. Getting their temporary documents can take two or three weeks, it’s slow. There are so many people to register.

It’s very hot so going around and shooting pictures can be demanding. You need to be out there.

I go to the beach from four in the morning; some are more accessible than others. It’s pitch dark, so I wait for the sound of engines and try to figure out where the boats might arrive.

Around 6am dawn breaks and you can scan the horizon for dinghies. Occasionally at the last moment they change direction so even if you’ve driven to another beach to capture their arrival you can miss them.

It’s pretty hard to shoot, you have to be patient and fast.

Kos is a typical summer holiday island so the authorities don’t have the infrastructure to deal with a situation like this. It’s packed with tourists enjoying themselves.

So no hotels are available. To start with the immigrants have to sleep in the street. There’s also an abandoned, dirty hotel that is packed with immigrants, but it’s some sort of shelter.

The very few lucky ones get rooms in hotels.

The vast majority get given tents to live in as a temporary shelter. Locals provide them with food and water. However it’s very hot and they can’t shower.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, skirmishes erupted at a makeshift reception centre in a sports stadium during which police sprayed fire extinguishers to disperse people.

In the stadium it was impossible. It was incredibly hot with no shade, there weren’t enough people to deal with the registration. At some point frustration was bound to spill over. But it only lasted for 10 or 15 minutes and nobody got hurt.

Now the system is working a lot better, I saw a lot of happy faces on Thursday.

It’s a bit frustrating for the locals because it’s a holiday island. All of a sudden you have all of these refugees and some people get upset.

However in general Greek people are hospitable to them. Many Greeks have family who were refugees, people understand.