  We report on the excitation of large-amplitude waves, with a probability of
around 1% of total peaks, on a photorefractive SBN crystal by using a simple
experimental setup at room temperature. We excite the system using a narrow
Gaussian beam and observe different dynamical regimes tailored by the value and
time rate of an applied voltage. We identify two main dynamical regimes: a
caustic one for energy spreading and a speckling one for peak emergence. Our
observations are well described by a two-dimensional Schr\"odinger model with
saturable local nonlinearity.
