In this new online series, BOAT is championing the work of the leading photographers of the superyacht industry. Here, we shine a spotlight on the work of Guillaume Plisson.
How did you get into yacht photography?
I grew up in the west coast of France, close by to the ocean where pretty much everybody sails. I fell in love with the sea from the earliest age and photography was a tool to express my passion.
What do you love most about your job?
I would say the variety. My life as a photographer is very diverse, one day I am in a shipyard following the construction or a refit of a yacht and the next I am in a helicopter above a yacht cruising with 30 knots in Palma or we are shooting interiors in the Caribbean. It is always different and always challenging! The final stage is to print and create art books for the owners or help to develop marketing material, provide images for the press, and exhibit.
What are the difficulties of yacht photography?
The fact that there are so many factors that a successful photo shoot depends on, like weather conditions, like the sea, the wind, the light that can transform the quality of an image.
The crew is really important because it is teamwork between the production team and the crew itself, the location, the timing, the helicopter pilot the pilot of the tender etc. If one of those causes issue you need to compromise on the image side and I don’t like to compromise when it comes to great picture.
What is your favourite yacht photograph you have taken?
All the yachts are amazing in a way, I have a chance to photograph those with great designs so I struggle to name one in particular but if I could name a few from those I can mention, it would be Zeus, Kismet, Amadea, Aviva, Bold and REV.
How has photography technology changed since you started?
The biggest revolution was to go from analog to digital, from one day to another we become independent from the printing laboratories and we are able to control the entire process from the moment we take a picture through the process of post-production all the way to the print.
I used to develop my sailing images in the dark room. Today the technology gives us a chance to be extremely fast, productive and most importantly produce images in incredibly high quality.
Any tips for budding yacht photographers?
First become impeccable on the technical side, make sure you are an expert so you can forget the technology while you are shooting.
Develop your passion for the sea in order to understand how to behave on the sea, your point of view will change entirely and then you can be creative. Know your subject perfectly in order to provoke a chance.