SR:
You started as a sailing coach?
CF:
Not really a sailing coach, but a sailing teacher during a summer sailing school. So you don’t need to be a really highly skilled sailor to do that. The skills that you especially need are teaching. How to make sailing interesting and enjoyable. But I’m not a terrific sailor. I can sail, but my background isn’t really that much.
SR:
So you’ve been shooting various America’s Cup events, and the Louis Vuitton for a number of years?
CF:
Yes. I shot the other boats, the slower boats in 2003. I shot the Louis Vuitton trophy, and the Loius Vuitton Pacific Series, and all of those events, it’s how I really got started. That’s how I originally got involved with the America’s Cup.
SR:
In the beginning, how did you move your photographic career forward?
CF:
I started working as a journalist. I started at first in the local newspaper called PresseOcean in Nantes, near the Atlantic Coast. I became a sports correspondent, and you know the big sports are soccer, basketball, you know more the classical team sports. But I was more focused on sailing, and had a strong sailing affinity, so I started working with a partner on more sailing focused topics. As I was writing, I was also taking pictures, and people started telling me that I was taking good sailing shots. A lot of people encouraged me to keep going that way, but my biggest investment in the beginning was in writing, not photos. It’s how I arrived in the competitive sailing area. My first big event was the Vendee Globe in 2000, which was an around the world race organized by Philippe Jeantot. Then I worked to The Race organized by Bruno Peyron. I was the official cyber-reporter for The Race. That was my breakthrough.
SR:
What are your favorite subjects to shoot on the water?
CF:
By far, I’m quite known now for the 18 Foot Skiff. That’s my thing. They’re fast, they are spectacular, and these boats are really a way to sail, it’s a really iconic boat. It’s really showing a way of sailing that I like. It’s very intense, very fast, and very special, and it’s really flying on the water. I come myself from windsurfing, and flying on the water is really my experience. So with the skiffs, you’re combining your three-team boat on a flying boat. It’s very exotic for me.
Another thing, an interesting thing that has pushed my interest for sailing for sailing was back in the 80’s, there was a short 15 minute movie, you know before the movie that you actually pay for in the theater. I think I was there to see Star Wars, and one of those short movies came on and it was skiff sailing in Sydney Harbor. And I was seeing those guys flying on the water at full speed, and it was really some kind of first, strong, and exciting experience of seeing boats flying across the water. It’s really strong in my head, this thing. Later in life when I was in Sydney Harbor shooting those boats, I remembered the cinema, and I was so happy to be actually in the movie this time. It was a really strong experience for me, the first time I went to Sydney Harbor, was in 2006, and I was the invited by the French Team. Since that time I have followed them all around the world, and trying to participate, and trying to build a history, as a photographer.
SR:
You may have just answered this, but what is your favorite place to shoot?
CF:
To be honest, I don’t think it’s Sydney. I think it’s San Francisco. San Francisco for me is some kind of guarantee that you’re going to have the full package. I know that I’m going to have some helicopter time, I know that I’m going to have some wind, and the background is so great. Sydney is an iconic area, but San Francisco, with the Golden Gate Bridge, you know, it’s not so common. You have the city behind, and you know with the wind, you’re going to get something very special.
From my experience, there are three areas that I really like to shoot, but San Francisco is at the top, then Auckland and Sydney. There are many, many other areas, but those are my favorites. Those destinations are really special to me.
SR:
You’ve talked about background, what other things are you looking for to take good sailing photographs?
