Biography

I grew up in Cannes in the fishermen district (le Suquet), at a stone-throw from the port and the famous film festival … I keep a huge respect and a deep admiration for the men of the sea but also for the world of entertainment and image … After being for a few months assistant of the fashion photographer Henri Heiderscheid in 1974, then I left to sail on the seas. I started my work as a professional photographer in 2000. I was one of the first to adopt digital for boat photography.

“Nicolas likes the technique and the sea, he built boats, sailed, ran his company, and if the photography came to him a bit like an opening window, he never stopped improving his knowledge of this art. Not only through of his science mastery, but also with a great knowledge of photography as an art form, this is how he looks, linking in his eyes art history with the gear possibilities.
This window opened for Nicolas a little more than 20 years ago, it is not much if we consider the richness of the work when we look at the eclectic photographs. Boats, of course, allow him to be recognized today as the reference for yacht interiors, but also Architecture, and the World in its details, as flowers grow between two stones or dies a broken branch on the ground.
A man whose convictions make a style, the pleasure he takes in his art is endlessly growing, he is one of those who believes in the last light as a chance to catch the photographer’s blue note.” 


“When Nicolas Claris decided to invest in a camera at the very beginning of digital photography, his commitment, the rigor of his methodical approach to this art, and undoubtedly also the need to obtain quickly acceptable results made him almost immediately a Photographer. From this first generation of shots, one could retain technical mastery, an understanding of his clients’ wishes and a formal academism stemming from his respect for his peers. With a solidly built base, Nicolas very quickly set out to open his mind and his lens to subjects other than boats: shadows and reflections in a Spanish house, Frank O Ghery’s architecture of curves and lights, pebbles and wild grasses, bolts and mechanical parts were photographed like Hollywood stars: always with respect, sometimes love, but also with an astonishing creativity: “doing the little things like the big ones” served as a leitmotif for Nicolas’ second period as a photographer: that of the transition to the Artist. With a humble, almost self-effacing approach, he became a major signature of altruistic photography, one that puts itself entirely at the service of the object in view. It is with the same generosity that he offers to accompany the Watever team on a trip to Bangladesh from where he will bring back pictures of incredible humanity. A lover of colors, of the ephemeral (and what could be more ephemeral than a wake on the sea or the passage of a sailboat?) he adds the notion of time passing in his photographs, as in this sublime series of dishes by starred chef Nicolas Magie that he photographs in the gardens of the Saint-James in Bouliac, or when he follows the seasons in the châteaux of the Bordeaux vineyards. Eclecticism is not an art in itself, but it gives Nicolas a freedom of tone, a creative force that today allows him to approach all subjects with that mix of skill and respect that today makes us look at his work with a joyful pleasure, far from any seriousness, ready for any surprise. Who has forgotten the tables set up on these decks of boats under construction?
These photos have become classics, but the playful discrepancy they revealed already announced the talent of Nicolas Claris, who has gone from photographer by necessity to an unavoidable contemporary artist. »

Bruno Belmont
Groupe Bénéteau

EXHIBITIONS

“BAD+ Art Fair Bordeaux”
Exposition de groupe
A. Galerie Paris – Mai 2023

On the rocks
International Multihul Show
La Grande Motte, April 12-17 2023
On the rocks

Un ciel dans une fleur sauvage
Galerie Les Art’Gentiers
January 20 – March 11 2023
Un ciel dans une fleur sauvage

NOIRS
“La Vitrine” art gallery
Bordeaux – June-July 2021
noirs.art

Un peu de rouge, pourtant.
Espace Culturel du Seeko’o****
Bordeaux, 15 Oct. 15, 2019 – Jan., 20, 2020
unpeuderouge.art

NOIRS
Xth International Multihull boat show
La Grande Motte, May 24-29, 2019
noirs.art

NOIRS
Relais & Châteaux Saint-James Art GalleryBouliac, juin 21 – Septembre 6 2017
noirs.art

ROUGE
Galerie Relais & Châteauxdu Saint-James
Bouliac, 2 Mai – 12 Juin 2016
ROUGE

Bateaux, Châteaux, Gâteaux
Relais & Châteaux Saint-James Art Gallery
Bouliac, May 3 – June 13, 2016
Bateaux_Chateaux_Gateaux

Or et lumière
Halle des Chartrons
Bordeaux – July 9-16, 2015
or_et_lumiere

Monday Night
Photo Contemporary – OPF Gallery One
Raleigh Studio, Hollywood – USA, May 1-3, 2015

Vignobles et châteaux
L’éspérance – Bouliac
2015 Permanent
Vignobles et châteaux

A Summer in Bloom
Collective exposition, Galerie Basia
Embiricos, Galerie Photo 1, Galerie Du 10
Paris, May 22 – July 26, 2014

Three Châteaux in Winter
Relais & Châteaux Saint-James Art Gallery,
May 15 – June 7, 2014
Trois châteaux en hiver

BANGLADESH!
• Galerie L’Escalet – La Ciotat, June 2015
• Photo Contemporary – Los Angeles – May, 2015
• Relais & Châteaux Saint-James Art Gallery, nov. 2013 – May, 2014
• Galerie Basia Embiricos – Paris, July, 2013
• Salon du Multicoque – La Grande Motte, April, 2013
BANGLADESH_!

LARGE FORMATS
Dupon Bordeaux
June 1st – August 31, 2006
Grands Formats

LES PHOTOGRAPHICOFOLIES
Collective exhibition
Aquitaine July 4 – 16, 2005
Photographicofolies

NAUTICAL CRAFTSMANSHIP
French Nautical Industry Federation
Paris, 2004 and 2005
Metiers de la mer

PUBLICATIONS
Numerous yachting and architecture magazines.

BOOKS
« Au fil du temps Bernard Varvat Sculpteur »
Editions Lelivredart – Dec. 2020

Gilles Jonemann
Editions du Regard – 2019

Château Tour Saint-Christophe
The Making of – 2016

Catamarans
(contribution)Text Marc Pajot
Editions de la Martinière
2013

Racing Only Now at the Voiles de Saint-Tropez
2013

Exteriors – Interiors
Architectural photographs
2012

Chrisco – The making of
The history of the construction of the contemporary 100 foot yacht built by CNB
2010

Nicolas Claris – Photography 2003 – 2010/2011
A glimpse of the most beautiful yachts and architectural scenes

Only Now – From Drawing to sailing
The history of the construction of a magnificent 104 foot yacht built by CNB
2005