To photograph boats you have to wait until the boat is ready, the crew and model(s) are in the right place on deck and that weather and light are fine!
On a Friday evening of last spring (2008), I received a call from Alenyacht in Turkey asking if I was free the next day or two to photograph their new 42′ Tender, which had just been launched.
Time to prepare the equipment (Canon and medium format Sinar) to jump on a plane and I found myself in a taxi in Istanbul, above the Bosphorus, admiring the full moon, from the southernmost bridge, what a magnificent spectacle! This place is really magical. I love Istanbul and its duplicity… So here I am, arriving at the hotel at 2am with an appointment for the next day at 8am…
The alenyacht yard is located on the eastern bank, near Tuzla. The boat, already in the water, doesn’t seem to care about my presence, nor about Anna-Carolina’s, a brunette model, obviously pretty. Not really surprised by the 16 workers (yes I did count) working hard on every part of the boat, I take advantage of the delay to send Anna Carolina to buy a more appropriate white dress while the skipper Merion Martin and I get to know each other. Alp Ozcan, the alenyacht manager, is worried about time, but I reassure him that with so many people working on deck, in the cabin and in the engine room the boat should be ready in time for the photo shoot.
Around 2pm we can finally leave for Sedefadasi Island, 6 miles to the east. We start with pictures taken on board, due to the delay, time is too short to take pictures from a chase boat as we have a helicopter flight planned for around 5 pm. We will take them later, at sunset, towards the Bosphorus, postcards guaranteed!
Happiness. Here we are at nearly 40 knots on the blue water, the two Yanmar engines are not wasting their 880 horses! From the stern to the bow I ask Anna-Carolina to change her pose and Merion to keep a smooth course. The boat obeys him remarkably well and goes through the sea without banging, large stable curves with alternating tight turns to “catch” the wake in the background, Anna-Carolina never loses her balance (it’s the first time she’s been on a boat!). I find myself standing on the teak foredeck, without a harness, framing the boat and crew with a wide angle. Furious at my overconfidence, I “get back” on board. Barely enough time to shoot a few dozen images and I’m in Istanbul’s legendary traffic jams on my way to the heliport.
We fly over the south-east of the city and then head for the boat, easy to recognize at this time of the year, there are few yachts on the water but many cargo ships!
Suddenly there she is, with her superb line and her clean wake, sailing along the island. I had given a simple ‘brief’ to the crew: be natural, enjoy life on board your new and lovely luxury toy… They really had no difficulty in playing their part…
