PIERRE BOURAS
JC: What style of photography do you try to achieve?
PB: I don’t know, I don’t want to have just only one style of photography, now we need to be polyvalent for everything. But I guess my style or what I want to do when I’m working is sharing passion and giving dreams with my images.
JC: How did you get started in windsurfing photography?
PB: I started photography by taking pictures of my friends windsurfing. It was in 2007 and I was 18 years old. My parents let me finally travel by myself! My best friend had a house in Morocco, in front of the well known spot of Moulay Bourzerktoun. When I knew I was going there I bought my first camera. I found a used reflex digital camera thanks to my uncle who helped me buy it as it was expensive. When I first looked at it I didn’t know what all the buttons were for! I learned quickly on my own how to use this camera on my first trip with my friend. To this day I continue to progress with my windsurfing photography and have opened up my subject matter to all watersports.
JC: How do you get a standout shot?
PB: Sometimes it’s a long, very long process. For example, a few weeks ago during a trip to a small island in the middle of nowhere I got injured, so I couldn’t go in the water and stayed on land. Whilst resting I had an idea I called “View from my hammock”, so I started to take some shots. I spent maybe 2 hours in my hammock to get only one shot with Carine Camboulives. It can take a long time to get that perfect combination of light, elements and people.
JC: How do you stay passionate about photography?
PB: I stay passionate about what I do because I love it! I have the best job in the world! Even if sometimes the market is difficult and going down, I keep my head up and look forward to making different photos and pushing my limits when I’m at Jaws doing water shots for example. I travel every year discovering so many different places and if this wasn’t my job I doubt I’d have seen as much of the world.
JC: Where is your favourite location to shoot?
PB: It’s difficult to say, there is just one place in my mind today, Pe’ahi, Maui for the vibe and action in winter. I’ve spent a lot of time in the water there and had a chance to ride a few waves as well. Maybe I’m the first photographer to windsurf Pe’ahi / Jaws? But there is a lot of places where I haven’t gone yet and where I’m sure can be my favourite too. I love also where I live in Brittany, the coast there is really beautiful.
JC: Who is your favourite rider to work with?
PB: I can’t say one, I love to work with everyone who loves to work with me.
JC: Do you ever get stressed out when doing a photo assignment?
PB: I’m not a stressed guy, when there is something wrong I look for a different way to solve the problem. Imagine you are on a small island with nothing, you cannot make a mistake and you cannot fall down or break a lens. You have no shop and nobody around to borrow a lens from. If you start to stress out you’re in trouble, you need to open your mind and think it could be worse, I could break my leg for example. Then you think differently, use a different lens and try to work in a different way and adapt your gear to the action (that’s a real story, it happened to me in India 5 years ago).
JC: What’s the best and worst part about being a photographer?
PB: It’s the best and most beautiful job in the world, but good equipment is really expensive!