This week on the SHIPSHAPE podcast, we caught up with superyacht photographer Tom van Oossanen. Born and raised in the Netherlands and now a bonafide globe trotter, Tom spends his days chasing some of the world’s most extraordinary luxury vessels and capturing them in action. We find out how this extremely down-to-earth individual built up his career, his thoughts on the future of the superyacht industry, and discover his love for ducks.

 

Transcript —–

Farah [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the Shipshape Podcast, a series of podcasts where we meet amazing people and talk about their experiences, personal, technical and all related to the maritime world. Come and dive in and dive in.

 

Georgia [00:00:26] This week on the Shipshape podcast, we are speaking to professional Superyacht photographer Tom Van Ossenn. Based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, we find out how we got into this amazing and somewhat niche business, the nitty gritty reality of being a photographer and chasing big boats and find out some of his thoughts about the future of the SuperYacht industry. My name is Georgia Tindale, and I’m co-hosting this podcast from Lancaster in the UK, and my co-host is Merrill.

 

Merrill [00:00:56] Merrill Charette. I am a liveaboard on a Ta-Shing Tashiba 36 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Georgia [00:01:01] So first off, we’ll start with the basics. Could you tell us a little bit about your background and how you first entered the weird and wonderful superyacht industry?

 

Tom [00:01:11] Yeah, for sure. Let’s start from the very beginning. My dad was with the Navy, so, you know, I was always around boats, like I was pretty much I’m originally from there now, which is the only naval town in Holland. It’s the only Navy base in Holland. So, you know, it’s completely surrounded by water. And so you were always in the harbor looking at the boats, you know, just fascinated because obviously, I don’t know how I reacted to that when I was very young, but I can remember from when I was like four or five, six years old and me and my twin brother, we would always go out to sea. The Navy ships out there and I mean, at the time there was a big difference in our there wasn’t a strict of a security out there. So it just basically was like a bit of a playground. And that just continued when I was eight or nine years old. You know, we would always play in the harbor like me, my twin brother, my older brother was four years older and there were always boats out there. And, you know, at this time there were no fences in the port. You could basically just go wherever, walk around. And there was this one time when a big yard came like massive. And the name I suppose it’s here and built by also in back then in the north. And I was like, you know, the three of us were all like, Well, look at this. So, you know, we looked at it for a while and then she went to sea and came back, went to sea and came back. And then we asked, you know, like, can we have a look on board? And, you know, this was as a nine year old, very impressive thing to watch. I will never forget that she had the boat back there. And it was one of the biggest boats ever launched in Holland. And she had a little grass patch on the back from the Arctic that was pretty dark. And we were just so fascinated by it. Like this boat has a garden and, you know, they let the dog out basically. So we were like, That’s that’s impressive. So after I’ve seen that, I was like, Well, what is your thing? That’s pretty cool that are nine years old and you’ve only seen Navy ships in our yard and you know, everything is different about the finished design moments. So, you know, I kept being fascinated about it. And then a year later, yeah, now or maybe the same year I went with my with my school, we went to visit the site as a museum to sort sea museum in parliament, which, you know, tells a story about the southern sea, which is now enclosed by big dike. It used to be a sea. And I took my dad’s camera on board one, too, with film, and I started taking photos of everything there. So, you know, I think like 23 or 24 photos on a film show, I’ve finished a dark 10 minutes. So I was like, okay, I think I’m going to like this photography thing, you know? So when I got home, you just want to learn more about and read more about it. I was just very interested in in ships and Design from a very young age. And when I started working at the farm, like it’s a very common thing in the normal program from to just start working, you know, in your summer holidays when you’re like 12, 13 years old to work on the fields. And basically what you do is you you’re just pretty small still and it’s great. It’s very intense labor if you’re tall, but if you’re small, you can easily get through like the tulip, the tulip, basically that the tulips they have to grow. But in order to foot the bill for in order for that to grow, you have to make the head of the tulip just before it starts. So then the tulip gets stronger and bigger and after three years, the tulip bulbs as strong. So you get this beautiful flowers, which we are known for in the Netherlands. So basically that’s what me and my twin brother, we did that, you know, we worked at the farms and our in the end for six years. And obviously not only that, like you just do that for the first three years and you just start working and, you know, saving money and then you buy a first camera. So when you’re like 12, 13 years old, I bought my very first camera. It was a digital one, very private camera. But, you know, every photo I would take, it would just be like you could just see a dot basically a distance. And I knew it was a helicopter because it was also fascinated by a helicopter, a boat. And I was happy with anyway. And, you know, you start developing yourself, you know, after three years, you buy a new camera, after three years, you buy a new camera. That’s that’s how it goes. And, you know, you start using it. More people start seeing your work like it’s a tiny community of our living. And then you become this photographer was always around. This camera supports taking photos of boats and literally every boat, not just a job, just every vote, because, you know, if you have to wait for a job, you’re only at the shipyard in the north. They were conducting sea trials from my hometown. And if I had to wait for that, I would only take one photo a year because they only did it for one year. So I decided to take photos of everything. So you can practice, you can practice on any boat and any lights, you name it. So by the time I was 17, I got my you know, I got a bit of a maritime base and a local newspaper just, you know, only boats. Basically. I had to fill it. I had to fill a page or we both fathers or things that were happening in the boards, You know, it’s a pretty busy port like this for a Navy ships coming in off shore vessels or fishing boats, your business would be up. So it was quite nice. But still it wasn’t it wasn’t big enough. I wanted more. I wanted to see more of these boats and things, but I also had to work. I had to go to some kind of school. And so basically when I when I went to school, I always had my camera with me. And on the way back home I would always psychopath the board. And that’s proposed the airport. And then it’s like the home outside. Every day I would use the camera and that would be my advice for everyone who wants to do something with photography is to do it every day. I don’t know. It sounds harsh, but don’t go to a photo course or media. I’ve never done anything like them. And you know, that’s just like teach him teaching like a monkey. A lesson basically is just so much better to just go there yourself and try and fail and try fail. That’s that. That’s how I figured it out in art work.

 

Georgia [00:07:01] So what did you actually study then? Because it sounds like the photography you were doing on the side.

 

Tom [00:07:06] Yeah, I did it. Definitely on the side. No, I was I finished my my high school and then started working for an offshore company as a customs consultant. So I did my distance consultancy education and but very soon realized that that’s not going to happen, you know? Yeah.

 

Georgia [00:07:23] So tell us about your early career and how you actually managed to sort of get into the, you know, treating it as a career, not just a job.

 

Tom [00:07:31] You have to get started pretty soon after, basically. So I worked for this offshore company, so I was always in the port in photos of all the boats. And then, you know, you start to already feel that this yachting industry and it’s pretty small, you know, you start seeing similar names everywhere. And but, you know, I still work that day and I worked there for five years and are the best time. But after that, I went to work for a helicopter company. And during that time in that offshore company, I went to Ibiza on a holiday. It was in 2011 and somebody at eight was there. You know, everyone also many people who don’t follow the auto industry, as I do know, more of a you know, just a submarine. Submarine kind of. Philip Stark sculptured objects floating. And I was like, whoa, that’s and that’s like, now I really want to you know, I want to know everything about it. So the year after went to the south of France and our save lots of money went boats for them, which was, you know, low budget, well, horrible, whatever hotel it may have been, it wasn’t. Goodbye, Gennaro. You get to see the boats and it was fun. And then during that boat show, a guy bumped into me and he said, like, I know you. And I’m like, okay, I don’t know you. And this guy was to from Cypriot Farms.

 

Georgia [00:08:46] Oh, yeah.

 

Tom [00:08:47] And he said, Yeah, I’ve seen your photos on Facebook. So I was like, okay, that’s creepy. Maybe by the way, I read the boat show and then the year after I went again and there you was again. And then he said, I come to my Superyacht festival in in Amsterdam, and you will meet some people and it will be Christian. So I went there to my camera to like nine photos, which is probably still waiting because they were horrible. It was very art like. Then you also learned that the industry is bright, You know, once you’re in, you’re in. But when you’re one again, it’s like, you know, there’s like a big shield around it, which is really hard to get through. Yeah. And then he said, like, yeah, you know, when they should come at from. So after my helicopter company career was stupid. Yeah, it was less than a year, but it was a very good time of my life. I got contacted by like, Hey, maybe you should come and work for me as a photographer slash photo database, magic kind of function. So that was my big step into the superyacht industry, basically.

 

Merrill [00:09:48] Well, it sounds like you’ve had quite a beautiful life from working on a tulip farm to, you know, just the scenery that you’re around and the shipyards and all of that. And there is like a proverb where it’s, you know, an image conveys a thousand words. What do you think about that saying.

 

Tom [00:10:07] I know, I mean, definitely. And it’s been, say, more than a thousand words. It’s always my aim better when I do like a sail shoot for a boat. There’s always like a lot of planning, you know, on the other side are we need this and that or whatever. But I always say like. Only three more need. Basically one good shot that like grabs the attention of the one buyer or a couple of potential buyers and one end buyer is going to take it. Like I always said, we need to have that image that, you know, there’s a lot of owners or clients out there. We receive a ton of like brochures from yards every day, so we need to get them the one, the one cover that I look at and then Senator okay, I want to open it up. Once they open it up, we’re seeing more information and that’s where we are. You know, I mean, you can be the the best salesperson in the world, but, you know, pictures just sit and just just do everything.

 

Georgia [00:10:58] Yeah. I mean, from what from my understanding of the CPA industry, obviously, you and I both worked at Superyacht times and at the same time we did have some crossover. I’m interested to hear more about your experiences of kind of yacht spotting and how it became professionalized and became, you know, Superyacht photography became an industry because it used to be. Correct me if I’m wrong, you know, a hobby for people certainly started off that way, and now it’s become this much more professional thing. What are your thoughts on that? And also how would you distinguish the difference between yacht spotting and superyacht photography?

 

Tom [00:11:35] Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, when I just before when I started, it’s a full time, so it was more like an adventure, you know, zero. Like nowadays you got marine traffic, you know, you see a lot of boats or it’s free. So wherever you can spot basically all the boats, sometimes even the royal yachts to know where they are. And when I was a bit younger, you know, I would just drive through a shipyard somewhere and just hope that there was a boat I saw and there was a bit of that. You know, it wasn’t like I had no no one inside the yard who would tell me like, this is growing up. Like, obviously over the years you develop like a certain kind of connection with these people. So if something would happen, yeah, that would inform you. But it was still very early days. And then literally when when we started with the Superyacht Times Instagram account, for example, when we really started to pick that up and we would like rent planes to fly over the North Sea, you know, just the boats or just go to every launch, like obviously starts for media has played a huge part in the development of spotting what cars in or trucks bolting or transporting in the recent years because everyone wants to show off what they showed out there, you know, as soon as possible or or the weird it seems possible, especially now because drones, you know, like the people with the drones everywhere, you know, like it’s a big became a big development in the last year. But then again, the difference between like a job spotter and a professional worker. Like obviously when I’m in the south of France, if I were being inside of France ten years ago and I would see a boat, I would arms down, tried everything to take that job. But it’s really become like a professional service worker for us. And now I look at it both and I’m like, you know, there’s anchor stations are open, the hatch is open, the ball is up. For me, it’s not even worth it in the shop anymore because it’s not the way I want to show that boat. I want to show the boat and the way the owner wanted it. A designer designed it, and the only way you can get it done is to work together with them, you know, and set the boat up in the best way possible. And that’s that’s the difference, I think, between that there’s a ton of yachts photos are there. The photos are also really nice photos like, don’t get me wrong, but obviously the boats are not set up for a professional shoot like this. Whenever we we prepare like whenever the crew needs to prepare the boat for a professional yacht street, it takes days for them to get, you know, get the both clean, get it right, get it organized. And an iconic importance that I’ve never been. I think watching it this, this, this and that, just in order to make the boat look the way it’s supposed to be.

 

Merrill [00:14:08] So when you look at one of these mega-yacht, what do you see?

 

Tom [00:14:13] I see the most amazing pieces of like it’s true engineering. It’s like the one thing where they are maybe except for space craft, but after spacecraft verbally believe the best way or the best ways that my engineering and design are combined is if a superyacht and I mean like a proper built like I’m not I mean, sometimes I’m even speaking about the protection boats because even those are already, you know, pieces of art. But when I speak about like a highly custom built superyacht, which is like from an IMAX cinema to heavy anger to motorboats to submarines on board like that, all working together and also looking the way they look like esthetically beautiful. I think that’s just it’s a piece of art that I spend a lot of time in the shipyards and I see them. I see it coming from like a big pile of steel towards what we see cruising out of the ship. And that’s truly it’s remarkable. I see. I see pure is done in engineering, but I’m not even talking about like many people who know me, they know I’m not this. Think the lifestyle fanatic or whatever, or champagne or eyes. The only thing that intrigues me is the actual product where thousands of people worked on it for many years. I think that’s a great person.

 

Merrill [00:15:34] So one of the things that you brought up was how it’s difficult to get into the industry. But when you’re in, you’re in and you know, kind of throughout maritime, it’s this idea of like word of mouth. Right. It’s very word of mouth. So, you know, what would be a tip for someone if they were thinking about trying to get into this industry? What would you get? Just hustle or what?

 

Tom [00:15:57] I know what I mean. I see it happening around me a lot already. Like, there’s this nowadays. I mean, even with, like, for me, for example, I’m, you know, obviously I’m shooting jobs now for almost ten years or something professionally, eight years and for many more years before. But now, obviously, I love the arts, their passion of mine, what’s also our budget, obviously, you know, it’s spaceflight and the aerospace industry, Europe and exports. So, for example, now if I if I look at myself, I’m trying to get a bit into this spaceflight sports industry and I see how hard work it is. You know, like not to be arrogant, but if I want to shoot a boat, I’m I’m about 85% from things that I can get if I see a boat and I want to shoot, shoot it. I’m about 80, 85% convinced that they will allow me to because, you know, the the small people know, you know, it’s I love the fact that I’m trying to get into this space like the industry for many years. That just doesn’t seem to fit. You know, the point is just another give up this. It’s really also with the yachting, there was quite hard work, you know, to get it done. Obviously, when I started working for Superyacht Times, I had the perfect platform to show my work. You know, it’s one of the biggest online magazines. I was very lucky to have that. But now there are many more magazines and you see a lot of other guys that are also trying to like get into it. And they’re also taking those photos. And do you know, like social media did, I mean, help me out in the beginning, but also helps a lot of other people are going to be doing. And for the rest, it’s just like it’s like starting, if you, like, take photos every day as much as possible. Get your own style out there. Yeah, trying not to copy other people too much, which also happens a lot. But it’s good in all industries because so often it’s just important to create your own style and just don’t give up and stay. If you really want something to happen, you know you’ll make it happen, but it won’t come easy.

 

Merrill [00:17:49] So you went from Superyacht times, right? You were there for like three years and then you transitioned to freelance. What was that like?

 

Tom [00:17:57] Yeah, no, it was like, obviously I will be forever grateful for civil times, you know, for for having worked at it. But, you know, being like a media company, a well respected media company, also from the shipyards and owners and designers name. But I wanted to not being only allowed outside the fence, I want to be inside the shipyard like I wanted to be. I wanted to be where like the you know, where that where the steel was being cut and where they right where the welds are being made and where the superstructure is being put on top of the wall. And, you know, because that’s where you can get really creative. That’s the that’s what the process I probably love the most, to see this boat come to like, you know, in like three or four year time, to see it coming to become one of the best boats in the world. And that’s that’s what I wanted to do. So obviously it’s a good time was great, but that’s all outside, that’s all in the open. It’s all public and which was which is good if you want to get your name out there, you know, because those are the pictures that show and you can show like this, but I can do it later on when you can or you’re convinced that, you know, you will probably have to work and you can you can work with shipyards or owners directly, and I would highly recommend them. And that was my and that was my aim to do best.

 

Georgia [00:19:10] So as you’ve alluded to before, there are some ideas about the super industry being all glitz and glamor. And as someone who stayed in some of those interesting hotels in Cannes in Monaco, I can vouch for the fact that it’s not. And what could you tell us a bit more about the day to day reality of chasing boats for a living? What’s a typical day when you’re trying to get the typical day?

 

Tom [00:19:34] Whenever something’s happening in Holland, it’s probably getting up at 3 a.m. in the rain. You know, it’s obviously not weeks of beautiful weather, but in general a lot of things. So so it’s always a bit the aim to to deliver a boat before the summer season because that’s when you know and the boat then the owner can enjoy his boat in summer but obviously the construction time. So there’s a lot of things happening also in winter time or autumn or spring. And so yeah, I would say usually get up very early and, you know, drive through the yard trying to stay dry and warm. That’s a lot of, you know, it’s hard to believe now with these temperatures, but usually it’s freezing and then it’s it’s long days. But I always say like, yeah, it’s definitely hard work. It’s but it. The only thing I would ever want to do. Like it’s, you know, I love being outside there, like, and I’ve got the easy job. I always have got this job. I just have to find some angles. But there’s also guys are there to handle ropes and, you know, worked on it for day and night and are freezing cold. So now a typical day. Is it? It’s it’s an intense day, definitely, because you have to be, as many people know, who have like creative job, like working with your you know, with your heads can be as intense as working with your hands. You know, it’s you always have to make sure you deliver something either what’s expected, expected or above expectations. And there’s always been sparks of pressure. So, yeah, and then it’s obviously a late finish and that doesn’t stop there because what your show today, they want to end up on the desk tomorrow morning. So then it’s just editing, editing throughout the night, just hoping that you that you manage the expectations well.

 

Georgia [00:21:17] How much is it down to you and how much is it down to your clients on average? Do you come in there? Have you got a brief generally, or is it now that you’ve got a bit more of a reputation, it’s like, Hey, well Tom’s just going to do its like Tom thing and it’s going to look cool. Or how often do you have to say, Oh, we need the boat like this, this and this?

 

Tom [00:21:37] No, I mean obviously there’s, it depends like obviously whenever shipyard things are happening in Poland or Germany, I guess there’s very little things that I can do. Like obviously some of our ones when they when we launch a boat, I want it to look like we launch it straight into the Mediterranean. But it never looks like that. The boat never looked like that. There’s plastic, there’s hatches open, There’s maybe, but, you know, if I can come in there into like the project managers description and say like, hey, you know, like if that saved me, I mean, usually it’s like, okay, well, this is the first time the owner or the world is going to see this boat out of gear open about seeing and on line or seeing it out in full, seeing the color in daylight. You know, then I always say like I would like to look it as good as possible. That’s always the aim, to make it look as good as possible. But there’s also an understanding that the boat isn’t finished. It’s not ready for cruising. It still probably needs a note three months before you know it’s ready. But yeah, I won’t be there. I’m saying like, Hey, you know, we’ve got to close those hatches, but we did this, but we do that. But usually if I shoot the boat instead of France, they’ll have a perfectly worked up theme there with, you know, with the way the Chiefs do and or a purser and, you know, everyone who knows how the boat needs to look as good as possible. There will always be minor things I will tell them like, hey, maybe we should do this like this or this or that. But in general, they have worked for the owners for many years and they know exactly how they want the boat to be set up, so I leave it mostly up to them. But in regards to like a brief from like, okay, we want you to take these are these photos Never actually, never. It’s always like thrown. You know how it works. So do your thing. And so far it’s been actually I think 99 out of 100 jobs go well. And then there’s always this one that is that is a bit more difficult. But most of the time it works out.

 

Merrill [00:23:25] Have you ever seen like a launching of a boat go wrong?

 

Tom [00:23:30] No. I mean, no. I think in like, obviously we all see these we all see these videos on YouTube or whatever where things go wrong. And it’s but like as I do most of the stuff in Holland or Germany when it comes to like launches and, you know, like the safety precautions, like the safety meetings, the toolbox meetings, they are, you know, it’s really hard to sort of make a firm grip. It’s it’s no, there’s nothing really. I mean, for me, the most exciting part see the boat going out. But regarding like sensational excitement, there’s nothing really like that. There was literally not a scratch on the boat. It’s also because all the teams that work on it have done it so for so many times they are all professionals and what they do. And in our day, once there’s so much money at stake as well, everything is being done carefully there. Yeah, if anything is about to go wrong, it will be an immediate stop. To be honest, I’ve seen I can’t even remember how many boats have seen being launched, but I’ve never seen anything going on.

 

Merrill [00:24:33] Are you a one man operation or do you have a team of people working with?

 

Tom [00:24:37] You know, I’m it’s just me and myself. So and to be honest, I like just being able to to be very flexible and to, you know, to move around and on my own and do my own thing. And obviously, like what’s becoming more and more important these days is video. So I work together and like with like a videographer and it’s just for me so I can just solely focus on so just like I’m a photographer, you know, when, when drones came I like for was it ten years ago? And when I bought my first one a couple of years ago, it’s very easy for clients to say like, yeah, okay, fire drone up for them video. But now everything but I shoot them. Video is not going to be on a photo and I’m a photographer, so it depends on what you want. So nowadays. Is it just me and if the client were breastfeeding? No, I just being a videographer, is that the way to do it? If you focus on photos and a video will suffer. And if you focus on video photos with suffering, and I just want to make sure that I deliver the best possible.

 

Georgia [00:25:36] Yeah. So to them. The majority of your clients shipyards.

 

Tom [00:25:40] Yeah. Most of their clients are shipyards, like most of the Dutch yards and also the German yards. They are my clients. And then there is just there’s a percentage of like some brokers and the occasional designer and and a few owners I work for.

 

Georgia [00:25:54] But who would you like to work for? Ideally, apart from nothing.

 

Tom [00:25:57] As much as like I said, as much as I love you. Also, I’ve been trying to get into this aerospace industry for a long time and I’ve been following it closely for many, many years, 20 more years. And it’s just a very difficult industry.

 

Georgia [00:26:10] Especially what makes it about.

 

Tom [00:26:14] Well, for example, like it’s like the security around those air, like aerospace projects is immense. And for example, in the states where a lot of the where obviously most of the spaceflight companies are from, it’s like treat it as like a military industry. So obviously a foreigner is pretty much not allowed to work there, which makes it like I do have, you know, in the last years I’ve been in touch with people from Space X and Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, and I’m really trying and they are also really excited. It just needs to, you know, you just need to get in one day and do your thing and hopefully they’ll be happy and then say like, you know, we like this, so can you please come back? And I know it will happen. Definitely like it took me, what is it, 15 years to make a penny with superyacht photos, you know, So I hear all the time, well, not all the time in the world, but I’m definitely patient and I’m still. I’m pushing for it every day. Like these people must go nuts for me sometimes with my emails and whatever. But now I just really I’m really interested in it. I think it can also be done a lot better. So that’s why I won’t give up. I won’t give up.

 

Merrill [00:27:22] So, you know, it sounds like being a photographer has afforded you the opportunity to do some traveling where it’s been the most memorable place that you’ve been to.

 

Tom [00:27:31] Yeah, sure. It’s been a really good run the last two years, actually. We were shooting boats like from from New Zealand to Galapagos to Iceland to Norway. But my favorite place to shoot to shoot boats. That will be Norway, You know, like the Four Seasons in a day. The landscape is amazing. Like I would say, I’m a big ambassador for Norway cruising, which are certainly business. I mean, I’m proud to have it kept going to speak to every owner I talk to. I always felt like we should definitely get your boat to Norway because it’s mostly also because of the lights, obviously, and any photos made by, you know, by the light around it. Like it’s not a studio. You can’t you can’t direct the light. So you have to work with a lot with where the light your have. And I just found that my favorite kind of light is in the Norwegian fjords, you know, on a day with some clouds and, you know, low down the way the colors stand out, the way the design of the boat comes out, I would hands down, but I’ve got, you know, I’ve got goals like, I would love to shoot a boat in the Arctic, so I’m great. And it doesn’t come that far yet. But that was the comment that maybe I think differently about Norway.

 

Georgia [00:28:36] That’s all you really all about and how it can be difficult to like. Obviously there’s other Superyacht photographers coming in and there are lots of people on Instagram now taking lovely pictures of yachts. What is the tone? This is a horrible question. What is the Tom Von Essen and style? You know, a picture paints a thousand words. Can you give us a thousand words about your pictures? Do you have a typical style that’s recognizably yours?

 

Tom [00:29:01] Well, I mean, there’s a lot of people out there that say like, oh, we don’t want to work with Tom, because all this, for example, like, I want to well, first of all, I’ve never done a black and white photo. That’s. No.

 

Georgia [00:29:11] It’s not true. I’ve seen your photos.

 

Tom [00:29:13] Don’t it’s not true. Or their with dark and you know, like I would I like to include the environment whenever it is a nice guy. I want to make sure that this guy is in there, you know? And as long as it complements the boat, that’s my thing. I just want to make sure the focus is as good as possible. And obviously, that’s not that’s not possible to make a name like a shipyard where but when the light is nice and there’s a lot a person standing next to a big piece of boat, you know, like those are the one. There’s other shark. I like to include some people and it’s not as like a model, but more like to show the scale or to accentuate the the design of the boat. But my kind of photo, I think when I scroll through my own Instagram, for example, and I look at a picture, I think four years ago, I’m not might find it horrible, but you know, it’s the same with a picture I maybe took last week because it’s so big developing yourself. You’re the boss. I look at it like sometimes I look at a picture like four weeks ago. I’m like, What was I thinking? Why did I why did I do that? And then why would the client even said he liked it? And obviously it wasn’t a bad photo, but it’s more like your wants to be developing yourself. And I think that’s that’s the most and. That’s why I say to people, I do it every day because then every day you will see new things and you learn from it. So yeah, I don’t think I ever particularly like when I was on style or something. Or maybe I have an arm, but maybe that’s or people like it. But I am just always trying to do I’m always trying to look for the shot that no one else would take. That’s not always easy, but it’s definitely a challenge. So I like that.

 

Merrill [00:30:46] Now you brought up how editing is also a major part of being a photographer, right? Not only do you have to get there, you have to you know, it sounds like a lot of things have to be working that are kind of out of your control, like the weather. And then once you’ve done with the photos and you get into the editing process, what’s that like?

 

Tom [00:31:05] Yeah. So yeah, like I said, it’s you get the you will never take the picture. You’re like, there’s so many things different. Like whenever you are shooting, like during the helicopter shoot, for example, like the light, you obviously run instead of both into the red light. But then you have to make sure that the helicopter pilot also knows exactly the altitude you want to go to find the reflections, find all these things, and you always have this shop in mind you want to take. But it’s always my idea to come as close to death as possible. And even if I’m close like that, 95%, I’m happy because there’s so many variables, like with the weather’s clouds. But then but what many people maybe get wrong, like nowadays we’d like Adobe Lightroom. So for example, you can buy like a preset package of like filters or name it, which are great, but that’s just not what I do. You know, I shoot a picture with a certain edit, but you can’t just apply a filter through any further. That’s just done with words. But you have to wonder if when you’re taking the photo, you have to already know like, okay, you know, I think I want to go nicely. A nice contrast there or and if you applied it, if you just take a basic photo which doesn’t include it and you apply these editing settings you have created for that specific photo, it just won’t come out. It’s not as big as you thought it would be. And I always try and make for myself at least the nicest picture, you know? And but that process of like going from shot to edit, I think it’s really, like I say, connected. Basically. It’s a you know, in order to get this right, you also have to make sure the picture is right in the first place. Is really hard to do edits nicely, which has been taken back the best that I’m not only and should be able to go for a car or whatever, you see a lot of people trying to save an image with an edit, which doesn’t always work.

 

Merrill [00:32:57] Pretty much all my photos that I have on my dating profile, I try to save it with an edit.

 

Georgia [00:33:03] But what are some of your sort of. You’ve mentioned the idea of not trying to save a bad photo. Do you have any kind of pet peeves about superyacht photos that can just go really wrong when people are trying to take a nice picture of a yacht? What do people need to avoid and what ones you up in a photo?

 

Tom [00:33:22] Well, once we open a photo, well, anchor balls. That one small boat in Florida. Whenever I see professionals shooting a boat and they refuse to ask the crew to take down the anchor ball or the anchor mouse, for example. So by law, obviously, when you’re entering your job, you have to and you’re above a certain length in daylight, you have to fly a ball like a big black mark basically on the back of the ship to tell the people around you, Hey, we’re engaged. Yeah, but, you know, for the shots, you can always ask them to take about 5 minutes, you know, or be on standby already. And then the only thing that reminds me of really is the anchor mass. So besides having a big black mark on the bow at night, you have to have a big mass on the boat. So it folds out of the barrel, which doesn’t need to be up in daylight. But some people just don’t understand it. So they have that masked up always in broad daylight. And, you know, it ruins the I always say like, so your boss, your owner is paid a designer €2 million or dollars to design a nice boat. And it was not designed with that muscle. So I always try to make people aware, like sometimes when I was still doing like some real, like yachts floating out of like the Dutch canals or something. I always wanted to have like a big banner on a building which said like, put your models down or something, you know, or close the hatches, my photos get better or something. So yeah, that’s like I said, I’m not even trying to take that photo anymore when, whenever these things are up, I’m, you know, I’m trying to discuss this with the client. Like, okay, you know, if I shoot for you, all we need to do is a little list of things which would be nice and save me a lot of like retouching.

 

Merrill [00:34:57] So as you said earlier, you know, working with the creative part of your brain is just like working with your hands. And it can be pretty draining, I’m sure. So what do you do to decompress? What is your what hobbies do you have? I know you’ve got some ducks.

 

Tom [00:35:15] I’ve got some ducks. Yeah. Think you know my or pet ducks Keeps me up at night. And early in the morning. They’re very noisy. No. Yeah. So this is four decks and they relax me and I can just sit and sit on the in my garden for hours and just look at them, you know, are living, they’re living their life and eating, discussing a little in a little bit. And now it’s it’s really good fun. Do you know if you can sometimes it’s pretty hectic with the traveling and with the editing. You know, like you always have to be on your whenever you’re dealing with some of these types of our clients, you just have to be, you know, always like on top of it, you know, like just don’t don’t slow or down. Basically it’s, it’s a bit rushed sometimes. And then also if you have some travels in between, I get to fly three times a week that’s already a bit intense and then I’d love to be home and just, you know, relax with a beer or some drinks or get some Lego these days. And that really relaxes me. What’s movie? I’m a big movie, man. You know. I love watching watching movies.

 

Merrill [00:36:21] What’s one of your favorite movies?

 

Tom [00:36:22] My all time favorite would be Interstellar. Now know the true visionary when it comes to movie making. And now I really, really love this and I’m always looking out for his next one.

 

Merrill [00:36:35] Have you seen the show below decks?

 

Tom [00:36:37] I was unfortunate enough to watch it. I mean, below deck, like it’s, you know, it’s entertaining and it’s it doesn’t show really anything about it. You like what I like. I have obviously not been a crew member and I will never be one and I never wants to be one. But because I get terribly seasick. But when I look at it so, you know, it’s I really watch it. But if there’s nothing else on TV, I’m just curious to see where they are, what other boats are there, what both are they on? How does the boat look from inside? But I have nothing when I speak to the crew. It’s not really the reality of living on board. And.

 

Georgia [00:37:13] You know, it’s it’s one of those questions we have to ask. If we have anyone on from Superyachts. We unfortunately always have to mention below deck just one of those things.

 

Tom [00:37:24] Though. I mean, if they I think they are quite successful in what they do because everyone seems to know it. Yeah, but yeah, I just see it as entertainment. It’s basically like a scripted reality, I think.

 

Georgia [00:37:35] Absolutely. I mean, no one’s watching the only way of assets and thinking that, that the only way is Essex and thinking that’s exactly what it’s like in the UK though. Maybe they are. I’m from the UK so I can’t comment. But yeah.

 

Tom [00:37:47] Yeah, I’ve been to.

 

Georgia [00:37:50] Some. So you’ve seen some absolutely amazing boats over the course of your career. I know that for a fact. I also know for a fact there’s an awful lot you can’t tell us about some of your clients and some of the shoots that you’ve done, but what has been your sort of some of your best boats you’ve shot and why?

 

Tom [00:38:09] One of my favorite shoots basically would be the shoot up of Black Pearl, the 106. They’re basically super sailing yacht from Ocean Girl. She is I mean, still, I you know, this was all sort of shot before, for example, before Instagram reels became a real thing. So I remember I was in the in the helicopter and it is under the six meter sailboat in full sail from towards me. And I’m just shooting it. And I think like this is actually one of the coolest sights I’ve ever seen. So let me take my phone out of my pocket and take a quick seven second video of this. So I did. And I just can’t. I always keep watching it. So when it really became a thing, for example, I decided to put it on Instagram and it went like bonkers, whatever. Like, you know, you take all these nice shots of boats and what people like the most is a shitty phone video. That’s a bit frustrating, but that’s the algorithm, I guess. Yeah, but now like pro that would be that would have been I mean, still I can look through these images I shot back then. Obviously I would do it all different. But Arabi, I was still very happy to wait. It worked out. And you know, that’s just a mechanic. That’s that’s an absolute piece of art and engineering.

 

Georgia [00:39:21] Yeah, absolutely. So speaking of images on below deck, do you think yachting as an industry has an image problem?

 

Tom [00:39:31] Well, I guess that’s something of a joke. It’s like, you know, when it when the super villain in James Bond is also having a yacht, you know, like, that’s a bit the connection a lot of people have with like if you have a yacht, you must be a villain or something. But and I obviously there are maybe people questionable about having their yachts, but like the owners I know and that I work with, they are very nice and generous people so far as I know. And but I guess the more like the media loves a good story, like in Holland as well, we build the most amazing superyachts and we’ve been doing that for decades and you never really hear from the media whenever these things go well. The only thing, for example, in the last 12 months in Holland, that’s media. The only thing you hear from from them, it’s like, okay, we get stuck on a bridge for the. To meet the boat. We have to take a bridge out because some rich guy needs to have a sailboat, you know, pass through or boats being sanctions because they are owned by Russians. It’s the only three times the superyachts come in the news. Well, there’s so much more happening, you know, providing thousands of people work. And for example, when when I was once with an owner spending Christmas and New Year’s Eve in a beautiful place, and he didn’t have to bring like National Geographic scientist on board, he didn’t have to do it, but he did it. You know, I keep invited them is tender. This is stuff they could do that the shark research, you know, they basically use the boat as its base. And I think that’s also the direction where the general auto industry is going. Like people are offering their boats more for like scientific research as more expedition yacht, basically every almost expedition yacht, but more like expedition with yachts being built. And there’s also a lot of people who just then obviously would provide like a place for scientists to do their sea research or whatever. So nowadays there’s this, this, those things changing. It does not, especially with yacht Arm as being younger, you know, they want to be more. It’s also, of course, VR, but they also want to be more sure like you know it’s not having a your doesn’t only have to be like bravery and Centrebet and just popping champagne It’s not like that at all. There’s a, there’s a huge shift happening at the moment now people will want to take their boat, go exploring and or and with that the reasons to do also research for like climate change or sea life. And I think that’s a that’s a good way to go.

 

Merrill [00:41:57] Well as you said, you know how the media picks up kind of the bad stories and that’s what really gets like propagated throughout, like, you know, all the media, I mean, even the same with the ocean, right? Like for the most part, people know that the only things that they hear, the ice caps are melting, the tides rising. There’s a lot of plastic and there’s sea animals that live in there. You know, that’s pretty much it, Right. But kind of as we start to wrap this up, where can people find you and see more of your photos and all of that? Where can people get a hold of you?

 

Tom [00:42:29] Yeah. So that’s also changing a bit because I’m like when I was when you’re supporting the arts, you can basically you can do whatever and which is not, you know, because then you can build up a portfolio of your work. But lately I’m just like only working for like owners or shipyard directly and on a lot of projects that they can’t share anything about, which is a bit frustrating because, you know, and my clients know that. Notice that I find it frustrating that a lot of my photos end up on a hard drive never to be share because that’s a bit, you know, that’s not what we are what I’m working for, right? So hopefully that’s going to it’s going to change at some point that I can show some more work than I would love to do. Like a like a nice book, you know, like coffee table book, because I’ve got hundreds of thousands of images of the most amazing projects and build and on some photos I’m really proud of. So I would love to show more of that. But I mean, you know, people can always follow me on Instagram or, you know, have a look on the website. But yeah, there’s unfortunately at the moment is just not enough to share.

 

Merrill [00:43:35] But why why do you think that is? You know, I feel like a bunch of people would like to show off the work that they, you know, Yeah.

 

Tom [00:43:44] Some people do, but unfortunately my clients are a bit more confidential, which is, you know, absolutely fine. I always say like this, like, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t like people to come to my house and the photos are in and outside them show it all over the Internet. So that’s a bit like this. A lot of these people spend an awful lot of time or does this personal stuff on it. So yeah, I mean, it would obviously be good for the shipyard to have your own because then they can show what they could do there and they would obviously love that. But from an owner’s perspective, I do understand the fact that they want to, you know, keep their projects for themselves because that’s exactly how I would do it.

 

Georgia [00:44:18] And I mean, it’s also that what makes our industry appealing, isn’t it? Tell them if we’re honest. That’s part of the intrigue. That’s why people find it fascinating, is because there is that discretion and sort of excitement. And so this sort of thing, when a yacht comes out and is finally seen for the first time, you know, that wouldn’t be the case if there wasn’t also, you know, secrecy and all the rest of it. Like it’s a double edged sword also.

 

Tom [00:44:44] That’s a good point, actually, because when I was still a yacht spotter and I had to find out when a boat would launch and where, it would always be a surprise, like, how is the boat going to look like, you know, you will be you couldn’t sleep the night before because you were like, how is it going to be? Why is it going to be the water to do something funky with it? I had no clue. But now, obviously, being involved in many of these projects from an early beginning, I know by the time the drawings are finished, I know exactly how the boat’s going to look like when it’s finished in four years time, so that’s nice to be part of the journey. But the surprises, bless you, even though they all went. And so it’s still always different when you see it coming from like, you know, like the 3D model. You don’t realize this is actually what we’re thinking.

 

Georgia [00:45:25] You still get excited, Tom. Are you still do you still get the the thrill of seeing a massive yacht on the water? Does that still excite you?

 

Tom [00:45:33] Yes. And sometimes it frustrates me because then I you know, whenever, for example, whenever one of my projects is going out to sea or whatever, and I have not been asked to take photos, I can’t help myself. I’m still just going, you know, I like it because it’s just it really gets me excited every time. And I think there’s always something I could do better or different or name it. So yeah, it gets me. I’m still when, whenever I have a launch coming up with a project I’ve been involved with for a long time, I still have trouble sleeping because I just know that it’s going to be such a good day, you know, a new baby being born.

 

Merrill [00:46:07] Well, I’m sure that there must be some crazy after parties, after it’s launched.

 

Tom [00:46:11] Well, not really in Poland, maybe in Italy, when you build a boat in Italy, you get crazy parties where you build a bird and all. It’s probably a cheese sandwich.

 

Georgia [00:46:19] But do they still smash the smash the champagne for the launches still?

 

Tom [00:46:24] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s still being done.

 

Georgia [00:46:26] So if you’re desperate, you can always just stick your head under the bottle.

 

Tom [00:46:30] Yeah, No, that’s the crazy thing. It’s not the. Well, not that I’m aware of. Maybe I’m just 95, but I.

 

Georgia [00:46:39] Know there’s one more photograph that you need to take, though. We’ve. We’ve talked about this before, Tom. The idea is to try and get your four ducks on board a superyacht and take a picture. That’s your. That’s their ambition.

 

Tom [00:46:53] Yeah, that’s the aim. I would. I will see what I can do. Maybe if they ever come to my hometown, I could bring them. Yeah. So they are a bit messy sometimes.

 

Merrill [00:47:01] Awesome. Yeah. It was amazing talking to you.

 

Tom [00:47:05] Thanks. It’s been a very good.

 

Farah [00:47:10] And check back every Tuesday for our latest episode and be sure to like, share and subscribe to shipshape. Doc Pro. Doc Pro.