The Sea Hardcover – February 1, 2010

"The Sea" is a magnificent book of photographs. Anyone who loves the the world's great bodies of water will be awed by Philip Plisson's stunning seascapes. He has captured the oceans in all moods, in all their glory - gentle, tempestuous, mysterious, terrifying, powerful. There is the beautiful tranquility of the Caribbean, and the stormy violence of the North Atlantic. And Plisson also captures the elusive quality of light, and the way it falls on water. His successful efforts to capture the right light, at the best moment, to enhance the particular quality of the sea he wants to exhibit, is worth the price of the book alone.Many of his remarkable images feature lighthouses, ancient tall ships, and modern sail boats, regattas, and sailors alone with the elements. The vast sea, however, is the dominant presence in all the photographs.There is very little text here. The monumental photographs speak for themselves. Yann Queffelec's Introduction does provide a perfect setting, and Elaine Georges' text is well written.I bought this huge, (11.5" X 14.5"), coffee-table book for a sailing mate's birthday, and he absolutely loves it. There are a total of 400 photographs, and four fold-out panoramas. I have looked through my gift so many times that I decided to purchase one of my own. I highly recommend this beautiful book!

I originally ordered this book for my father in law who is a retired ship captain. The first one I received was damaged but I was able to get a quick response and ordered another one. It is a great book with the most beautiful pictures and stories from around the world. My husband really enjoyed the book as well. I have discovered new places that I want to go to and explore just from reading this book. Definitely a great book for lovers of the sea or those that love to travel. Happy viewing!

I just viewed this book (in a much larger hardcover format) while visiting the Highlands Hall mansion in Falmouth, MA. My fault in ordering the version ordered on Amazon because I actually thought this was the 'coffee table' version of the book. The larger images in that version are far more spectacular than they are in this smaller dimension version that Amazon is selling. Perhaps the larger version is not available (note that the larger version of the book was the same price as presented by Amazon which is one reason why I thought I was buying that large version.) So, although the images are quite impressive, I would prefer the larger format of the book. Amazon, if you read these reviews, please let me know if that version becomes available as I will most likely be sending this 'small' hardcover version back to you.

To begin, I am a professional photographer who specializes in marine subjects - lighthouses, storms, sea birds, etc. Phillipe Plisson, the photographer responsible for the photography in The Sea Day by Day, is my favorite marine photographer. Guichard gained considerable notoriety with his sequence of photographs of a lighthouse keeper off the coast of France slamming the door of the lighthouse shut just as a giant wave swept over the lighthouse but at least IMHO, Plisson's body of work is much more impressive than that of Guichard. The book is available on Amazon at an extremely reasonable price and provides hours of potential enjoyment at one's coffee table. I highly recommend it either for yourself or as a gift for anyone with a penchant for the sea.

There are terrific photographs of the sea, boats, the seashore and all things maritime. We love it! It's a perfect coffee table book for a summer house by the ocean. The photos were taken by someone who obviously loves the sea and is great for people who share that feeling. The only issue is that the editor (I guess) chose to leave descriptions of the photographs (and even page numbers) off of the pages- possibly for aesthetic reasons. The index, located in the back of the book, is helpful to identify where each of the photos was taken, but paging back and forth is a little difficult.

Wow, substantial is an understatement - 195 photographs (most of them 22x14 +) and 16 panoramic foldouts. Aside from the calm, the charming and the rapturous faces of the sea that you can normally imagine, could the sea be like the desert, hot lava, an impressionist's oil painting, fields of grain, bubbling rocks and sand paper...? Find out in this book of photography. I always thought photographs are comparatively realistic. But Philip Plisson's skills conjured up powerful imagery from reality to fantasy, from abstract to molecularly concrete. It is a feast to the eye and possibly shocks to the senses.

This book comes in two sizes. I bought the wrong size. The one I ordered also did not come with a cover. The book appeared to be much more faded than the larger version I saw, which makes an excellent coffee table book for a home by the sea...

Simply the best coffee table book of photographs in any subject category. Unsurpassed composition, technique and range. My favorite. This is a compilation that spans decades and distills thousands of shoots into a gem of a collection. Unexpected bonus: the four-wide fold-out panoramic scenes that make you marvel at the magic good photography can accomplish. Be careful, though: there are other collections of Plisson's photos that have been gathered into lesser sets, not so well printed and bound. THIS is the book to get: forget the others.

～この写真集は、船と海を愛する、おそらく男達にとって、海に出れない時に街中の自分の部屋でくつろぐ時に良いです。被写体は、灯台、漁船、ヨット、帆船、タンカー、空母、海辺の町、漁港、波、浜辺、島、スクリュー、朽ち果てた木ボート、漁、ヨットレース、荒れた海、子供、家族、仲間、太陽、月、造船所、観光ビーチ、イルカ、カモメ、etc。恐らくテーマ～～は、海とそれに関わる人々の様々な関係を、切り出していると思われます。特に、灯台とヨットレースと荒れる海に挑む船とその人々、が力強く写されています。人は海に向かう時、謙虚な気持ちと堅い意思が無いと危険です。また、海から様々な恵みを得ています。それを改めて感じさせられます。タンカーなどからの廃油ボールをはじめ、船を洗うだけでも、～～海を汚染してしまうのでは、海に怒られそうです。～