After a two-year stay in Europe, Pilon enrolled in visual arts at the
University of Ottawa. In 1983, after receiving his bachelor's degree with a specialization in
photography, he moved to
Montreal. He founded the company Lemieux Pilon 4D Art with
Michel Lemieux in 1990. Since then, they have worked together to design
multimedia productions, including
La Belle et la Bête (2011),
NORMAN (2007),
La Tempête (2005) and
Anima (2002), all of which have toured internationally. In 2003, Pilon and Lemieux did the visual design for the television show
The Planets, based on the music of
Gustav Holst, presented on the French and English networks of the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They also created many large-scale events such as Harmony 2000, a show created to celebrate the beginning of the new millennium, and Soleil de Minuit, the closing performance of the
Montreal International Jazz Festival (MIJF) in 2004, commemorating, respectively, the 20th and 25th anniversaries of Cirque du Soleil and the MIJF. They were also behind
Cirque du Soleil's DELIRIUM, a multimedia production revisiting the music of Cirque du Soleil's past productions, with over 50 artists onstage. In 2008, they directed
Starmania by
Luc Plamondon and
Michel Berger, the first time the musical had been produced as an opera. As official photographer for the
British royal family when in Canada, Pilon has covered more than 30 of their visits. Working for the
Government of Quebec and
Government of Canada, he has also photographed various other heads of state during their official visits. == Honours, awards and nominations ==