Whew,
That was a rough trip, and man what was the deal with that airplane food? I mean, who runs out of chicken on a plane from Africa? Seriously.
All right, all right enough about last week, this week I thought we'd get down to some real business and show you all what it's like to work on an underwater shoot. The underwater shoot I will be showing you all is from photographer Rebecca Handler whom I've had the pleasure working with for two summers.
To start us off, I’d like to go through what it means to actually plan an underwater shoot. For this shoot, we set out to do a series that was inspired by the psychedelic 1960s, specifically the lyrics of popular songs at the time. Once we had the idea set, we had to find the models that we were going to be shooting underwater.
For the shoot we collected a group of five synchronized swimmers, an Olympic swimmer, a male model and a female model. Once all the models were set, it was time to order wardrobe and props. The week leading up to the shoot was filled with Amazon orders of all kinds, from pink sheer dresses to pool noodles, we were ordering it all. After we had all the props set we had to pick a location (which actually proved pretty simple as we shot using the pool at my home). After all was set and done, the day finally came for the shoot to be performed. For this part I think it would be more interesting to give a day by day run-through with pictures of what went on.
Day 1
We started at 8:00 AM on location setting up the equipment including all the lights, stands, wardrobe, makeup and of course the underwater cameras. We used two underwater cameras, a Canon 5D Mark II with an Ikelite housing and a Fujifilm. As the crew and I were setting up the equipment, Rebecca was able to learn some synchronized swimming moves from our amazing models! Below you will see all the equipment and some fun behind the scenes of what happens before we start shooting.
After all the fun was had, it was time to do what we came to do, make beautiful art. We set up the synchronized swimmers against a brown backdrop and went to work. The actual shooting took a full hour to complete but when we were done we knew what we had was absolutely perfect. Below are some behind the scenes from the shoot.
After the first shoot, we took a break for a couple hours to wait for the sun to set. Once the sun was set, it instantly became magic hour. We were shooting with high powered Broncolor lights outside of the pool and strobes inside of the pool. We shot Olympic Swimmer Kim Vandenberg inside the pool as our main model and had the synchronized swimmers behind her acting as our background. Below are some behind the scenes from the second shoot of the day.
When all was said and done we wrapped up the shoot at 10:30 p.m. It was a full day filled with magic and psychedelia. The next shoot began at 12:00 p.m. the next day (a true blessing).
Day 2
Day 2's shoot had a slightly smaller cast with four synchronized swimmers, a male model and a female model, but I can assure you that it wasn't any less exciting than the day prior. We started out with shooting our male model in a very 60s outfit complete with a leather vest and a tambourine in hand. We had all the swimmers behind him as our background, who were dressed in white linen dresses and flower crowns in their hair. My job on this part of the shoot was to assist our male model with floating as he was constantly sinking because of all the dive weights we gave him. Below are some behind the scenes from our first shot of the day.
Our last and final shot consisted of inserting branches into the pool and having all our models and swimmers swim up from the bottom of the pool in front of the branches. Below are some behind the scenes from our last shoot.
The shoot eventually wrapped at 12:00 a.m.
I hope you've all enjoyed this little taste of what it's like to work for a professional underwater photographer. I can assure you that it is extremely hard work but that every second spent working is worth it. The shoot will be fully released in the coming weeks but for now, I hope these behind-the-scenes can hold you over.
Oh you're looking for your teaser for next week's article? Well fine, next week will be a little different from the previous trips we've taken. This trip will be a place not many have explored. I will be taking you on a trip into my inner thoughts and showing you my true feelings about the world.
See you next week,
Austen "Scuba Steve" Schweber
