Winter2016AlertDiver

101

“In 2005 I traveled to the Turks and Caicos to shoot a series of mermaid images for a commission

for Toto bathroom fixtures. It was one of the most difficult shoots I’ve done. Digital technology was

still in its infancy, and I was shooting with a Phase One digital camera back and a medium-format

Mamiya RZ67 body in a very dodgy housing. It was hard work in open water and terrible weather.

But we survived, the client was happy, and against the odds we got the image.”

“Early in 2015 this UK model did a brief

checkout dive in a shallow pool and soon

afterward found himself in 30 feet of

water, buddy breathing with a safety diver

and surrounded by dozens of sharks in the

Bahamas— and all without a mask. He

had worked with me many times before on

breath-hold shoots in pools, so I knew he

was a superb underwater model. I wasn’t

sure how he’d handle the sharks or being

on scuba. In the end he did me proud.

As we were fizzing out before flying home

after the job, I somehow managed to

persuade him to get back in the water to

do a test shot for me from the beach of the

hotel. I wanted an action shot, and among

a few variations was this running sequence,

which came to life when I added the

shark. I’ll be returning to the Bahamas this

summer to run an underwater photography

workshop, where I look forward to making

more images like this.”