Meet the gorgeous Sarah.
Model, horn player, dancer, diver, bird enthusiast(From her IG).
Getting back into Sydney and going through the pains and traumas of being financially hit hard by cybercriminals/hackers I needed to get my mind of things. Doing what I do best and getting creative especially to help release some inner steem I put out a post on a few FB groups for collaborations which have been the trend vs using sites like Model Mayhem or Starnow like a decade ago. From the respondents I ended up picking Sarah being the most experienced underwater.
The re-occurring theme or style in a lot of my underwater work is mystical, ethereal and mythological creatures which Is something that just happens in the process of creating rather then pre-planned.
The dresses used were sourced from the Philippines in the markets around Manila during a past trip for the jellyfish concept and the additional fabrics from our local Spotlight store. The background is black plastic sheeting.
Getting the best water clarity is a major challenge and being the first pool shoot in a while I turned on the solar heater and filter while I cleaned the pool. This actually creates a lot of extremely fine bubbles coming out of the return outlets that create haze in the water so my solution was to do all the maintenance work a day before and leave it completely off until the shoots finished. Any debris will have also settled in the bottom.
In terms of equipment its Canon 5DmIII with 16-35mm f4L in Ikelite Housing and Dome using natural light.
I also took some footage using the slowmotion feature of the Olympus TG5 which Im still editing into some sort of video clip.
Either way these are some of these photos are from my first Sydney underwater photo session for the year and we managed to get some great results.
Now just for my closing remarks.
Underwater model shoots is a self funded personal creative art project I do for the sake of creating art and also challenging myself technically to improve as a photographer. Aside from being extremely challenging in all aspects its also one of the most expensive and high risk due to cost of equipment, chance of equipment damage that insurers will not cover, safety for myself and the model/team. Always great to get some feedback, support or help finding sponsors/clients so I can keep these personal projects alive.
some great work Chris! :) I really though the pics where she touches the surface were really cool!
Thanks Chinito. Doing the mirror effect is the hardest for the models having to face up and pretend the surface is a mirror while not getting water inside the nose.
Beautiful as always.
Thanks Janice. Next trip there you could be one of those underwater models.
Yes please! We have been trying to schedule that for 2 years now. Lol
very beautiful photography. your still not fading in taking great creation.
Thanks fvpjunel
Have challenges trying to fund some photo projects but in the end I always make it work with what I have available.
i know you can do it what ever you want because im sure your such a very good in whatever you do and i trust your works ever since :) im your #1 fan.
Ethereal, almost surreal images. You have a great eye and much skill.
Thanks man. Still improving all the time but have some crazier concepts coming up before it hits winter in Sydney.
I so enjoyed this! I don't think I have ever seen underwater photos like this. They are just beautiful :) Mad Skills Dude! Upvoting and Resteeming! Best of luck to ya!
Thanks Kim. Plenty more to come over the coming weeks.
Beautiful photo's. They have been chosen to be put in the spotlight as part of today's Random Art of Kindness.
Please check my blog for the large format.
#randomartofkindness
These are really beautiful and inspirational. I hope you are successful in all you do with this.
Whew that looks hard to do... At least you got good shots. :)