Spooky tides
Jack O' Lantern
There’s a level of challenge that comes with underwater photography especially as you bring costumes and props underwater. Bringing pumpkin heads in the ocean was an interesting project, from carving them to allow space for a head and a dive mask, to sinking them 30 feet underwater while synchronizing myself and two models to get the shot while freediving.
Halloween photoshoots are some of the most fun and often difficult shoots because the rules underwater just change. One thing to always remember is that the water has a mind of its own and will move everything that is not well weighted down and some things (and people!!) float more than others. If you want to make underwater art you have to pick your battles, learn to problem solve on the spot and work around the water’s mood.
The scariest monster
The ocean is a scary place for a lot of people. It’s a place that claimed many lives and since the beginning of time has inspired stories of deadly missions and awful monsters. It’s the infinite power of the unknown making the imagination run wild. It’s what scares many and intrigues a handful of wild adventurers. But the sad reality is a lot different. Even though we still haven’t explored the majority of the ocean, our trash is covering most of it with garbage patches in the middle of the different oceans and scattered garbage on the floor of the deepest trenches. It’s a sad reality and most of the time a silent killer because many creatures don’t see the difference between plastic and food.
Light up the darkness
What’s your excuse to play with your own boundaries as a photographer?
Halloween shoots are just that for me: an excuse to play with all I know about studio lightning as I work with equipment with one setting meant to light up fish. Adding colors, changing the strobes' position, making the light the subject and creating a story around it. The water made me experiment with photography, understanding light made photography my world.
This is Halloween
It’s the spookiest time of the year and the perfect time to take ideas to the water to create art. There are no limits to fantasy once you take gravity out of the equation and one breath at the time you can simply make magic happen. Some shoots require a pool, some others are incredible opportunities to test your boundaries in the ocean. But most importantly, this is Halloween and there are no rules to be followed.
