uncharted waters
Whenever I am feeling like I need to ignite my creative spark, I call up my friend Colleen. She is a model/dancer/aerialist and is ALWAYS down to help me transfer the things in my brain into a photograph. This time, I asked her how she felt about getting wet: my spark needed a little bit of splash.
I've been seeing some underwater photos on my feed recently, and one by photographer Mallory Morrison really struck me. She's an underwater editorial photographer out in California and I spent a solid half an hour drooling over her photos. And then I remembered, hey! I'm a photographer too! I can try this.
I did some research. Underwater equipment is 'SPENSIVE. So, to avoid any sunk costs if I ended up being garbage at this, I decided to just use my phone in a waterproof case for this trial run. Colleen was all in even after I warned her that the photos may leave a lot to be desired.
into the deep end
The day we decided to shoot was absolutely gorgeous. Until about 3:00 PM, that is. We then had a nice little thunderstorm dump it's contents on us for a bit. Thankfully, we had scheduled to start shooting around 4:30 and the rainclouds vanished by then. It actually worked out in our favor - the pool was nice and empty when we got there!
I went to Five Below to pick up some small weights to help keep me at the bottom of the pool (ya girl is buoyant) and yanked my mask and snorkel out of storage. Colleen and her boyfriend Will arrived ready to go and after a quick outfit change we headed off to the neighborhood pool.
I jumped right in - literally and figuratively. I popped my LifeProof case on my phone and proceeded to chuck it into the pool to prove to Colleen that it really was waterproof. I then popped on my mask and weights and hopped in. It was a bit chilly, but I warmed up quickly and took a few test shots before Colleen joined me.
the shape of water
As we began shooting, I felt that little flutter in my stomach that I get when I'm truly inspired by something. Colleen is always a dream to work with - her background as a dancer allows her to create stunning shapes both in and out of the water. The blue dress that she had on first looked like water and the way that it moved with her took my breath away.
However, we quickly realized that this would be a unique challenge for the two of us. First of all, my weights weren't holding me down as much as I wanted so I kept drifting up towards the surface. Second, the communication that I normally have with the person in front of my camera wasn't there. Normally, I can direct Colleen on very small movements in the moment: "move your left hand up a little", "turn your head slightly towards me", "push that piece of hair out of your face". In this scenario, we had to go underwater, take the photos, come out, look at them, determine what needed to change, and try again. We tried each movement a few times and then moved on to the next.
rhythm & blues
After a bit of practice, we found our rhythm and I was really excited with how the photos were coming out, but we wanted to add a bit more. After much coercion, we convinced Will to jump in and join us. Colleen changed into a different dress and they rejoined me in the pool. The rest of our session was full of laughs, love, and beautiful photos. They took everything I asked them to do and ran with it without hesitation. Once we were satisfied, it was out of the pool and back home to edit.
Once I uploaded the photos, I realized how BLUE everything was. Duh, Carly, you were underwater. Of course it's blue. But it still caught me off guard. I messed with settings in Lightroom for ages before finding something that I liked. And, plot twist, they're still blue. But I love the way they turned out - the texture is almost creamy and paint-like. After looking back at my edits, I realized how much debris was in the background as well, so I painstakingly went through each photo and removed leaves, filters, and light, trying to leave the pool looking as minimal as possible. Overall, I am thrilled with how these came out, especially for my first shot and on an iPhone. While it may not be a shoot I go for every session, I am excited to come back and try some underwater photos again!
