Meet Effie. - Dancer, performer and model from Sydney when not working in an office in the 9-5 grind. The first time I photographed were was when she just started modelling and it was for one of my early experimental UV underwater shoots with another from her dance group.
Over a year later she came to one of my model calls for underwater models ready to give it another try with more experience on hand and we had some good fun getting creative with dresses and fabrics.
I always love working with other creatives and performers on these sorts of projects because we get a chance to be in our element and create some awesome art. The first 7 years of my photography I shot almost anything and everything yet found it almost impossible to find models to photograph short of family members or asking my sister to ask her friends. Now over 17 years later from when I started and its a completely different story and now the difficulty is always time or even more financial resources to do the shoots I want to do - I always make the most with what I have available though.
One thing a model will always do is overestimate their abilities when it comes to modelling underwater. Its by far one of the hardest genres both for the model and photographer. There's a lot of variables that can not be controlled and could spell disaster with results. Im so glad this was not one of those days and we got shooting for as long as her eyes can take the water - its harsh on the eyes and especially so after an hour.
Hope you enjoy some of these from the session.
Reds always have a strong emotive quality to them.
The contrast of the whites against black always works
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.
