21 April 2012

Main Photographer: Danita Marais

Assistance: Mariska Venter & Philip Marais

Camera body: Olympus Tough TG-310 Sponsored by Artic Digital Bloemfontein

Models: Hendrik Kriel & Minet Swart

H2O equipment: Adriaan Botha @ Bsac Diving Club in Bloemfontein

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who made this photo session possible, without this team I would not have been able to put this genre of photos on my portfolio. This was a dream come true! I’ve always wondered how one approaches these type of photos, what equipment one needs ect. Artic Digital in Bloemfontein sponsored the underwater camera, and I must admit, this last month has been crazy in the office with losing 3 grandparents between myself and Mariska, my 30th Birthday (believe it or not), The Passover, Mariska’s wedding (this coming weekend!), clients and so on…

We almost cancelled this shoot, but I really couldn’t have let this opportunity pass. So last week Mariska and myself went for a crash course on how to “breathe” and move under water, and we took a lot of test shots before meeting with the models. Luckily all this could be done in a heated swimming pool as neither of us are fond of the cold!  I will not lie to you, I was a bit stressed as I had all these crazy, fun ideas of what to do underwater, just to realize that the practical side to this medium is quite different than normal “dry” land photography. For example one can not communicate with your models and we all had to breathe, therefore move and change position constantly. Also different mediums react differently under water… but in the end I’m happy with the final results.

A big shout out to Artic Digital, Minet Swart, Hendrik Kriel and Mariska Venter! Thank you, for your patience and support which made this whole event a reality! Hope you enjoy the photos!

(The photos of the two toddlers were taken on another occasion. I must admit, I had to move & think fast as these two are still to small to be underwater for longer than 30 seconds! And believe me, they didn’t pose… they were all natural! – Thank you Izelle Truter from Aquazelle for your assistance)