I love to experiment with new ideas for underwater shoots.

I have always had a strong connection to sea and two years ago I started free diving. This immersion into the deep blue opened up another part of my underwater world and this Summer I had the time to come up with a few fresh ideas.

Working together with a group of professional free divers, I wanted to turn a wreck in the Mediterranean Sea into an

“underwater playground.”

The idea behind working with free divers was to try and make the photos look as “normal” as possible, despite being shot underwater. Each of the models could hold their breath underwater for around three minutes, and they were extremely comfortable performing complex movements for the camera.

We arrived at the wreck, I briefed the free divers and described the images I wanted to capture… needless to say, they executed the movements beautifully.

When it came time to actually capture the shots, each free diver donned a weight belt and I wore my SCUBA gear. Once they were ready, I descended with my Nikon D810 in a Subal housing. They would pull themselves down a rope and run across the sand towards the wreck, then perform the movements exactly as we had planned to do.

The main challenge was communication, but once they got into a rhythm they could shoot for two to three minutes at a time. Thanks to my SCUBA gear, I had about thirty minutes of bottom time to work with. We had around six dive sessions in total. The funny thing was once I did surface the free divers were gutted thinking that it didn’t go well… only to then realise we’d captured some cool pics!