The Story Behind the Image

Sometimes I call this portfolio ‘my lovelies’.

It’s a name that my friend Kat coined for them a long time ago.

Áine is my favorite of the series. She is named for my mother – Áine being the Gaelic version of Ann. Actually the entire series is about my mother and the images were shot after her death in 2011.

Cathy Daley’s images are my inspiration for this series. When I first saw her images I immediately had the feeling of “I wish I had created that”.

I loved the way the clothes in Cathy Daley’s images just seemed to float. I figured the best place to get the buoyancy I was looking for was underwater. So off to the pool I went with my model and good friend Marlene.

Now I hadn’t a clue how to work with a camera underwater. I did know that I wasn’t comfortable enough purchasing special housing for my Canon to work underwater, so I called a friend who does a ton of diving and borrowed her underwater camera.

I quickly learned that underwater photography is much harder than I thought!

I couldn’t see the digital back of the point and shoot camera, and there was no eyepiece to look at the viewfinder.

But worst of all, I didn’t realize I needed weights to keep me from floating to the surface as I was concentrating on pushing the shutter.

Marlene and I eventually decided it was best to keep our heads above water!

We made our way to the shallower end of the pool. Marlene danced and moved the lower portion of her body while I held the camera at hip level and took loads of photos.

Every once in a while I’d head over to the side of the pool, duck my head under a towel, and check I was getting the images I wanted.

Essentially, I was shooting blind.

But there was just no other way to give the clothes the buoyancy I was looking for. It certainly was challenging, but in the end, working underwater really was the only way to achieve it.

And I absolutely love the results.

Would love to hear your comments about this portfolio.

Be well….be creative,