Underwater Modelling: When Beauty Meets Conservation Effort
By Cipto Aji Gunawan
It all first began with diving sport, which eventually becomes boring. It was no longer enough for me to just dive, come back on land safely, and tell the story of a beautiful undersea world.
There had to be a “souvenir” of some sort to share with others. One such souvenir would be a photograph. There started the beginning of my underwater photography activity. Photo is the media to introduce the submarine world.
In 1995 I started to pursue underwater photography. I used film camera, back then. My job as a diving instructor had given me opportunity to develop skills in my new found hobby. The advent of digital cameras accelerate every aspect of underwater photography. With equipment price getting lower by the day, more and more people embrace the field of underwater photography.
Even then, not everyone can take picture underwater. You have to be a certified driver first. You have to master the safety rules of diving as well as diving techniques. Only after you have mastered diving, you can start with studying underwater photography.
Less Appreciated
I have done quite a lot of underwater photography. The resulting photos are excellent. I always try to show them to people. But what do the say?
I always felt that appreciation to underwater photos are very nominal. This fact saddened me, but I understand the reason behind it. Many people still did not know the real value of underwater photography.
As a diver, I had to be involved in underwater conservation. If still many people were not interested in underwater photograph I made, conservation would be a hard topic to address to these people. Indonesia has a whealth of undersea beauties hidden beneath the vast sea. I believed that without my conservation effort the seas would just become a vast trash can.
Without Diving Equipment
Around three years ago I read a book published abroad about underwater modelling. This fresh idea appealed to me.
I have done a lot of photographing people underwater with scuba gears, easily and without problems. Except that in that underwater modelling book, the model was underwater without any gears whatsoever. The model wore wardrobe as if she was on land, eyes opened, even smiled. This was so incredible. I was very inspired by the book. After figuring out the methods, I started looking for a model for a photo session. I found a few models, which I, then trained. Sadly, they all failed to become underwater model. It wasn’t easy afterall.
Beginning of 2007 I found a suitable model. She couldn’t swim, but her body was fit for a diver. She was slim, large boned, and with little body fat. I was cocerned more on her will and mental strength, instead of her swimming ability.
I started to train her in a swimming pool. Shallow pool at first, then gradually I moved her to deeper pool. Besides diving, I also taught her how to regulate her breathing and trained her to pose for an underwater photo session. The results were nothing short of incredible.
Growing Interest
I decided to publish a few photos to websites. I also wrote small article as an introduction to underwater photography. I personally believe that people’s interest in underwater photography started to grow. And it all started with this model without any diving equipment. Imagine that, for 10 years in underwater photography, I felt that it had been very hard to get people’s attentions. The same could not be said for the past few months. I started to feel the results.
A few pictures on this magazine has since become topics of discussion. A TV station, and another magazine also express the interest to publish the behind-the-scene story.
Not only models are discussed, undersea objects around the model also sparked interests, ranging from fish to coral, and others. This is the time for me to talk about conservation.
About the writer:
Cipto Aji Gunawan (ciptoag@gmail.com)
Starting underwater photography and videography since 1995, and now he is a consultant and course director of PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) based in Bali, Indonesia.
This article was taken from www.exposure-magz.com, and you can download the magz for free!
It all first began with diving sport, which eventually becomes boring. It was no longer enough for me to just dive, come back on land safely, and tell the story of a beautiful undersea world.
There had to be a “souvenir” of some sort to share with others. One such souvenir would be a photograph. There started the beginning of my underwater photography activity. Photo is the media to introduce the submarine world.
In 1995 I started to pursue underwater photography. I used film camera, back then. My job as a diving instructor had given me opportunity to develop skills in my new found hobby. The advent of digital cameras accelerate every aspect of underwater photography. With equipment price getting lower by the day, more and more people embrace the field of underwater photography.
Even then, not everyone can take picture underwater. You have to be a certified driver first. You have to master the safety rules of diving as well as diving techniques. Only after you have mastered diving, you can start with studying underwater photography.
Less Appreciated
I have done quite a lot of underwater photography. The resulting photos are excellent. I always try to show them to people. But what do the say?
I always felt that appreciation to underwater photos are very nominal. This fact saddened me, but I understand the reason behind it. Many people still did not know the real value of underwater photography.
As a diver, I had to be involved in underwater conservation. If still many people were not interested in underwater photograph I made, conservation would be a hard topic to address to these people. Indonesia has a whealth of undersea beauties hidden beneath the vast sea. I believed that without my conservation effort the seas would just become a vast trash can.
Without Diving Equipment
Around three years ago I read a book published abroad about underwater modelling. This fresh idea appealed to me.
I have done a lot of photographing people underwater with scuba gears, easily and without problems. Except that in that underwater modelling book, the model was underwater without any gears whatsoever. The model wore wardrobe as if she was on land, eyes opened, even smiled. This was so incredible. I was very inspired by the book. After figuring out the methods, I started looking for a model for a photo session. I found a few models, which I, then trained. Sadly, they all failed to become underwater model. It wasn’t easy afterall.
Beginning of 2007 I found a suitable model. She couldn’t swim, but her body was fit for a diver. She was slim, large boned, and with little body fat. I was cocerned more on her will and mental strength, instead of her swimming ability.
I started to train her in a swimming pool. Shallow pool at first, then gradually I moved her to deeper pool. Besides diving, I also taught her how to regulate her breathing and trained her to pose for an underwater photo session. The results were nothing short of incredible.
Growing Interest
I decided to publish a few photos to websites. I also wrote small article as an introduction to underwater photography. I personally believe that people’s interest in underwater photography started to grow. And it all started with this model without any diving equipment. Imagine that, for 10 years in underwater photography, I felt that it had been very hard to get people’s attentions. The same could not be said for the past few months. I started to feel the results.
A few pictures on this magazine has since become topics of discussion. A TV station, and another magazine also express the interest to publish the behind-the-scene story.
Not only models are discussed, undersea objects around the model also sparked interests, ranging from fish to coral, and others. This is the time for me to talk about conservation.
About the writer:
Cipto Aji Gunawan (ciptoag@gmail.com)
Starting underwater photography and videography since 1995, and now he is a consultant and course director of PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) based in Bali, Indonesia.
This article was taken from www.exposure-magz.com, and you can download the magz for free!
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