Underwater
"They let themselves be bare before me. They screamed and yelled and cried and moaned and sobbed and growled. I gave them a scene, a character and maybe a line and, boom, all of sudden there was another human being in front of me." – Howard Schatz
In 2005 I remember being blown away by some editorial images I had seen of Michael Phelps swimming underwater. All of the sudden it hit me. What would this look like if I put a commercial twist on it? Finally in 2007, I attempted it. I had this idea to photograph talent underwater; Men in suits with their ties floating near by, women in dresses moving in a way gravity would never tolerate, ballerinas in motion posing gracefully with their hair floating off to the side. What started out as technical testing and a learning experience underwater eventually evolved into experimental underwater portraiture, then to editorial features and ultimately to major ad campaigns for The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. Shooting underwater is complicated. It is time consuming and it is dangerous. And we love every second of it.