Segert & Joren Underwater

Why underwater?

To me the underwater dimension adds something extra to a photo. It has something attractive to take your camera, where it’s not supposed to be. As kids enjoy water even more than adults, I wanted to try photographing kids and even babies underwater.

Gear

There are a few ways to go when you want to take pictures underwater. You can buy an underwater house for your camera, which is rather expensive. Or use a more ‘low-budget’ version, like EWA-Marine plastic bags, as I did. I must admit, the plastic bags seem unreliable and I had my doubts about it. But after a few positive blogposts and reactions on forums, I decided to just order it, rather then spending a few thousand euros for a underwater house.

Expierence

As I had still my doubts about the EWA-Marine plastic bag, I tried it with my second camera, my canon 400D, instead of my 7D. The first impression was good. The plastic is thick enough but is still quite flexible. The sealing is made of 2 metal strips, that can be tightened together with bolts. Which provides a real good seal for the plastic in between. Handling the camera underwater is still quite easy trough the plastic. Pressing the shutterbutton trough the foreseen space in the bag wasn’t always easy, it’s a bit quirky to find the button without feeling where your finger is on the camera. As the bag is filled with air, the camera will float.
Which makes its a sort of point-and-shoot. But for shooting just under the water surface (less than a meter) I would certainly recommend the EWA-Marine plastic bag.

What to do now?

Well, now I know its possible and works good enough for me. I want to try photographing a baby underwater. Hopefully these images will appear soon on my blog.

Finally I would like to thank Segert and Joren to submerge several times for the pictures!

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A few weeks ago I  photographed Julie’s Belly,
who was 31 weeks pregnant at that time.

I really look forward to photograph the little boy in September!

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Almost two weeks ago I did a newborn photo session with Lucca, the at that moment 10 days old daughter of my colleague Duncan. This session was a wonderful way to really start with newborn posing. After looking at many pictures at serval blogs of newborn photographers, I made a list of things I would like to try. The ‘head leaning on hands’ was high on that list. What we needed was a sleeping baby, after feeding Lucca, this was the case. After some tries and with the help of Duncan and his girlfriend Anke, we all were amazed the poses were achieved while Lucca slept like a rose.

The little bonnet used in the session is made by Maffe Muts, a little company by Mieke, who makes every bonnet you want. It was a nice discovery on the internet, just tell what you want, pay and a few days later you get the cute little bonnet. Mieke also made a hammock for the session, but unfortunately it was a little too big for this session. I’ll try to use it with an older child. If you need a custom made real nice bonnet, just go to Maffe Muts!

I’m looking forward to the next newborn session, enjoy the the pictures!

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Today its the first birthday of Lars, Happy Birthday little chap!
And what’s supposed to be on a birthday, right the cake with lots of whipped cream.
So we did and let Lars explore the fun of eating with his hands.

Birthday card

Another picture I like from that day is, the picture I took right after the messing with the cake session. When Lars was changed and had a quick wash, he was walking around and looked over the sofa. I had just enough time to grab my camera next to me and click. Lightroom was used for post processing.

Lars looking over the sofa

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Anke, a friend of mine, asked me a while ago if I was interested to do a photo shoot with two kids, the kids where she is babysitting. I hadn’t to think twice about this and said immediately yes, it’s a good way to practice.

Last weekend it was the day of the shoot with Norah and Matteo, two lovely kids. Norah is around 2 years old and Matteo 2,5 months.

It was a whole experience, to do a shoot with people I didn’t know before, it was exiting. I learned a lot from this shoot and know some point I need to work on.

I’m hearing some people think:
you’re doing a whole photo shoot for free, that’s not fair your taking money from professional photographer whom are living from this. But from my point of view that’s not the case, I’m sure the if I didn’t took the pictures, they wouldn’t contact a professional photographer. It works in two way’s they are happy to have picture and I gain experience.

Time for some pictures:

Norah

Matteo

Matteo's foot

To finish of the CD with photo’s I made a paper case for it where I printed
a photo with some text on it. Wonder how you can do it: see it in this video.

Paper CD cases

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