Underwater children’s portrait photography

It was back in November last year that I first experimented with underwater children’s photography and now the summer is upon us and outdoor pools are beginning to warm-up, I thought it might be time to give it another go.

Unfortunately there isn’t yet an underwater housing available for my main camera – the Canon 1DX – so I have been experimenting using a smaller compact camera with a fantastic underwater casing, allowing me full control of all the manual settings and the ability to experiment with underwater children’s photography. I’m loving the experience, even if it has reminded me that I really need some swimming lessons – my swimming lessons at Primary school seem so long ago now as I splash in the shallow end.

I was visiting Arthur and Honor this weekend and I knew they have a swimming pool, so I thought I would pop the camera in the underwater housing and have a play in the pool. It was fantastic fun, not least because the pool has recently been re-lined in black giving it a totally unearthly feel. The only way I can describe it is like swimming in oil – the water is still normal (obviously) but it looks black. It is really very odd, in a super cool way.

These are a few of my favourite images from the day. It’s still a work-in-progress to learn how to use this new kit, but it’s great fun to experiment with.

If you have a shoot booked over the summer and have a swimming pool, do let me know in advance and I’ll bring the camera along to do a few underwater shots at the end of your normal portrait shoot. It’s always nice to add something new to our lifestyle children’s and family portraiture in London and throughout the UK.