It’s one thing to shoot a large group shot such as at a wedding or graduation. But it’s quite another to have to do it underwater. That’s exactly what one British Columbia photographer ended up doing when her Royal Canadian Navy compatriots wanted their graduation photo taken in this unusual manner.
Sailor 1st Class Valerie LeClair was given the task of capturing the underwater shot of Royal Canadian Navy Divers who had recently passed a diving course.
The usual group-shot issues of having people not looking at the camera or having their eyes shut were compounded by the fact that they were also having to hold their breath and stay anchored.
LeClair told CTV News “they would float up, or it would be hard for them to sit down in the chairs.” In the end, the sailors had to line their pockets with 8 pounds of weights, just to stay on the bottom long enough to take the photo.
The instructors in the front row had access to air, however, the trainees in the back row did not and had to rely on holding their breath. Inevitably someone would need to retake a breath, just when everyone was finally lined up.
Finally, everything was in place, and LeClair managed to get the shot. But her work wasn’t done. Now she had to edit and retouch the photo, which included taking out all of the bubbles in post. “Editing, yeah, that wasn’t the most fun. It took a long time,” she says.
However, it’s all in a day’s work for LeClair, who says that she feels pretty lucky, to get to combine her love of photography with her passion for diving. “It’s kind of a cool job,” LeClair says, “I get to dive and take underwater imagery too.”
It just goes to show, being a photographer never has a dull moment. Except when editing out bubbles perhaps.
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