Underwater Photography

This has nothing to do with books.

(Well, except that I did just send off to my agent a final draft of a very underwater sort of noir, but that’s tangental)

Still with me?  Okay, well, further down, there may be photos of me shirtless.

Still with me?  Ah, the brave ones.  So, a few years ago my parents installed a pool at their place in Connecticut.  They said that this was all in an attempt to lure me and my brother to spend more time with them.  And it totally worked.  I love pools.  I like water in general, but knowing the water doesn’t have fish in it is so much better (fish are creepy. Don’t argue.  They are).  So we went down there the first weekend and splashed about in the pool, and then came back to NYC and I was thinking I needed a new camera anyway, and I thought “wouldn’t it fun if I got one I could use in the pool so we could take wacky underwater photos?”  I figured it would be hard to find an underwater camera, but actually it wasn’t.  I got a cheapish digital one, and the next time we went up there, we started playing.  I should say, when I say “we” I don’t just mean me and the future-husband, but also friends who we invited down with us.

Anyway, the point it, we all had fun and started, well, taking underwater photos.  And I discovered I loved taking underwater photos.  They started out pretty amateurish, of course.  I’ve never taken a photography class in my life, and we had no idea what we were doing, we were just having fun.  And none of us are models (though we totally could be.  We’re all very attractive).

And it was fun.  But going over them at home, I found myself thinking they could be more fun.  With costumes.

and props.

Okay, admittedly, props started out as “that red scarf I had lying around” and pretty much stayed there til this year.  See, this year, I’ve decided to go over the top.  Props, weird costumes, lots of stuff… and I got a new camera for my birthday, with all those ridiculous modes new camera have.

So I’m excited to show them off.  I have no idea why I enjoy these photos so much.  I think maybe it’s because I have a grace underwater I don’t have on land (as most of us do), or maybe it’s just that underwater you can fly!  But I love taking these, and posing for them.  I’ll be in a lot of them, cause, well, I’m always there (so is future-husband, but he’s vetoed almost all photos of him being put on the website).  I can’t credit who took all of these, as the camera gets passed around.  And my friends who are also in them have requested their names not be used.  But I’ll be showing off some of my favorites over the summer.  If you have any ideas or suggestions as to how we can become better photographers, let me know.  Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy these.  And of course, any body snarking will be shut down.

Let’s hope its a really sunny summer.