Life is all about new experiences and, this week, we jumped in at the deep end – almost literally – to try something new: underwater baby photography. And, are we glad we did? What a fabulous and rewarding experience it turned out to be. Now, Richard (Triggerfish) Aspinall is no stranger to underwater photography and his images have been featured in magazines such as UltraMarine, Practical Fishkeeping and Marine Habitat as well as Practical Photography but, photographing babies underwater is a new experience.
A few weeks ago, a local mum emailed us to see if we could do some underwater baby photos for a group of mums in Huddersfield who were attending a local swimming class for babies. They had been offered the chance to have photos taken by a large company linked to the class but they found the prices inhibitive and were worried that the ‘three submersions’ rule might not give them the shot they wanted. As a small team of two photographers, we were able to tailor our ‘offer’ and come up with a package that suited everyone in the group: one hour in their local pool, for their exclusive use, with as many submersions as they felt they needed (while ever their babies were happy to play along). Consent forms and payment was sorted out in the weeks running up to the photo shoot so, once we’d all met in the health club foyer, it was off to the changing rooms, then into the pool.
After a short briefing from Richard, the photo shoot got underway and while the ‘subjects’ were busy posing, the rest of the mums, dads and babies were able to splash away happily while I captured some lovely candid shots of all the fun.
