The way light and water meet is endlessly strange to me. I photograph the human figure suspended inside it, listening for what it does.
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My favorite work is the human figure underwater. The way light and water meet fascinates me, the bending and softening and falling of it, the way it touches skin no studio light can imitate. Underwater, the body releases gravity and the usual defenses with it. What remains is quieter yet more dynamic. I work in oceans, cenotes, and still pools, at the threshold between buoyancy and descent, typically using only available light and trusting water to shape the image alongside me.
Where do you find inspiration?Inspiration starts with the underwater world itself. Coral reefs, cenotes, kelp forests, and open ocean each shape light in their own way, bending and softening and falling in shafts I can never quite predict. That alone would be enough. But I also grew up inside the painted fantasy worlds of artists like Frank Frazetta, where figures stood in dramatic light and felt larger than life. My work is a quiet attempt to bring that mythic atmosphere back, this time with real water and real light.
What would you do with $25,000?I would use the prize to build a body of baroque-inspired underwater work I haven't yet had the time or budget to make. The vision is dense and theatrical: elaborate costuming, layered fabrics, gilded objects, candlelit surfaces, multiple figures arranged like old paintings. Underwater shoots of this scale require wardrobe, models, location access, and a crew, and the costs add up fast. The prize would let me finally chase the images I've been sketching in my head for years.
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