My friend and dive instructor, Jan Acosta, recently got married to his long time dive buddy + girlfriend Jules. And what better way to prepare for taking the plunge into marriage than actually taking a real plunge into an underwater prenup shoot for their wedding!
The bride and the groom are seasoned divers but we had to take double the precautions to make sure nothing went wrong. The shoot took weeks to prepare and a whole weekend to shoot:
Jan & Jules Take the Plunge from Jan Acosta on Vimeo.
- Jan and Jules had two safety divers each from our regular dive group, who made sure that there was always a tank of air nearby. Underwater, the bride and the groom would take deep breaths from the regulator, remove the mask and hand these over to the safety divers and pose for the camera.
- The shoot was done in the house reef of Dive and Trek Resort in Bauan, Batangas. For those unfamiliar, this dive site is known to most divers as “The Classroom” as it is usually the first point of entry of most divers into the world of SCUBA diving. We wanted to do the shoot in a place that was very familiar to all of us but had to be deep enough (around 30 feet) so that Wowie and Marie (the photographers) could play around more, especially with the props. I was one of the videographers.
- As you’re more buoyant in salt water, (yes this was done in open water and not in a pool as you can see from the reef fish and corals) we had to weigh them both down with weights fastened into their clothes so that they sink.
I have no idea how Jules’ make up and hair were done but it took her hours to get everything fastened into place so that her hair behaved when she jumped into the water. I think there’s some sort of art to putting on make up for saltwater but I didn’t really try to understand how that’s done.EDIT: From Jules — My hair was actually done by Chie Clemente-Fernandez who braided some parts of my hair for the first and second shoots I think. The other shoots, I tried wearing a a headband, but there’s really no taming the waters–once you’re down there, you just have to position your face and body for the camera in such a way that the hair does not get in the way. Now, for make-up, Marie Lat was the expert! She brought her water proof sets, but I still got to retouch every dive. It was hardwork all around for every one, and the result was one heck of a great job, thanks guys!- The reef fish definitely played a part in the whole shoot as you can see from some of the shots. But it was funny how they would partake in the whole production as these fish are so used to being with people already.
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If you’re interested in getting an important milestone done in this wet and wild fashion, check out STUDIO H20 on Facebook, a different kind of photography service for the water freaks.