On the 2nd May, I had the opportunity to take photographs underwater! This was something that I’d always wanted to do and to finally get the chance was amazing. I was assisting fellow photography student Jenny Stonely who was the photographer and I had the privilege to film with a GoPro camera.
The idea for this performance was because Zivile had recently lost her father last autumn because he drowned this is why the performance was done underwater. The performance is about the death, mourning, struggle and illusion of her father. This idea was really strong and vivid, but also a nice way to remember her father.
The shoot took place at a school called King Henry VIII in Coventry by the train station, and the school was kind enough to let Zivile use the pool whilst she did her performance. Arriving at the school at 10am, to do the shoot, me and Jenny were ready. Zivile said that she wanted a video with different perspectives of the performance so I tried to include angles that would look nice from under the water, capturing the ripple effect but also capturing the performance itself. Here are a few screenshots of the video I made with the GoPro camera:
In the images above you can see Zivile applying and removing clothing. This was to show how by wearing the clothes it pulls you down into the water, making it difficult to move. This shoot was conducted under Zivile’s management, and I worked as part of a team of others, Jenny Stonely being one photographer, and another two people recording and photographing the performance.
It was a great experience to have got to do this because it was something new and different. I had to work closely with my team mates to be able to get the images that Zivile required and to gain experience working with people from different backgrounds to share ideas. I also enjoyed that it wasn’t my project to work with, so I had to work to Zivile’s brief so I had to understand her work. This was explained to me before I started shooting and any questions that I wanted to ask I would put to Zivile and have answered and explained in further detail if need be. Even though I enjoyed working underwater, it was very difficult to use the GoPro cameras as they do not have a view finder to look through, they simply are just a point and shoot but the composition was all guest work. But with working underwater, the framing wasn’t always 100%, however I adjusted myself to the task.
Having worked on this, I feel I have learnt a lot by working in a team to a set brief and that it will help me later on with my own assignments.
Kerrie Caine 