Underwater Photography Has Never Been This Exciting

24 08 2009

The folks over at  This Blog Rules, have a very cool “Creative Stuff” section (officially added to my RSS feeds). Recently they posted a peice called “Underwater Photography Has Never Been This Exciting“, which has been circulating around the blogosphere and social media circles lately. It’s a great collection of some very creative conceptual and fashion underwater photography from some excellent photographers. I’m proud that they have included a few of my images (including the image below, which I had yet to post here) – thanks guys.

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I know most of the other photographers, except for one. Included are UK based commercial underwater photographers Zena Holloway and Candice, Alix Malka (who apparently only shot underwater for this one assignment – but what an assignment it was, the styling was just beyond amazing and the images speak for themselves). Elena Kalis (who embarked on an unber creative Alice in Wonderland series with her daughter as Alice), Barbara Cole (very successful US based underwater photographer), and Sarah Lee (the only photographer I don’t know personally – she’s an 18 year old photography student who apparently has a bright career ahead of her – made me feel a bit old).

It’s not often that I feature or link to others’ work on this blog, but in this case it was warranted – check out the post at This Blog Rules – Great work all around!





More Underwater Fashion & Glamour

19 08 2009

Creating an “underwater studio” and working with models underwater can be challenging, but when it all comes together, the images are unique and beautiful. Most underwater photographers who shoot models all emulate the style of one of the pioneers of this type of photography, Howard Schatz (the man, the legend and my mentor). I see very few unique approaches to underwater photography. I try to go out of my way to create a style that is uniquely my own.  I hope that it is as evident when you browse through my images.

This is another of my favorite glamour images from the first of an ongoing series with a great model (Nelly) and an equally great make up artist (Griselle).

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Underwater Fashion Shoot

13 08 2009

A sneek peek from a fab underwater fashion shoot last week. More images to come!

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Curacao Tourism Ad

8 08 2009

The current print ad campaign for Curacao Tourism features one of my underwater images taken this year in Curacao (obviously). The ad concept is “Unspoiled, Untouched, Unknown”.

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More Images From The Sardine Run – An Ode To Sharkiness

22 07 2009

Thanks to everyone who added so many wonderful comments to my initial post of Sardine Run underwater images! I promised more, so here are a handful of shark-focused images. Again, this was just simply an amazing experience!

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T_JPH2134-500The expedition participants.

Still more to come, stay tuned!





Blowing Your Mind — The Sardine Run: First Shots

13 07 2009

Having just returned from witnessing one of nature’s most amazing spectacles, I haven’t had the time to go through all of the images yet – I’ve been busy pinching myself to see if I was actually dreaming. All I can say is that it was mind blowing. I am still glowing from the experience. The Sardine Run is the largest species migration on earth, taking part on the Wild Coast of South Africa each June/July. I’ll be leading expeditions again in 2010 (sold out) and 2011 (For underwater photographers who wish to join me click here). We’ll be posting a complete story and images on DivePhotoGuide.com, but for now here are some preliminary images that will hopefully blow your mind as much as the experience blew mine. Enjoy!

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This is just the tip of the iceberg. More to follow.

Update: I posted a small second set of images here.





The Colors Of Curacao

19 06 2009

We just returned from the 2009 Curacao Dive Festival, where I was invited by the Curacao Tourism Board to present several underwater photography seminars during the week-long event. This was my first time back in the Caribbean in many years, having traveled extensively to  Southeast Asia, mainly Indonesia,  since 2003. I have to say that I forgot how much fun the Caribbean is. Curacao has great diving, some of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, amazing landscapes and off roading, rich culture, and is generally just a fun island. I highly recommend it.

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Underwater Geisha – Part 3

4 05 2009

Another image from the “Underwater Geisha” series. This is one of my favorite images of 2009 so far.  I enjoy pushing underwater photography as far as it can go. Stay tuned for more…

© Jason Heller





Underwater Geisha – Part 2

1 05 2009

Image #2 of the “Underwater Geisha” series – a beautiful underwater reflection.© Jason Heller





Underwater Geisha – Part 1

30 04 2009

I’ve recently been working with this fantastic model in NYC, Masae. We will be working on a series on underwater conceptual shoots, here is part one of a small series that I have informally been calling “Underwater Geisha”.

Underwater Geisha - Jason Heller