The best set your character will ever get

Most of the characters people bring us are bigger than life: a mermaid, a fairy, a sorceress, a hero from another world. Water gives them a stage that is otherworldly in the same way, and the picture catches the essence of the character in a world as fantastic as they are.

A cloak opens out behind you and stays open, hair and fabric drift on their own time, and the light comes down in ripples that move across you the whole time we shoot.

While you’re still in the water, the first raw frames come up on a screen, and your character appears in a photograph for the first time. People talk about that moment long after the session.

A woman in a sky-blue ball gown sits on a stone stair underwater, the skirt spread around her and her reflection hanging above.

A pirate holds up a glowing lantern beside a ship's wheel under a blue web of cobwebs, a skeleton fish drifting nearby.

A woman in a pale gown holds a bouquet of red roses, her blue veil streaming out, against a dark reef.

A costumed pirate raises a glowing lantern in a narrow reef canyon, rock walls rising on either side.

From my very first photoshoot with the Submerge team at the Ariel Grotto to traveling all the way to Bali, every experience has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Denise De Leon
This was a very special incredible experience. I felt like my dreams of becoming a mermaid came true. The whole team was super nice and made me feel comfortable about doing this for the first time and gave me a lot of tips.
Adriana Escabi-Santiago
What an incredible, all immersive experience! Truly unmatched in terms of safety, service, and attention to detail!
@merman.andy

Every character has a moment

Underwater you can fly. You can hang at the top of a leap, hold an action pose in mid-air for as long as you like, and let a cape or a tail finish its arc while we shoot it. Gravity is off for the afternoon, and every pose the character has in the source material is suddenly available to you.

Tell us the character and which moment you want. If the idea needs something made, we’ll tell you what it takes, and if you tell us what you’re planning to wear we’ll tell you how it’s going to move once it’s wet.

Two characters in one frame in dark water, one in a yellow raincoat holding a paper boat and one in a ruffed clown costume among red balloons.

Where we shoot

A pool, a spring, the open ocean, or anywhere on land. The character picks the place, and we plan the day around the location.

A woman in a white gown draws a bow in a bright, sunlit pool, her reflection and ripples above her and light patterns on the pool floor.

The studio pool, Fullerton

Heated to 90°F, so you stay warm from the first frame to the last. Your own playlist plays underwater while you work, and a screen at the edge of the pool shows the frames we just shot. Watching yourself become one of these pictures is usually the moment the nerves go. A second feed runs to the living room, where whoever came with you can watch. There’s a private changing room and a bathroom. See the studio.

This is the most predictable water we work in: the same conditions every session, whatever the weather. The most stylized sessions happen here: high fashion, fine art, and any picture with a lot to get right in one frame. If you haven’t done this before, this is the water to start in.

A woman in a white costume stands on a limestone shelf in a clear spring, autumn trees and light above the surface and the water dark blue below her.

A fairy in a lavender gown and wings floats in a spring lit orange and rainbow-green where the sun comes through the trees, her reflection above her.

Springs and cenotes

Springs and cenotes hold the clearest water we ever work in. Limestone walls and cavern mouths stand behind you, and light comes down through the opening in beams with crisp edges. Some drop away into the deep. Others are shallow enough to capture the floor, the surface and the trees standing above them in one frame.

A spring is the hybrid. It looks like nowhere you could build, and the water behaves like the studio: the temperature holds, the visibility holds, and the water stays calm. Choose a spring when you want the natural version and a day you can plan.

A figure in a white gown drifts over the wreck of a ship in clear blue open water, sunlight breaking above.

A costumed figure holds a staff aloft among schools of fish and a nurse shark on sunlit white sand.

The ocean

Kelp forests run up toward the light. A reef opens out behind you, sunlight breaks apart as it comes down through the surface, and fish move through the shot while we work. Out here an animal can swim into the frame and change the picture entirely. We have photographed people in the water with sharks and with mantas, close enough that the animal is the second subject.

An ocean session is an adventure. Conditions decide what the day looks like, and a large part of what we do out here is read the water and build the shot around it. The frame nobody planned is often the one you end up printing.

An open water session runs somewhere we have already dived and scouted, which out here is a safety decision before it is a creative one. We bring a team of safety divers, sized to the location, and every client rehearses the session in the pool before it goes anywhere near open water. Choose the ocean when you want the pictures to feel wild.

A mermaid with a blue tail and a pirate rest on a beach rock beside a treasure chest, a palm-topped headland behind them.

A red-haired woman in a green and gold robe stands on a beach with her arms spread as a wave explodes into white spray behind her.

On land

We shoot on land as well, and what matters is choosing a place big enough for the character. Laguna’s coastline puts surf breaking white over black rock behind you, in a forest the light comes down in shafts between the branches, in the desert at the end of the day the ground goes gold, and at a lake’s edge at dawn the mist lies on the water.

A woman in a gold costume and white hair stands on the rusted frame of a sunken motorbike on the sandy seabed, rays of light above her.

Start to finish

A figure in a black coat and hat stands on the stairs of a sunken ship, one hand holding a sword, in blue water with light falling from above.

Plan it

Get in touch to book a consultation. We get to know you and your project, then plan the session with you down to the creative details, including the best time and place to shoot, anywhere in the world.

A mermaid with long red hair and a teal tail reaches one arm up through pale water, her reflection rippling on the surface above her.

Shoot it

Our goal is to transform you into a stunning work of art, and to make the day itself fun, collaborative and safe, so you can be at your best. You should leave having created images that make you feel great about yourself and about what you can accomplish.

A clown in a white ruffled costume and striped stockings floats among red balloons in black water, arms raised, a bright flare of light behind.

Deliver it

We share previews of every image captured during your session. You pick your favorites, and every one you choose goes through our creative editing process.

The water is warm The pool is heated to 90°F, so you’re comfortable from the first frame to the last.
Coached on the day Justin and Abbey are both in the water with you. Abbey coaches your breath-hold and your posing, and Justin talks you through every frame.
A few seconds underwater A frame takes one short breath-hold, and you rest at the surface in between.

After the shoot

Your digital gallery

Your private proofing gallery goes up within a week of the session, and the finished images follow four to six weeks after you’ve made your selections.

Art for your wall

We believe every image is a piece of art, one-of-a-kind and made to hang proudly on your wall. They hold up at gallery size because the frames were shot and finished for it, on canvas, on metal, or framed behind glass. Tell us where you want to show your work, and we’ll work out which printing options fit it. We can also show you what a piece will look like in your own space before you order.

A costumed hero in red and blue sits on the deck of a sunken ship in clear blue water.

Safety

Teaching you the breath-hold and the posing is part of every session, so you arrive as you are and concentrate on the character. A frame takes only a few seconds underwater.

We’ve been water people our whole lives, so safety gets planned before the pictures do.

Justin shoots, and he’s been photographing underwater for over a decade; he’s also a PADI Dive Instructor. Abbey coaches, in the water beside you the whole time: how to go down, how to make it look easy, when to come up. She’s a PADI Mermaid Instructor and an experienced freediver who spent years teaching children to swim.

Everything runs at your pace. You go down when you’re ready, you come up when you want to, and you rest at the surface as long as you like in between.

Extras for your session

Hair and makeup
We book a professional artist for you on request, one who works in waterproof makeup and hair that holds up underwater.
Mermaid tails and tops
Realistic tails and tops to rent from our own collection.
Gowns and fabrics
Gowns and lengths of fabric to rent from our own collection, chosen to flow underwater.
Couples and groups
More than one person in the frame, coached together.
Behind the scenes video
Your session, filmed from above and below the water: raw clips, an edited reel, or both.
Fine art prints
Canvas, metal or framed. They hold up at gallery size because the frames were shot and finished for it.