A gown in water

A veil trails and keeps trailing, fabric and hair flow and swirl, and the gown fills half the frame. Underwater, a wedding dress becomes something else entirely.

Brides and couples come to us at every point around the wedding. Some book while the ring is still news, some the week after the ceremony, some years later with the gown out of the box for one more day. They all arrive at the same session.

A groom in a white shirt holds the bride in a white gown and veil as they dance above a reef, her veil lifting toward the sunlit surface.

A couple lie side by side on wet sand among dark rocks, the woman in a blue mermaid tail and the man in a grey shirt, her arm across his chest.

An open ring box resting on a coral head, two butterflyfish passing above it.

A bride in a white lace gown and veil sits half-submerged in a spring at sunrise, her face above the surface, mist and autumn trees behind her.

I had never done anything like this before, so I was a little nervous, but Justin and Abbey made me feel super comfortable and confident and I am so glad I did this! Anyone thinking about trying an underwater photo shoot should absolutely go for it.
Megan

Trash the dress

Almost every bride says the same thing when she sees her frames: she had no idea she could look that good in a photograph. In the studio, the first frames come up on a screen while you are still in the water.

The studio pool is heated to 90°F. Abbey coaches your breath-hold and your posing, Justin talks you through every frame, and you rest at the surface whenever you want. Most people tell us afterwards how easy it was, and that they could have stayed in all day.

A bride in a white gown stands on the floor of a spring, her veil lifting around her and her reflection mirrored above against the autumn trees.

Where we shoot

The studio pool in Fullerton, a reef, a cenote, or a hotel pool wherever you’re getting married. The gown looks different in each one.

A bride in a white lace gown holding a bouquet of blue hydrangeas floats in the studio pool, her reflection and the bouquet mirrored above her.

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 bride in a white gown stands among the barnacled pilings of a pier on the sandy seabed, blue water all around her.

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 couple kiss on a rock in a dark, clear spring, she in a yellow gown, their reflection above them against the surface.

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.

Start to finish

A couple embrace on a mossy rock in teal water, the groom in a white shirt and the bride in a red gown, light falling through the surface above them.

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 couple embrace in the water over a reef, the bride's veil and long white gown trailing behind her as sunlight breaks through the surface.

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 woman in a flowing red gown stands on a coral head in clear blue water, the skirt lifting around her and sunlight breaking at the surface above.

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

You see every frame from the session.

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 diver in a white shirt holds up a white slate reading "Will you marry me?" on the sand as a second diver in pink fins swims down toward him.

Safety

Teaching you the breath-hold and the posing is part of every session, so you arrive as you are. 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.
Gowns and fabrics
Gowns and lengths of fabric to rent from our own collection, chosen to flow underwater.
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.