To make epic, creative images you need a good vision, plan, and team. Benjamin Von Wong (also know as Von Wong) is great at pulling all those pieces of the puzzle together and never fails to impress. His images are extremely creative and downright mesmerizing. In the video below, Von Wong takes us 25 meters below the ocean to shoot on a shipwreck in Bali (that just sounds epic), and dishes out some valuable information about how important it is to have a good team.
REWIND: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ADOBE AND BENJAMIN VON WONG’S CREATIVE VOICES SHOOT
Gear
Nikon D90
Nikon 12-24 f/4
Aquatica underwater housing
Natural light
Von Wong states in his blog post that when shooting underwater everything is more complicated. Below are some things to keep in mind.
- Normal models wouldn’t work unless they’ve had extensive dive training and even then, they wouldn’t have the ability to hold their breath for very long, especially at that depth, so Free Divers were going to be required.
- Normal clothes couldn’t be rented since the sea water would wreck them, so they had to find a designer willing to part with the clothing that was lent to them.
- Normal assistants wouldn’t work, specially trained safety divers would be necessary to ensure a smooth photoshoot.
- Scouting would be complicated – local divers would be necessary to navigate around the wreck and deal with unpredictable changes in the weather and tide.
- Lighting and gear would be limited – shooting underwater means having to work with what was available: on camera strobes or natural light.
Thoughts
Yet again, Von Wong has created images that are enchanting, mesmerizing, and down right out of this world. Every time I see a new image of his, I’m transported to a different world, and these underwater images are no different. I loved his thoughts about putting together a team, and how being passionate about a project can trump qualifications when organizing the team needed to pull off a project this large.
Vong Wong goes into much more detail about how the shoot came together over on his blog. I highly suggest you take a few minutes and have a look.
Via: vonwong.com
