Linsey Corbin - underwater photography without getting wet!

I had the fortunate opportunity to shoot the latest issue of Triathlete Magazine, featuring Linsey Corbin. Linsey was the top U.S. female finisher in Kona last year and was a pleasure to photograph. The image was to appear on the cover of their wetsuit profile issue, and they requested a shot that involved water. I pitched the idea of an underwater portrait. Unfortunately the heater for the pool went out the day prior to the shoot. Linsey was freezing, but a true champ. I asked her a few times if she needed to take a break, "I'm a f***ing Ironman" she replied with a smile. Perhaps all models should do Kona once for perspective of what discomfort really is! The issue should be hitting news stands any day. To learn more about Linsey check out her website, www.linseycorbin.com.

We did the shoot at a sporting goods store that has a pool with had five large windows. Three of the windows are located in the store where patrons can watch scuba classes in action, the other two windows face the parking lot. To the right of camera, we put two large Chimera softboxes in the parking lot windows so they filled the entire windows. One Profoto Acute head and a 1200 pack powered each light. I was shooting from the windows in the store and blocked out the ambient store lights and reflections by placing a black curtain behind camera and getting the lens as close to the glass a possible. We shot with a 28-70mm zoom lens so I had some flexibility in composition as Linsey moved around. Strobes were triggered with Pocket Wizard radio slaves. The final image required a bit of clean up to retouch out a ladder from the background. No air tanks or camera housing required!