These images were shot on location, underwater in a cenote, or sinkhole. This was inside El Pit, part of Sistema Dos Ojos, a structure of underwater caves in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
The model is Guillaume Nery, a champion freediver. He would dive to 30 meters deep whilst I was 50 meters inside the cave with my camera. We did a lot of research ahead of the shoot and customized gear to get the flash equipment to work there. It looks like sunlight, but the sun very rarely hits the water, it is nearly always completely dark.
The shoot itself was completed over four days and a total of 24 dives were made. It is a composite image but it is all real, there are no additional or fake components. Originally shot for Johnnie Walker Blue Label the concept was to capture a moment of exploration for ‘rare depth and character’ that reflected the quality of the drink.