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| The "Blue Christmas" tree in it's previous life as a Christmas tree. |
ASSIGNMENT::
Underwater Cover Shoot
It's July and I need a Christmas tree with all the bobbles and bows for an upcoming book cover photo shoot. The trees I have won't work due to size and flock, so the next best place to find one is on Craigs List.
Thirty miles away, awaits the perfect tree, complete with all the trimmings - I jump in my car and go. As I arrive to the five story warehouse, I see the lady waiting for me by the elevator. While riding up to the third floor, she explains to me how the economy has hit her hard and she is in the process of relocating back to South Africa and must sell everything.
In the otherwise very quite hallway, the large aluminum door rolls up making a loud rumble. Haphazardly stacked and awaiting other buyers are most of her life's possessions. She proceeds to climb, balance and squeeze to the back of the space ready to dig out the boxed tree and bobbles.
LATE MODEL CHRISTMAS TREE
Making it safely back to the hallway, she opens the lovingly packed tree and ornaments as if she were opening a treasure chest of soon to be memories. I could tell from the packaging, this was a later model Christmas tree and had filled her life with happy memories. I assume they were happy memories - she did take the time to list the tree on Craigs List rather than leaving it curb side.
As we loaded both boxes into my car, I did not have the heart to tell her that her tree - the holder of so many fond memories, would be submerged in a swimming pool and photographed underwater. The subject never came up. It was assumed that the tree would continue a life of egg nog ladened on lookers and festively wrapped gifts a glow by the light of the tree.
Never making it out of my car until it was time for the shoot, the location of choice would be at my friend, Susan's "aqua space" ie. pool as I like to call it. It was a beautiful clear summer night, and several people turned out to roll up their sleeves and get a little wet.
Once the tree was ready for the "dunk" everyone took their spots. I guess while I was making sure my camera was air tight in my underwater housing, everyone decided what job they would like to help with.
Shooting a christmas tree underwater was a little trickier than I thought it would be. Luckily, Susan's husband, Fred, is an avid fisherman and we were able to raid his tackle box for some much needed fishing string to keep the tree standing up.
THE TREE WRANGLER
Mary had an important job as "lead tree wrangler." For five hours she maneuvered the tree with Fred's fishing line making sure it would "kind of" stay in one place. Mary's daughter, Maddy, was "lead ornament wrangler." Jumping in and out of the water at rapid speed, she went after the ornaments that floated to the top, tossing them back in for optimum "splash" effect.
MYSTERY LEGS
Around the last hour of the shoot, I noticed a couple of legs dangling on the side of the pool. It was Betty who decided to take a break and have a glass of wine. It worked! They added some mystery to the photo and ended up being a strong contender for the final book cover.
We fished the tree out of the water and even after five hours of being tugged, pulled and yanked, the tree still had a freshnesss about it. Now instead of one family to enjoy the tree's beauty, it's image is on the cover of a book for all to see.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
Blue Christmas, Holiday Stories for the Rest of Us: An Anthology, debuted at the 2011 Miami Book Fair International and is one of the first books to be published by B & B Press: a project of Books & Books owner, Mitchell Kaplan. The book was written by John Dufresne with contributions from the following authors: Diana Abu-Jaber, Preston Allen, Steve Almond, Lynne Barrett, Tricia Bauer, Colin Channer, Jon Clinch, Ed Flaco, Robert Goolrick, Ben Greenman, James W. Hall, Jane Hamilton, Ann Hood, Lee Martin, Ana Menendez, and Les Standiford.
To purchase your own copy of "Blue Christmas, Holiday Stories for the Rest of Us" go to:
SAVE THE DATE
B & B Press Blue Christmas Party
December 10, 2011
7:00pm
265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL 33134
Join Mitchell Kaplan, John Dufresne, Robert Goolrick, Lynne Barrett and Les Standiford, among others, for a celebration of the new B & B Press imprint, a project of Books & Books. We’ll be serving up blue Christmas mojitos, some yuletide surprises and a few blue Christmas stories of our own! For more info on the Blue Christmas party: Blue Christmas Party
miami underwater portrait photography | underwater photography | christmas tree | swimming pools | south florida underwater photography
splashfoto.com | cindy seip | blue christmas | ikelite | h2o | splash | behind the scenes | ikelite | swim | south florida | canon
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