Underwater Portraits in the Sunshine State
My Experience Shooting in the Florida Springs
Florida is a destination that has long been on my list of places to visit. As an underwater photographer, I love going to new locations to explore, shoot, and meet new people—and Florida has a lot to offer. I had several reasons for wanting to go to Florida, including the opportunity to shoot with my audience in the United States and to collaborate with fellow photographers and models in the community, as well as to cross off some bucket list items related to Florida's stunning natural beauty.
Although there were so many reasons to go to Florida, the most important was that I wanted to bring my underwater photoshoots to my audience that can’t make it down to Mexico. After some thought and blossoming excitement, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make this trip happen.
As soon as my mind was set, I made the announcement and opened up bookings for my underwater photoshoots in the Florida springs, and I was pleasantly surprised by the excitement that it received! Quickly, I filled the spots and became even more enthusiastic that this dream trip was becoming a reality.
After we arrive in Florida, we quickly get to work exploring all the springs, making sure we pick the best ones to shoot my wonderful models at. The thing with the springs is that, depending on the weather and season, they can vary widely in water conditions that are important for underwater photography.
After a few days of getting acquainted with the area, it is time to shoot our models. For this trip, we booked 3 models over the course of 2 days—to ensure that they each had the time they needed to make the best of their underwater photoshoot.
Unfortunately, the night before the first shoot, one of our models had a family emergency and had to cancel her photoshoot, so this left us with 2 beautiful ladies to shoot over 2 days.
These photos shown above are from Day 1 in Spring 1 with our first model, the ever-so-beautiful mermaid, Eryn. We soon learned that Eryn had traveled all the way from Tacoma, Washington to come to shoot with us in Florida and that she had been wanting to shoot with us for a long time but couldn’t make it down to Mexico.
The photos shown above are from Day 2 in Spring 2 with our second gorgeous model (and mermaid too), Jasmine. After our initial greetings, I learned that Jasmine actually went to college in Florida and was able to take advantage of this trip to meet up with her old college friends before our underwater photoshoot.
It was such a pleasure meeting these two all while shooting and exploring some new places. Now, all that was left was to meet up with some Instagram friends and continue exploring for the remainder of our trip!
We basically had a couple of full days left to explore, and on each one of those days, we met up with some new friends in the underwater model/photographer community in Florida.
On the first meet-up day, we connected with a local underwater model, Aimee, and our underwater photographer friend, Kimber.
Aimee is an incredible and beautiful person who spends her time modeling between Florida and Hawaii, although we learned that she wants to move to Florida full-time to really explore and enjoy the springs. On this day, our friend Kimber, who is also a photographer, tagged along and showed us some of her favorite springs in the area. The photos below are from this day exploring and shooting with Aimee and Kimber!
One of my favorite parts of this day was when our photographer friend Kimber asked if I wanted my photos taken with my partner…how could I say no! We stopped by her house and picked out some outfits and headed to a new spring. I was so excited, as a photographer, I hardly have any photos of myself…especially underwater! It was so much fun playing the models, and I think the photos came out incredible, check them out below!
The following day, we met up with another underwater model who we have been a fan of for quite some time now, her name is Haley, but you might know her as mermaid Ms. Luna Marie. We met at a beautiful spring not far from where we were staying, and she brought her partner and number one fan, Mike, along with a stunning mermaid tail and fairy wings. You can see some of the photos from our time shooting underwater below.
Last but not least, we met up with a friend we actually made here in Mexico, his name is Andrew and he is a freediving instructor and manatee guide for Famous Bird’s Dive Shop in Crystal River, Florida. Andrew was so incredibly kind and took us on a personal manatee tour in Crystal River. He told us that we were at the end of the manatee season and that we would likely not see as many as the previous month, which he said were coming in by the hundreds, but truth be told, we weren’t worried because we would be happy to just see one.
As we navigate through King’s Bay and the channels that pass between homes, Andrew spots a mama manatee and her calf. We honestly couldn’t believe we were about to get into the water with these beautiful creatures. Andrew then gently anchors the boat a safe distance away from them, and we hop into the water.
As we swim toward them, we are greeted with crystal-clear water, and as we get closer to them, we see that they are feeding on the grass and enjoying it. We get closer and spend the next 40 minutes taking photos and observing them—what a dream come true! (Check out the photos below!)
Writing this, the sweet and exciting emotions of our trip to Florida are all rushing back. We met so many incredible people along the way, and truthfully, this trip wouldn’t have been the same without them. I am really looking forward to our next return to the beautiful Sunshine State and to meeting more wonderful people.
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Also, if you want to fly us out to your state to shoot, we are always open to some more adventures!