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A Maui dive shop recommended photographer Benjamin Iglesis to us. And were we ever glad they did. He is amazing. He shoots for some 60 magazines worldwide. In Maui he is out almost every day shooting underwater footage of divers, snorkelers and marine life. Although his career has taken him around the world from New York fashion runways to the Antarctic and Africa’s wildest lands, he had only shot mermaids once before -- on dry land for Sports Illustrated. So he was as keen as we were for the underwater shoot. Benja took us by boat a few miles off shore just south of Kehei. We anchored in about 30 feet of water and shot for 1.5 hours in pretty rough seas. Every time we came up for air we were tossed about by the waves. But just below the surface all was calm and beautiful with whales singing in the background. Benja’s camera is a Canon 7D in an Aquatica housing. |
 The Huntress Mermaid and photographer Benjamin about to drop anchor. |
 
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We hooked up with underwater cinematographer and free diver Jason Sturgis in Maui where he works for Whale Trust. Jason spends just about every winter day on and/or under the water photographing and researching Maui’s humpback whales. His groundbreaking videography of these magnificent creatures was featured in the Science Times of the New York Times. His work has also appeared on National Geographic Channel International and on North America’s Animal Planet, to name but a few places. This incredible cinematographer has filmed in numerous places around the world. Jason has shot just about every type of marine life you can imagine -- except mermaids. We went by boat to an abandon pier just north of Lahaina. There we anchored and swam in and around the pier. There were two challenges. First, the waves and currents were strong and seemed determined to throw us up against the pilings. Second, there were two fishermen on the pier who kept fishing despite the fact that we were filming. Numerous times when we surfaced, we were in danger of getting our hair tangled in their lines or hooks. Luckily they eventually left. Our excellent diving spotter was Juan who was visiting from San Lucas, Baja, Mexico. Jason shot some gorgeous and wonderfully moody footage of us mermaiding. Jason’s camera is a Red Epic -- the same model used by Hollywood to shoot The Hobbit, Prometheus, Avatar II and numerous other movies. |