The Dive Shot
When Jesse and I first talked about the idea of shooting ultra high-quality shots for serious athletes we started thinking about the evolution of our work in this genre. It was definitely a niche that we each wanted to develop. The concept was to take portraits of athletes that tell definitive stories in a single iconic piece. We came up with a collaborative effort that is now the first picture of our website. Welcome to Behind the Scenes of “The Dive Shoot”.
When getting to know Jesse, I formed an early perception of him. I saw he was an athlete and later learned that he was a competitive water sports athlete most of his life, and a swimming coach during the off-season. I used my early perception of him to conceptualize a first draft of the shot, which is only half of what was created in the final product. The only part of the draft that was implemented in the final shot was the idea of the athlete in the Iron Cross pose, in a ready to dive position with strong rim lighting. The concept was originally set on a cliff top in front of a stormy ocean landscape. Once we decided to move ahead with the shot, we planned the concept and shot it as a Composite Photograph. First doing a studio shoot with Jesse to get the lighting just right for the iconic iron cross. But as time went by we couldn’t get to a landscape that was dramatic enough to shoot. With the weeks now passing and no end to the shoot in sight, Jesse told me the story of his conquering his biggest fear as an 8-year-old. The fear of the 10 Meter board, and how he wanted to conquer his phobia by facing his childhood monster head on. This was an epic revelation for the Dive Shot and the lightbulb moment that would enable us to complete the shot as a signature of the athlete.
The context of the arena pool and 10 Meter high perspective gives significant meaning to the shot that is deeply personal to Jesse and helps tie competitive water sports to the heroic way so many people synonymously identify as Jesse.