Michael Muller is an award winning advertising and editorial photographer represented by top agency Stockland Martel. Recently he embarked on a shark portrait series in the deep blue waters of Beqa Lagoon, Fiji. ("The Mecca of Pacific Diving") ...and brought studio lights with him! [via aphotoeditor]
Michael Muller: I was also so blessed to receive the 1400 [watt second] underwater strobe lights that I had been working on for four years from my fabricator the day before I left. I believe these are the strongest waterproof strobes that exist. (I currently have a patent pending on them.) Other than that, I prepared with a big smile for a trip of a lifetime.)
*click on images for a larger view*
"The lights were first tested in open ocean in the Galapagos and then further used many days in the pool with Michael Phelps and all the other olympic swimmers for the Speedo campaigns I shot. I have also used the lights for a multitude of other underwater shoots I have done. There isn’t a whole lot of testing that needs to be done since the lights are just a basic strobe head that happens to be waterproof. The main testing is what the light does underwater and how to control it with use of reflectors, grids, etc. Light reacts differently underwater than it does on land. It bounces and spreads out everywhere so it has taken many hours and days underwater with my team to get just where we are today and we still have so much to learn. That is what I love about “light” and photography, I have been doing it for 27 years almost daily and could do it until the day I die and still know just a fraction of what there is to know about light and the use of it, and how to control it."
"The minute you think you have got this thing called photography “down” is the day you should maybe put the camera down because your being very ignorant, light is something the greatest minds that have ever lived find mysterious and fascinating. Always be an explorer and try to learn something new with each shoot, never rest on your laurels thinking you’ve got it down! " ~ Michael Muller
"...[Sharks] are like puppy dogs, and I know when you read that it’s hard to believe but it’s true. They do NOT want us, we are NOT on their menu. They are more scared of us then I believe we are of them. They shy away from us at all times and only their curiosity similar to ours of them causes them to come in for a closer look." ~ Michael Muller
Mike Muller on location in the Galapagos Islands
Here is a video of selected works from the exhibition "Opposing Instincts," a collaboration between celebrity photographer Michael Muller and artist Sage Vaughn. The comprises Muller's underwater photos of great white sharks, as painted on by Vaughn. "Opposing Instincts" opened at the Outsiders Gallery in London
Michael Muller: I was also so blessed to receive the 1400 [watt second] underwater strobe lights that I had been working on for four years from my fabricator the day before I left. I believe these are the strongest waterproof strobes that exist. (I currently have a patent pending on them.) Other than that, I prepared with a big smile for a trip of a lifetime.)
*click on images for a larger view*
"The lights were first tested in open ocean in the Galapagos and then further used many days in the pool with Michael Phelps and all the other olympic swimmers for the Speedo campaigns I shot. I have also used the lights for a multitude of other underwater shoots I have done. There isn’t a whole lot of testing that needs to be done since the lights are just a basic strobe head that happens to be waterproof. The main testing is what the light does underwater and how to control it with use of reflectors, grids, etc. Light reacts differently underwater than it does on land. It bounces and spreads out everywhere so it has taken many hours and days underwater with my team to get just where we are today and we still have so much to learn. That is what I love about “light” and photography, I have been doing it for 27 years almost daily and could do it until the day I die and still know just a fraction of what there is to know about light and the use of it, and how to control it."
"The minute you think you have got this thing called photography “down” is the day you should maybe put the camera down because your being very ignorant, light is something the greatest minds that have ever lived find mysterious and fascinating. Always be an explorer and try to learn something new with each shoot, never rest on your laurels thinking you’ve got it down! " ~ Michael Muller
"...[Sharks] are like puppy dogs, and I know when you read that it’s hard to believe but it’s true. They do NOT want us, we are NOT on their menu. They are more scared of us then I believe we are of them. They shy away from us at all times and only their curiosity similar to ours of them causes them to come in for a closer look." ~ Michael Muller
Mike Muller on location in the Galapagos Islands
Here is a video of selected works from the exhibition "Opposing Instincts," a collaboration between celebrity photographer Michael Muller and artist Sage Vaughn. The comprises Muller's underwater photos of great white sharks, as painted on by Vaughn. "Opposing Instincts" opened at the Outsiders Gallery in London
