An Underwater Portrait Shoot with Kayaker Viktoria Wolffhardt

Photographer Jean Luis De Heeckeren recently visited a pool in Austria to shoot underwater portraits of kayaker Viktoria Wolffhardt. Above is a short 2-minute behind-the-scenes video that shows the project’s planning, setup, and execution.

One of the shots involved flipping Wolffhardt upside-down while the athlete sat in her kayak. By flipping the photo upside-down as well, the portrait makes Wolffhardt look like she’s paddling across the surface of water while underwater:

Here are a few of the other portraits that resulted. De Heeckeren tried to use a setup similar to what he would do above ground:

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Image credits: Photographs by Jean Luis De Heeckeren and used with permission