photo by todd essicK; visit essicKphoto.com to see more of essicK's underwater worK.
to moDel wItH sHarks? Kristen KoscielniaK
Artist, teAcher, model And owner, the silk soAp compAny, delrAy BeAch
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bout 10 years ago, my sister met photographer Todd Essick at an event in Chicago. He had an idea for this underwater modeling project in Key Largo that would celebrate the beauty of women but in a natural setting. So my sister mentioned to him that I’d been a certified scuba diver since age 16. Not long after that, I was diving buck naked into the ocean. That’s how it started. Todd and I ended up becoming good friends and doing projects together in the Keys, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas. During that first Key Largo shoot, we worked with some eels and nurse sharks. But by the time we photographed in the Bahamas, we were attracting black-tip and bull sharks, as well as nurse sharks. To do that, the team on the boat drops bait boxes into the water, two old milk crates tied together and stuffed with frozen fish heads and tails and random pieces. We work with shark wranglers; their job is to make sure there are sharks in the picture and that they’re coming in close enough. We also work with safety divers, who are normally female. She dives in first. I don’t have any weights on, so I’m like an extra buoy attached to her.
follow the leader
When you have sharks around you, you can’t kick. That’s a big rule. One model accidentally kicked a shark and did get a small bite on her foot. Sometimes I’ll hook my legs around the safety diver’s body. If I’m wearing a big dress—we’ve done shots in wedding dresses—they have to hold everything nice and tight. With one wedding dress, we had to clip weights onto the inside of the fabric to keep me from moving with the current. I go into the water wearing a mask with a regulator. In the weeks leading up to a shoot, I’ll start doing deep-breathing exercises because I can’t hold my breath for long. I’m good for about 30 to 45 seconds. When we’re at the bottom, they switch me to a different tank that has a really long hose. I still have the mask on at that point. When I see Todd give me the sign, I take my mask off, wipe the bubbles from my face and take one last breath. At that point, I can’t see clearly at all. I spit out the regulator, and my safety diver pulls it as fast as she can out of the frame. She uses this long stick, like a dowel rod. Her only job is to make sure I’m OK. Her eyes never come off me. The first thing I have to do is release a bit of air so I look more relaxed, so I’m not as buoyant. Then I start posing in whatever graceful position he’s trying to achieve. It sounds easy. You think, “Oh, I’m just going down to the bottom, holding my breath, looking all elegant and pretty.” But it’s tiring. One time, a nurse shark nudged the bait box, and the black tip sharks didn’t like that. It turned into a bit of a frenzy. My safety diver kept getting bumped again and again, but I needed air. I started screaming. She turned around and saw the bubbles flying out of my mouth and handed me my regulator. It shook me up. That was the only really scary moment. It’s an honor to be able to interact with these animals. For me, the more sharks in the photo, the better. [ bocamag.com ]
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