Over and Under

Above: Downwind spinnaker sailing off of Viti Levu, Fiji

We recently purchased an "over-and-under" port for our water housing from Taro Pascual of Water Housing Hawaii.  Tor had already done a considerable amount of underwater photography, but over-and-under photography was a whole new challenge.  For one thing, the port is unwieldy, as seen in the photo below:

Above: Tor getting ready to jump in the water with his over-and-under water housing.

In addition to the port being large and heavy, its curved surface does not allow water to bead off of it very easily.  This requires a photographer to lick (yes, lick!) the entire surface of the dome to facilitate the water-beading process. Then there are the usual challenges that accompany water housings, such as fogging of the lens from condensation, and having to dunk the housing repeatedly into the water to avoid water spots.

Above: Snorkeling off of Namotu Island, Fiji

Above: Anchoring near Qamea Island, Fiji

After capturing some standard over-and-under subject matter such as snorkeling and the boat at anchor, Tor decided to shoot his 47-foot sailboat Kahea under full sail.  In order to get the shot, crew members Nick and Kyoko sailed the boat while Tor motored several hundred feet ahead on a dinghy.  He then jumped into the water and got his camera and housing ready, as Nick and Kyoko steered the boat toward Tor.

Above: Yacht Kahea sailing at a speed of several knots! 

Because the water level is constantly going up and down, it isn't easy to get the right composition when using an over-and-under port. With his boundless energy, Tor jumped back in the dinghy and repeated the process over and over again until he was satisfied that he got at least one good shot. Check out the video below to see how Tor got the sailing shots:

Above: Video clip of Tor blasting ahead on the dinghy to get the sailing shot.

Above: Our trustworthy Canon 5D Mark II and water housing.

Above: Yacht Kahea under full sail

Radical Wedding, Dude!

We met Melissa and Taio through some friends on the North Shore. Melissa and Taio actually met out surfing at Sunset Beach, while Taio was working as a lifeguard, and Melissa had just moved to the Islands. We photographed their beautiful wedding at a private home at Velzyland, near Sunset Beach, which was a lot of fun. It wasn't until some time later that I came up with the idea of shooting a wedding couple in formal attire on a surfboard, and immediately thought of Melissa and Taio. They are both good surfers, they're naturals in the water, and they are so attractive that it's hard to take a bad photo of them.


Melissa loved the idea, but she was a little worried how her mother might react to trashing a new wedding dress that took a lot of time to find, and considerable work to customize by hand (not to mention the not-so-insignificant cost). To her credit, her mother told her to go for it. She said Melissa would never wear the dress again, but the photos would be a great keepsake for them. Taio didn't think twice about wearing his classy new three-piece suit in the salt water. He never liked suits anyway.


We had a blast with the shoot at Laniakea, in beautiful clear water with nice little waves. I rode a big stand up paddle board alongside the wedding couple. The timing was a bit hard, and there were several out-takes, what with hanging onto the camera, paddling, while shooting, and riding the board. I found that kneeling gave me a nice low angle, and was fairly stable. The deck pads on the paddle board are great for setting the camera down while paddling.

Most of the surfers in the water tried to ignore us (surfers are just too cool), but one surfer did say, "That's a first!"

Taio shot back with "We're looking for the preacher...you haven't seen him out here, have you?"


Check out the "making of" video below, which gives some idea of what it took to get these shots, as well as being pretty good comedy.

Music for video: "Island Style" by John Cruz
(used with permission)

Thanks to John Cruz for allowing the use of my favorite song, to Melissa and Taio for an incredible job, and to Melissa's Mom, for being so cool.

Click here to see more wedding images by Tor Johnson Photography.
Click here to see a previous wedding blog entry.