I knew immediately we were in good shape. The day of the shoot, Teri(make-up artist) introduced me to Nikki Leigh. My initial concept was to have a model in an etherial dress looking through the glass at a deer in the forest, I liked the surreal implications. It didn’t help matters that once submerged talent couldn’t be given any useful direction. Even with safety precautions in place it would be disorienting with strobes firing, the bubble system we installed to give the water dimension, the limited vision and ability to hear and the claustrophobic nature of the tank (the heavy lid of the apparatus actually slides over a thick wooden sleeve providing a very narrow opening). In order to totally submerge a model in the tank and not look out of scale I knew we were looking for someone petite, comfortable in the water and with a specific disposition. I wasn’t about to drop someone in by their ankles, besides I wanted to use the tank to speak to the notion of isolation rather than danger. I was warned that having one’s head submerged upside down was a very unnatural sensation and that even seasoned magicians that had tried the stunt had panicked just as their heads were submerged. The tank is more shallow than one would expect and that would dictate whom I could comfortably photograph within it. His feet extended out of the top so a deep tank was unnecessary. When Harry Houdini (who was was barely 5′ 6″) performed the “ Chinese Water Torture Cell” escape he was lowered in headfirst with his feet locked in stocks in the tank’s lid.
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