Benjamin Von Wong’s Bali Shipwreck Photoshoot: Freedivers at 25 Metres

In 2014 photographer Benjamin Von Wong took two freediving models 25 metres down to a shipwreck off Bali and photographed them in flowing couture gowns among the rusted steel. The result looks like a scene from a fairy tale, but it took a team of divers, a borrowed camera and models who could hold their breath for minutes at a time.

Von Wong published the story of the shoot on his blog on 24 May 2014. Here is how it came together.

The models were freedivers

Ordinary fashion models could not work at 25 metres without extensive dive training, so Von Wong recruited through local freediving clubs. He found two:

• Nora Li, a Jakarta freediving record holder able to hold her breath for three minutes and descend to 36 metres.
• Camilla Argent, an English freediver based in Dubai, with a breath-hold of 4 minutes 40 seconds and a depth of 20 metres.

Both had to pose, relax their faces and keep long gowns under control while working on a single breath, then return to the surface between frames.

The team behind the shoot

“Everything is more complicated underwater,” Von Wong wrote, and the credits list shows it. Underwater photographer and dive instructor Chris Simanjuntak assembled more than half the team, and his dive school supplied three safety divers. Cassandra Ann Dragon, head of the Asian Dive Expo, introduced Von Wong to Simanjuntak.

Bali-based fashion designer Ali Charisma lent older runway pieces, because rented clothing would have been ruined by salt water. Simanjuntak’s wife Listy, an underwater model, helped make that connection. Yenny Gunawan, Nora’s childhood friend, handled hair and make-up, Sam Tsang assisted, and Singapore cinematographer Siva Shanker filmed the behind-the-scenes footage.

Camera, lighting and a lucky loan

The day before the shoot, Von Wong’s own camera was damaged during a dive. Mike Veitch, a BBC wildlife photographer of the year, lent him a Nikon D90 with a 12–24 mm f/4 lens in an Aquatica underwater housing.

Lighting was limited to on-camera strobes and natural light filtering down through the water. Von Wong’s sample settings show how dim it was at depth: ISO 400 at f/4 and shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/200 of a second.

Local divers scouted the wreck in advance and helped the team work around changing weather and tides. As Von Wong put it, at that depth “the slightest miscalculation could spell disaster.”

Watch the Bali underwater shoot

Von Wong also tied the project to a cause: proceeds from sales of one image went to the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation’s Save Eliza campaign, which raised money for research into Sanfilippo syndrome.

Diving Bali’s wrecks yourself

The image files from this shoot point to Tulamben on Bali’s north-east coast, a village known among divers for its wreck. Dive with a certified local operator and stay within your training: freediving and wreck penetration are specialist skills that call for proper courses and a buddy.

For more underwater artistry, see Free Fall: Guillaume Néry, Julie Gautier and the Art of Underwater Filmmaking. For another photographer with a distinctive eye for landscape, explore Drew Doggett’s Icelandic horse series.

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• The Ubud Village Resort & Spa: Choosing the Right Ubud Property

Sources