Dr. Richard Carmona
former US Surgeon General and current CEO/Health Division of Canyon Ranch
Canyon Ranch, Tucson, AZ ~ 11:25 AM on 12.7.2006

Ronnie Weil, photo editor at BusinessWeek wanted an interesting environmental portrait of Dr. Richard Carmona. Canyon Ranch has 3 underwater treadmills, so BusinessWeek suggested using them and shooting underwater.

I rented a housing ($700 + shipping both ways = about $900) for the D200 from www.backscatter.com -- it made me nervious putting the camera in the housing, as I've never done an underwater shoot before. If you do this, test the housing first. I had to test it 3 times before putting the camera in (the first time it leaked, because I didn't have it sealed correctly). They also suggested spraying some Pledge on a shop cloth and then rubbing it on the dome to make the water run off -- it worked great.

I wish I had more time for the shoot -- Dr. Carmona only had about 10 minutes for this shot, and that's not much time when you are dealing with a piece of gear that you've never used -- it worked out pretty well though. You can see in the tear sheet, BusinessWeek ran copy over the center section of the water and it looked great. It was very windy, and it was actually warmer in the water. There is a guy laying on a chair in the back of the shot -- I didn't see him there until after I processed the files.

Lighting: Dyna-lites
Main light: Dyna-lite 1000X pack with small Chimera (24x32) for main light.
Dyna-lite Bare bulb (2000w pack) in back aimed into pool and also created the edge light around his head and arm.
I had to use the strobe that is connected to the underwater housing to set off my Dyna-lites, cause there is no way to hook up a sync-cord or use a Pocket Wizard.
Photo assistant: Adam Nollmeyer
Nikon D200, 16mm lens, 200th/second @ f/8 in an underwater housing.

Photoshop work: I removed a palm tree that was protruding out from behind him, and added a grad layer in the sky to bring the exposure down a little.