A short documentary about the challenges of shooting a cult underwater photo called “The Diver and the Mermaid” has been published.
The short film narrates the story of the entire crew and describes the events that occurred while they were working on shooting a legendary shot that pays tribute to prior diving stories. “Diver and Mermaid” is the work of acclaimed photographer Brett Stanley, with a commercial diver and ocean protector Josh Myers playing the diver and professional mermaid Hannah Fraser playing the mermaid. The logistics were managed and documented by underwater filmmaker Justin Lutsky.
“I was pinned to the seafloor by a massive pile of vintage diving equipment,” Myers recalled, describing the challenges he had while filming “The Diver and the Mermaid.” It was mind-boggling to consider that this was how commercial diving used to be done. In comparison to modern diving equipment, the gear is ridiculously heavy and clumsy, and I was aware that I constantly had to clean CO2 from my helmet. The air supply was one hose that simply squeezed the water out of my old diving helmet. I was very overwhelmed with the suit, but still, I felt unusually comfortable in the heavy equipment. ”
Hannah Fraser, a professional mermaid, described the experience as “surreal,” saying it was extraordinarily fun and interesting to swim around a diver dressed in an antique diving suit. She said she felt like she was transported back in time to a time when divers looked like that! She also says that she felt claustrophobic only when she looked underwater at a diver who had an old-fashioned diving helmet on his head with windows through which she could see his eyes. The full story of this shoot with lots of stunning photos can be found on The Diver & The Mermaid website.
