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Underwater photographer Zena Holloway has made a name for herself internationally. Her work has been published widely in books, editorials, ads, you name it.
Having completed A Levels at
school, Zena took a two week holiday in Egypt but didn't return to dear old
Blighty for 3 years! We caught up with her and interviewed her over tea at the
Ritz (or did we e-mail her?) to find out how her career shaped up after that.
"I traveled to Egypt on a 2 week diving holiday. When I returned to England I had become a diving instructor. I have logged well over 1500 dives now. Photography came Later."
Zena goes on to tell me she has an HSE part IV commercial diving license and is also a PADI diving instructor. I look impressed and try to pretend I know what that means.
Q.. So you went to the Cayman Islands next?
"I worked for a time as a
video operator, filming holiday makers' dives. That was great, I gained an
understanding of the technical aspects of filming below the surface, especially
the difficulties of underwater lighting."
Q.. Was there a moment that crystallised your passion for underwater photography?
"Yes,
I Surfaced on a Cayman beach to find a film crew carrying a beautiful mermaid
into the sea, I think I knew then."
Hmm, that sounds like a recurring dream I have! But enough of that……Years later you produced your own series of Mermaid shots, how did you find the model, how did you find the costume?
"Models are difficult to come by. Some people can look great topside (Gee thanks Z!) but put them underwater and they can be dreadful. It either takes a natural or a lot of practice to be a good underwater model. The very courageous mermaid in those shots has been an underwater model for years. It was an Idea that we came up with together. I found some very keen tail makers who just fancied the challenge and we were away!"
(Tail makers?)
Since the Cayman’s Zena has worked on several underwater projects, such as a range of greeting cards, training Steffi Graff to serve a bubble underwater and working with numerous pop groups on their videos. ( Any one Famous Z?)
BBC television documentary jobs
have taken her to Sardinia for "freediving" and to Tunisia for buried
treasure in, skeletons in Uruguay …….[Don’t understand this!} …….and
more recently to South Africa which involved swimming with sharks both in and
out of cages.
Q.. Is your work mostly commissioned or do you shoot first, sell later
"At the moment it's probably an equal split but it would be good to get more Commissions"
Q.. We particularly like the image of the swimming horse, how do you do that?
"It was taken in America.
The boys charge the horses into the sea to refresh them in the morning, they
swim very fast and it's impossible to keep up in diving gear in fact it's pretty
difficult even to dodge their hooves underwater!."
Q.. What equipment do you use?
"I have a Nikonos v with 15mm lens and 2 Nikon cameras which fit into Aquatica housings. The Aquatica housings are by far the most useful but they're quite big and often underwater this can be a disadvantage.
Q.. What is your favorite piece of equipment
"I recently bought a housing for a mamiya RZ67 which is my new toy. It's a beauty and looks like something out of a sci - fi film. It weighs a ton though and carrying it around on location together with dive kit can be a bit of a drag - never to speak of excess baggage!
Q.. Where would you like to go to shoot given infinite resources
"Bora bora."
Q.. Do you have a favorite location
"Anywhere wet !"
Q.. I'm sorry about this
question but I’ve got to ask it……Which photographers have influenced you?
"I love Ray Massey's work and Annie Lebovitz is very interesting, but Mike Portelly - underwater film maker - has influenced me the most.
Q.. Are there any other area's of photography you'd like to explore.
"I think there is still so much to learn about underwater photography that I'm happy sticking to this for a while. "(that should leave some scope for rest of us then!)
Q.. How do you feel about digital imaging, are you embracing new technology in any way?
"Digital imaging is great. Anything that enhances a picture must be a good thing. I believe it's very difficult to use a computer to make a bad picture into a good picture - you always have to have a reasonably good picture to start with."
Q.. What comes first for you - diving or photography
"It used to be diving. Now I never dive without a camera and the diving has just become a means of transport."
Q.. Do you use any special colour correction techniques under water
"Reds are absorbed underwater very quickly. At 10m there is no red left in The light so often it's important to correct for this but it depends on what You're shooting of course."
Q.. Are there any photographers that you would class as underwater landscape specialists?
"To be an underwater photographer is specialised enough I think. I imagine it would be very difficult to survive as just an underwater landscape photographer. There are lots of great underwater photographers many of whom have some amazing landscape shots."
Q.. Have you had any nasty moments when diving.
"Plenty. But all were because I wasn't following the rules so nothing to be Proud of. No macho stories I'm afraid."
Q.. Do you fancy any other dangerous sports
"I hate heights but anything aquatic is cool!"
Zena’s clients include, The Body shop, EMI, Faberge, Smith + Nephew Healthcare, Forth Estate, David Bennet Books, Element, and she’s had shots on the cover of Dive magazine, Radio Times and The British Journal of photography.
Zena has produced a series of books using her underwater images both for children and adults. If you would like to see her catalogue just click this link.