Undertow

Forum username: undertow
Real name: Chris
Posts: 534
Active years: 2006–2019
Primary forums: Photography Gear and Technique, Shooting Technique/Workflow/Editing, Photo/Video Showcase
Location: Bermuda
Specialization: Underwater fashion photography, Nikon DSLR systems, over-under/split shots

Community Role

Undertow (Chris) was a Bermuda-based underwater photographer active on Wetpixel from 2006 through 2019. With 534 posts across 13 years, he was a consistent presence in gear discussions, technique threads, and the Photo/Video Showcase gallery. His location in Bermuda gave him unique access to subjects — from shipwrecks and reef life to visiting tall ships and fashion shoots in clear Caribbean waters.

Chris was known for his willingness to tackle challenging crossover work, bridging topside fashion photography with underwater technique. He was a Nikon DX shooter who used an Aquatica housing system and was well-versed in strobe lighting, dome port theory, and lens selection. His posts showed a practical, hands-on approach: he would ask specific technical questions, try solutions quickly, and report back with results.

Notable Contributions

Underwater Fashion Photography

Chris’s most-discussed contribution was his 2009 thread documenting his first underwater fashion shoot for a local Bermuda magazine (52 replies). The thread became a valuable resource on pool-based fashion photography technique, with detailed input from Jeff Loftus and James Wiseman. Key topics included lens selection on DX (Tokina 11-16mm vs. 17-55mm), multi-strobe lighting setups using underwater umbrellas on surface floats, model direction techniques (hyperventilation and passive sinking), makeup considerations for underwater color shifts, and optical vs. wired triggering of topside speedlights. Chris used a Nikon DX camera with an Aquatica housing, five underwater strobes, and four topside Nikon speedlights ([1]).

Tall Ships Split Photography

His Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009 images from Bermuda drew praise from the community (16 replies), particularly an over-under shot combining underwater marine life with a tall ship above. The thread also provided practical information about dome port water-shedding products, with Chris reporting that Rain-X actually made water bead and stick worse on his Aquatica glass megadome, while saliva worked well as a last-resort solution ([2]).

Dive Equipment Discussions

Chris started a thread on Miflex flexible hoses (19 replies) after encountering them at a Florida dive shop, generating discussion with Adam Hanlon, Drew Wong, and others about the lightweight LP hoses’ buoyancy characteristics and early HP hose reliability issues ([3]).

Lens and Gear Technical Discussions

Chris contributed to discussions on the Nikon 16mm fisheye on digital (asking about distortion characteristics vs. the 10.5mm), the Nikon D300 upgrade path, and various technique topics including dome port maintenance and strobe arm configuration ([4]).

Activity Profile

Timeline

Sources

  1. Forum thread: My First Uw Fashion Shoot ↩
  2. Forum thread: Tall Ships In Bermuda ↩
  3. Forum thread: New Thin Lightweight Super Flexible Hoses ↩
  4. Forum thread: Nikon 16mm Fe How Fishy On Digital ↩
  5. Forum thread: My First Uw Fashion Shoot ↩
  6. Forum thread: New Thin Lightweight Super Flexible Hoses ↩
  7. Forum thread: Nikon 16mm Fe How Fishy On Digital ↩
  8. Forum thread: D3x Maybe ↩
  9. Forum thread: Tall Ships In Bermuda ↩
  10. Forum thread: Nikon 16mm Fe How Fishy On Digital ↩
  11. Forum thread: My First Uw Fashion Shoot ↩
  12. Forum thread: Tall Ships In Bermuda ↩
  13. Forum thread: New Thin Lightweight Super Flexible Hoses ↩
  14. My first UW Fashion Shoot… (forum) ↩
  15. New thin, lightweight, super flexible hoses (forum) ↩
  16. Nikon 16mm FE - how fishy on digital? (forum) ↩
  17. D3x… maybe… (forum) ↩
  18. Tall Ships in Bermuda (forum) ↩