From Nirvana to ‘weightless worlds’: How photos evolved underwater

Nirvana’s second album “Nevermind” revolutionized rock music and has sold at least 30 million copies since its release in 1991. Its cover also features one of the best-known underwater images ever made: the photo of a baby swimming towards a dollar bill on a hook. The music – including lead single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” – made the album a success. But that iconic image carved it into our minds.

Nirvana's second album "Nevermind" cover by photographer Kirk Weddle.

Spencer Elden, the cover model also known as the “Nirvana baby,” was not simply thrown into a local pool in Southern California. Achieving this image took significant preparation, according to photographer Kirk Weddle.

“Since kids are always an unknown at shoots, I did several prelight and prefocus passes with a doll. Once I felt I had the framing, light, and exposure dialed in; the parents slipped the child into the water,” wrote Weddle on his website.

The mention of underwater photography may recall plastic-protected throwaway yellow cameras for snapshot memories of summer vacations. Yet water has long captured the minds of fine artists.

"Alla Prima" by Barbara Cole

Unfamiliar territory

The first underwater photograph, a blurry image of aquatic life, was taken in 1856 by William Thompson, who didn’t actually dive in to capture it. This is why French marine biologist Louis Boutan is widely considered the early pioneer of the genre, as he was the first to plunge into the ocean to take the first underwater portrait, armed with a camera he had invented with the help of his brother Auguste.

Underwater photography grew from a long line of documentarians, who wanted to record wildlife beneath the waves. But the attraction to underwater images quickly branched out into the world of make-believe.

Bruce Mozert's underwater photography series was initially created as a commercial project for Silver Springs Park in Florida. Although the late photographer began the series as part of the park's marketing campaign, it now showcases a rare and romantic look at society at the time.

Monroe first stumbled upon Mozert's work while researching Florida's Silver Springs area for an entirely different book. He saw Mozert's work at a gift shop, and was struck by each photograph's composition: "They were stunning -- I found them to be distinguished by their visual finesse, technical quality and cultural currency. I wanted to know their source, so I went to the studio to meet Bruce Mozert."

Although this series began as a commercial project for the Silver Springs marketing team, Monroe points out how they effortlessly capture the concept of the American Dream at the time. "Like most everything else Florida, these images advertised the American dream. Mozert was not engaged with such notions of course; had he been the images would be too self-conscious to be so timeless and meaningful."

Monroe points out that Mozert's attention to detail and experimentation with props and materials allowed for each underwater photo to so perfectly reflect the on-ground scene it was depicting. "Tiny fishing weights ensured that the hula dancer's grass skirt wouldn't float upwards, the bubbly in the glass of champagne resulted from Alka-Seltzer tablets, the smoke from the barbequing steak was made from condensed powdered milk."

Even for an image such as this one, Mozert and his team tested materials and props underwater before taking the photograph. "They tested the effect of the current on the arrow as it left the archer's bow -- she had to hit the target. No air hoses are visible in these photographs (with slight exception, they were not used). Silver Springs required something else -- the illusion of verity was key."

This juxtaposition of everyday activities being conducted in an unexpected location is, according to Monroe, the most alluring element of Bruce Mozert's work. "Maybe it's the precision of how the photographs encapsulated the sensibilities of a time and place that makes them special and timeless. His photos are, to me, so compelling and convincing. His photos make us suspend our disbelief long enough for the sublime quality of this art to work its magic. There's an unmatched surreal quality to his work."