Shallow Screenplay

Underwater art photograph of women

This is an underwater art photograph of women swimming nude. Three figures play underwater, acting out a scene. In the lower right is an underwater camerawoman. She holds a vintage camera almost dead center in the image. This object may be the first place a viewer’s eye goes. She aims at another woman, who poses in front of her. This imaginary site line between the in-picture viewer and her subject creates an imaginary line connecting the two. What’s playing out here is a story within a story. Their actions seem like an early rehearsal or perhaps a conceptualizing session.

A third swims towards the viewer, over the camera woman, seemingly uninvolved with the main activity of the other two. The actions of all three figures implies and immediate past, an impending future, and intentions for all of the participants.

The overall composition can be divided into a left/right split where an area of blue divides the leftmost figure from the other two. There is also a foreground, midground, background division, with the upper right character occupying the space closest to the viewer. Each of the figures

We catch only a glimpse of each of these three women’s faces. This largest figure in the composition is the only one who faces us. She intersects the top of the image, cut off just above her nose. This effect furthers the spontaneous, unrehearsed feeling of the scene.
The other two are turned mostly away. Despite these layers of mystery, each of the three characters gives us hints of their emotional state. One has a visible smile which speaks volumes. The others, engrossed in their activities, communicate their dispositions through body language. The actor in the scene seems to be fixing her hair. The camera operator is fixed on her subject.

This underwater art photograph of women imparts a feeling of something that is about to happen close to us but without perfect clarity. We are witnessing this prelude through the murky lens of the aquatic environment.

This image has the typical elements of being under the surface: hard shadows against the bottom of the pool and  ribbons of light that dance across the blue area. This pattern continues onto the bodies, helping unite them with the background and imparting a sense of the figure’s depth. A sense of depth into the background is also apparent. The edge of the pool is visible, as is the surface of the water at the very top of the composition.

See more underwater art nudes.