My muse (Patreon)

Kate Prekrasna

Somehow, the most stressful shoots of my life always happen near the ocean. Not in studios. Not in cities. Not even in abandoned buildings. The ocean always wins.)))

Maybe it’s because I have a very anxious brain. Or maybe I’ve just been unlucky with the oceans I’ve met. But every time I’m standing there with a camera, all I can think is:

“This wave is absolutely capable of ending my entire career today.” It could knock me over. Take the camera. Take the phones. Throw the model into the water. Throw me into the water. And politely inform us that people are supposed to swim here, not photograph naked women.)))

But Katya and I aren’t exactly the type of people to walk away from a beautiful location. If we see a place that inspires us… We’re going. We’ll figure out the consequences later. Usually.

This shoot actually ended much better than I expected. Nobody got hurt. The cameras survived. Everyone went home in one piece. Well… almost everyone) The ocean decided it deserved a little souvenir and claimed Gary’s brand-new iPhone instead. Fresh out of the box (It had a very short but exciting life).

For some reason, every shoot I’ve ever done by the ocean is permanently connected to fear. Not fear of people. Usually during nude shoots I’m much more worried about someone wandering into the frame, trying to start a conversation, or making the model feel uncomfortable. But on an empty beach… You could tell me there’s a serial killer somewhere nearby…and I’d probably still be looking at the waves instead. Because that’s what scares me - the ocean. Its power. The fact that it genuinely doesn’t care whether you’re making art today or not.

And then there’s Kate. Completely fearless. Every new idea she suggested made me stop breathing for a second. “What if we go a little closer?” “What if I stand on that rock ?” Meanwhile, I was already mentally writing the accident report.)))

I think that’s one of the reasons I’m rarely completely satisfied with these shoots. I love photographing them. I love being there. I love the final images. But I spend so much energy worrying that something might happen to the model… or to me… that I never feel completely free while creating.

It’s hard to fully follow your intuition when half of your brain is busy calculating wave trajectories.

Maybe next time I’ll bring an underwater housing. Tie the camera to myself. Leave everything else on the shore. Although… If I’m honest… The camera has never been my biggest concern.

People always are.