In the current issue, Alec Wilkinson writes about the world-record-breaker Ashrita Furman. Martin Schoeller took the photograph that ran with it. “Ashrita was one of my most fun assignments this year,” Martin said. “He bicycled underwater, ran through Queens in swimming fins, and balanced on an exercise ball in his kitchen for us. What more can a photographer ask for?”
“For the underwater photograph we rented diving equipment,” Martin explained. “I dug out my Mamiya RZ underwater housing—it looks like it’s out of a Jules Verne movie—and photographed with tri-x film. We set up three strobe lights above water that we triggered with a custom-made sync cord that attaches to the underwater housing and plugs into a transmitter above water. I also set up a twelve-by-forty-foot black background for this picture that we hung over the wall of the pool and weighed down with black dive weights. I wanted the focus to be on Ashrita and not the lines in the tiles of the wall behind him.” Watch video from the photo shoot above.
