This was first time I'd worked with San Franciscan, Iara Mandyn. Our 8-person crew hauled what seemed to be two tons of gear down a thousand steps to the Rainbow River, Florida headsprings and we played to a throng of interested tourists. Many had never seen a real mermaid and we were the subjects of many a snapshot they would send or take home.

Easing into the 72F water was a bit of a shock to our 98.6F body temperature, but we acclimated to it after a few minutes of swimming. Leaving the dock, the mermaid/photographer creative team moved around the basin staying up-current from the bottom sediment we stirred up. Iara, ever the underwater pro, repeatedly dived to mid-water and moved gracefully past the camera until we had the shots we wanted.

When finished, we dried off, packed the gear and hauled it up the 5,000 steps to our vehicles.