Chris Crumley Blog

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.

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Just after finishing our bathtub photo session in the Weeki Wachee River, three manatee came cruising down the river. Merperson Iara Mandyn, watches them go by us.

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MerPerson Iara Mandyn in Weeki Wachee River behind Vicki and Jack Smith's river house. All the stars were perfectly aligned this day.... people, animals, weather, river, water, Eric Ducharme tail and Iara.

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We were shooting the Victoria+Albert tub in the Weeki Wachee River current in central Florida. MerPerson Iara Mandyn (iaramandyn.com) is in the tub, hair flowing. I'm anchored in place even with the tub and holding the left strobe arm to keep it from folding over in the current.

Vicki and Jack Smith allowed our five-person crew take over their dock on this beautiful section of the river.

Tail and top by Eric Ducharme (mertailor.com). Primary tub wrangler was Matthew Quijano. BTS photo by Jack Gittings, Fathom Films, San Francisco (fathomfilms.com).

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