by Claire O'Neill

Remember those hot summer days at the pool, when your idea of fun was to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater? Photographer Damion Berger certainly does — and that's because for him, those days were rather recent. By submerging his camera, holding his breath as long as he possibly could, and stealthily swimming around public Mediterranean pools, Berger produced this whimsical series called In The Deep End.

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For Berger, the choice of black and white was key. "Without the immediacy of color and the blue hue of the water to provide context," he writes, "one's recognition that these pictures are taken underwater is momentarily delayed, [which] underscores the abstract sense of suspension, movement and reality that permeates through the series."

Placing a rubber shark in front of the lens, Berger plays with proportion and scale, and also with the viewer's emotions: We've all seen Jaws and have all felt the pangs of those irrational, waterborne childhood anxieties. That's what this series does best — its playful nature evokes memories of youth.

I make use of photography's ability to at once de-contextualize the familiar and create visual narratives, evoking a fusion of dreamlike memories and sense of childhood regression. ... Not unlike some scene from Cirque du Soleil, these unwitting cast members set the stage for a sort of contemporary choreography: The human body submerged underwater and illuminated by an ever-changing quality of light provides all the elements for a playful ballet seemingly detached from gravity.

London-born and now New York-based, Berger studied the legendary Helmut Newton. His work has been exhibited internationally and featured in numerous publications including New York Magazine and PDN. Starting June 18, photos from In The Deep End will be on display at Bonni Berubi Gallery in New York City, in a group exhibition called Hot Fun In The Summertime.

Images courtesy Damion Berger.

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