Chris Keeney's Love of Being in the Ocean Water While Practicing the Fine Art of Underwater Photography

Ever since I could remember, I loved swimming and being in the ocean. During high school, I enjoyed the ocean so much that I almost went into Marine Biology as my main topic of study in College. But my love for the design and photography quickly persuaded me to pursue a life in the arts instead. I remember always wanting a Nikonos 35mm camera, but could never seem to justify spending the money to own one myself. Many years later I revisited that fantasty of owning a nice underwater camera by experimenting with inexpensive plastic water resistant cameras.

The photo above is a picture I took in 2006 while playing around with a inexpensive plastic underwater camera in a hotel pool near our house. The quality of the images weren't that great but it sure was fun playing around with it in the pool with my kids. A few years passed and I purchased a Canon Powershot G9 digital camera along with a Canon WP-DC21 Underwater housing. This camera allowed me to further explore my interest in underwater photography, without breaking the bank to buy a high end underwater camera. I liked the camera so much I even wrote a review about it on my blog. As you can see from the review and this blog post about my trip to Hawaii, I quickly put the camera to use to create all sorts of fun and interesting underwater photos of spinner dolphins, green sea turtles, leopard sharks, etc.
Then last summer I went to Torrey Pines Beach with my family and took my camera into the surf and created a series of images that made me stop and take a closer look. I was experimenting with what a wave looked like right before it crashed into the camera. I was pleasantly surprised with all sorts of interesting effects the water created about and below the camera less. The camera was able to stop the action of the wave to capture what I think are breathe taking images. I was so excited about this series of shots that I wanted to continue the series throughout the summer. The rest of the summer I would go on to create a series of photos taken while swimming and free-diving in the ocean off the beaches of San Diego.

But just like any collection of artist creations, I knew I would have to edit down the photos to just the best shots. A task that I soon would realize wasn't that easy to do. There were so many wonderful shots, I was hard pressed to get the collection under 100. My goal was to launch the image gallery by the end of the summer, but never could pull it together in a manner that I was satisfied with. So the images sat there until I could find time to do something about it. So I decide to start posting the images and worry about organizing them in the order I wanted later. I'll keep adding images to this page as time permits. I hope you like them...

It wasn't until this past weekend when we all decided to hit the beach again when I returned to the ocean with my camera... and on that day I was fortunate enough to create a series of images comparable to the photos that started the series. I guess god works in mysterious ways. So after I got home that day, I told myself it was time to stop my procrastinating and share with the world some of the photos that inspired me to create this series. That life was fleeting and if I didn't act on it today, who knows if I ever would have shared these photos at all.

In the photo picture above I like how you can look into the sea foam of the wave in the foreground while still seeing the wave behind it coming at you. The clouds in the blue sky seem to create their own swirling wave.

I really like how the small drops of water on the lens distort the image and create a star effect in the blue sky above the wave.

A picture of my friend Larry waiting for a wave to bodysurf at Torrey Pines State Beach, La Jolla, California

I love the composition of this shot. How the kelp (seaweed) in the foreground is backlit from the sunlight shinning through the surface of the water.

What goes down must come up and that's exactly what these air bubbles are doing. Sometimes I'll dive to the ocean floor and sit on the bottom and blow air bubble and watch them rise to the surface. They little like little glass balls of all different shapes and sizes... it's quite beautiful.

There are times in our lives when we shine and times when we don't. But it's in those times when we do shine that help us through the dark times. And when I create photos like the one above, it reminds me to keep going and trying when I'm going through a dry spell. That life rewards those people who work hard and practice what they do to the best of their ability.

My air bubbles rising to the surface during an sunset swim off the beach at La Jolla Shores, Southern California.

If you ever get a chance to get in the ocean water just before sunset, I highly recommend it. And especially if you can gear up with a mask and snorkel and look at the setting sun underwater. The colors and rays of light created by the afternoon sun are amazing. The photo above was created in 2009 in the water off the coast of La Jolla Shores beach in San Diego.

A photo created above and below the ocean water in the waves at Torrey Pines beach in La Jolla, Southern California

The air bubbles in this image make me feel like I'm flying through outer space

I love hoe the puffy white clouds in the blue summer sky mix with the water an the sea foam in the foreground. I also think it's interesting how these two little water droplets are perched right on the horizon.

I like how the action of the wave create three layers in this photograph and how the tiny little water particles seem to be exploding in the air

Nature seizes to amaze me. It seems like everywhere I look, I see art. Not created by people, but by nature itself. The way the camera caught the explosion of tiny water particles and bubbles mixed with the blue sky and white clouds made for quite the the spectacle... it's as if the ocean was painting with water, but you have to be there at the right time and place to see it happening.

This is one of my favorite photos from the series and I keep coming back to it to ask myself "why?". It's a perfect example of how the shutter button really need to be pressed at the precise time otherwise the water is crashing into the camera and then you're in the wave. The more I think about it, photography truly is an art of being in the right place at the right time and being ready to take the shot.

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One of my favorite things to do in life is bodysurfing, so whenever I get a chance I grab my fins and hit the surf. The image above is a photo of my friend Larry riding a wave at Torrey Pines State Beach.

This picture reminds me of sitting in class in high school waiting and day dreaming for summer to start

I know a lot of people keep their feelings to themselves, but when I experience art that moves me, I having this urge to share. When photos like the one above appear before my eyes and I know that I had a hand it in some way, I start to think that there's a bigger purpose for my life. That I'm here on this earth to let people know that life is beautiful and if you open your eyes to it and let it in, all sorts of magic will happen. Feelings that you never knew you could have will start to move you in ways I can't even start to explain.

This image has a calming effect on me and reminds me of those days on the beach when the sun is shinning and making me warm, but there's a cool breeze coming off the ocean to cool me off.

This image makes me think of all the millions of people in the world... and how each and every person has their own unique gift that they contribute to the universe. It motivates me to create and be different... not for the sake of just being different, but to shine like no one else can. But believing in myself and knowing that no one person can make the world go around.

The ocean can be a scary place if you're not familiar with it. The power of a wave can take a hold of you and spin you around underwater like a washing machine. So I tend to swim under the wave when I bodysurf. But there are those times when the wave takes ahold of me and reminds me of who's in charge.

I just love the color of this image... it's that beutiful light sea green that feels so Southern Californian

This image reminds me of how things in life can appear to be simple and uncomplex on the surface, but when you look deeper into it, often times you find it's more complicated that you think. The blue sky representing simplicity and the surface of the water symbolizes the facade and the air bubbles under the water symbolizing complexity.

Underwater photograph of beautiful summer light shinning through the bubbling sea foam of a crashing waves


I understand that many of these photos are busy and full of action and details, so it's refreshing to have some images that are simple, clean, muted and uncomplicated. I see images like this as the peaceful time frame surfers wait in between sets of waves.

This is another favorite of mine from this series. I like the composition of how the image is divided by blue sky, the wave and bubble underwater in the foreground. I also like the little red accent in the bottom right corner of the photo.

I don't know what it is, but there is something very peaceful and satisfying about being in the water and gazing out at the horizon. I always feel cleansed and refreshed after swimming in the ocean.

OK, this is one of those images you create first and then ask questions later. If you start to ask yourself "why", then for some reason you never end up doing it because you've convinced yourself of all the reasons not to do it. The image above is one of thos images. I was working on processing the image and wanted to see what it would look like inverted... so I did... and then was able to appreciate the image on a whole new level. At first it was a bit alien and a bit weird, but I soon started to see this desert landscape with snow capped mountains in the background. Hmmm, I thought. Why not. I made it a black and white image to allow the viewer to appreciate the composition without being influenced by color.

BAM!!! in your face comes the wave. I have to bite down on my snorkel so my mask doesn't fly off from the force of the wave. I like how the splash of the crashing wave blends nicely with the little puffy clouds in the high contrast blue sky.

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I love free-diving and snorkeling in the caves near La Jolla cove. It's a bit dangerous to swim in and out with the incoming waves but with the proper timing and the use of fins you can get in and out no problem. Once inside the caves you can swim around and watch the kayakers shoot through the cave entrances too. I'm always looking up and paying attention to this because it's difficult for the boaters to see you swimming in the water. In can see the kayak ghosted entering the cave.

Sometimes I'll enter the cave on the right when your approaching from the water. There is a little cove that has eel grass, seaweed and a small rocky beach. One time last summer (2010) when I was swimming into the cove to enter the cave from the other side, I noticed this black jellyfish that seemed to be wounded floating in the water. At first I was nervous that the incoming surge from the waves would push us into each other, but I mindfully kept my distance. I had to use a flash since it was dark under the kelp, so the little speckles are reflection from the camera's flash.

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