Bruce Mozert's 1950s underwater photography — how did he do it?!

Date
7 March 2013

I seriously hope you’re not coming here for answers as to how this man constructed these super fun 1950s underwater photographs, including persuading those beautiful pin-up girls to hold their breath for that long, because to be honest we have no idea. What we do know is that Bruce constructed a makeshift underwater camera shortly after arriving in New York (as you do) and took it straight to the big dogs in Hollywood where it was immediately put to use.

Bruce swiftly became the go-to man for underwater photography, particularly for lifestyle magazines who wanted photoshoots with a twist. Bruce was renowned for being pretty innovative, coming up with underwater tricks to make these scenes seem as real as possible including using baking powder to create the powdery “smoke” coming out of the underwater barbecue. Would someone in this day and age devote their entire lives to sub-oceanic editorial shoots without the aid of any digital manipulation? I doubt it. Just another reason why the 1950s were better than now.

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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Bruce Mozert’s Underwater Photography

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About the Author

Liv Siddall

Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

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