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news hot gallery A swimmer rises to the surface as the wave passes at Bronte Beach, Sydney. What started as an idea to break into the editorial news industry quickly turned into a project of it\'s own. In late 2009 I was looking for a way to bring light to the humanitarian projects I was working on as the reportage series wasn\'t receiving any interest from the media. At the time I was working in a photo agency in Sydney sourcing photo essays to publications; through my personal interest in the field when I sent humanitarian articles from renowned photojournalist through the wire they were met with some interest, but usually the magazines opted for human interest (novelty) or celebrity content. I thought that if I could start an easily consumable series to raise my profile in the editorial realm, it would help when I sent my humanitarian work through the wires. 10 years ago after high school I spent a few years traveling around Australia in an old station wagon filming surfing, clutching to dreams of making it in the surf film industry that would facilitate my future of cruising around the world to exotic beaches filming perfect waves. While the surfing and conditions were what I wanted to be filming, the images always left me wanting more. After trying countless experiments of camera positions (helmet camera, board camera) and different places to film while in the water (pole extensions, different lenses), I still couldn\'t capture what I was seeing in my mind. Fast forward to 2009 and after directing a film in Mexico on Shark Divers I had an underwater camera which we used to get closer to the sharks than our larger cameras physically could, upon returning to Sydney I started shooting surfing again, however this time from below. A month later I was shooting a small shorebreak and was caught inside by a large set, as I dove under I noticed a group of kids next to me. I turned the camera onto them and shot them as they contorted and struggled to avoid the wave above; surfacing I glanced at the lcd screen and the first Underwater Project image was there. Entitled \'Escape\', to this day it\'s as close to the images that I was chasing a decade ago. Soon after I traveled to remote beaches in the South Australian desert with a good friend to work on the idea further; after 6 hours in the water we ended up with 4 images that made it to the final selection, a solid start to the series. I continued the project into 2010 with the \'swimmers diving under waves\' focus, while winter brought challenges of it\'s own with few swimmers and rough seas the series morphed into a survival amongst the elements focus. The first editorial send created a reception from the media that is still incredible. Published in a dozen countries and print sales ranging from Brazil to Korea, the response from the industry is more than I had imagined. As 2011 breaks I\'m working to link the publicity of the underwater series with humanitarian causes, by collaborating with a core ocean founded organisation for fundraising and project showcasing I\'m hoping the new series focus will facilitate my original intentions. marktipple/gallery/theunderwaterproject\" marktipple/gallery/theunderwaterproject
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