This Underwater Graduation Class Photo of Canadian Naval Divers Wasn’t an Easy Job to Take

Upon completing their year-long training, the Royal Canadian Navy’s newest class of clearance divers wanted something special to commemorate the event. They came up with the idea of taking this amazing—or rather, breathtaking—underwater class photo.

Luckily, Sailor 1st Class Valerie LeClair—who also works as an official photographer for the Navy—was there to help them. But even so, it wasn’t an easy feat. When everyone—both instructors and students—jumped into the pool and filed into two rows, it proved really hard for them to stay still – much harder than it is for your usual selfie. “They’d float up [to the surface],” LeClair shared. “It was hard for them to sit in the chairs.”

To counter the upthrust, each class member put 8-pound (3.6 kg) weights into their pockets, with kind neighbors helping to push down any classmates still floating up. But that wasn’t the only thing that made taking the photo so difficult. Only the instructors – who were sitting in the front row – had oxygen tanks under their chairs. The students in the back row had to hold their breath while trying to pose.

So, not surprisingly, getting the right shot took a lot of trial and error. “By the time you’re in position, somebody’s almost out of breath already,” said Sailor 1st Class Tajoniel Forbes, who “stands” in the back row. “So you have five to 10 seconds to actually shoot the picture before somebody shot off.”

Eventually though, LeClair managed to get the perfect photo – one in which everyone is at the right place and not even one person’s eyes are closed. But while the work was over for the photo subjects, for LeClair there was a lot of post-editing to be done: she had to meticulously remove all the bubbles that were in the photo.

But in the end, all those efforts bore fruit. The class of talented divers, who are trained to find and neutralize explosives underwater, were finally immortalized in a graduation photo worthy of their skills.

Here’s a detailed summary of what it took to capture this astounding underwater class photo.

Sources: 1, 2