Conducting an underwater photography shoot can be challenging, to say the least. And there are usually several things to factor into consideration, like finding the right pool, water depth, lighting direction and more. For a recent shoot for Venice Magazine with four-time Olympic World Champion in Artistic Swimming Kristina Makushenko, photographer George Kamper (who splits his time between New York and Miami) says he used a local yacht club pool that was 15 feet deep and luckily closed on the day of the shoot.

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“We overcame several challenges with this underwater photography shoot,” says Kamper, who excels at celebrity, commercial, advertising, lifestyle, portrait and editorial photography. “Luckily, Kristina has the rare ability to control her body movement and placement in the water while holding her breath for a few minutes at a time. Our creative challenge, aside from making great images, was to create a narrative that allowed the viewer to appreciate her skills.”

[Read: How to Take a Synchronized Shot Under Water]

After having conversations with stylist Elsa Rosetti, Kamper and his team planned out a variety of color and materials in Kristina’s wardrobe selection to help tell a story.

“We also wanted to accentuate Kristina’s skills and precision; we photographed her performing a perfect 360 and captured it in stills and as a gif while she was wearing a one-piece bathing suit with heels,” says Kamper.

Another consideration, adds Kamper, was creating some more artful images with more artistic camera angles, vibrant colors, and free flowing fabrics. “We also utilized shiny boards to reflect sunlight into the water and kept her bathed in light while allowing the background to fall slightly into shadow. We even created our own bubble machine so we could position the bubbles and control their size, flow, and how rapidly they rose to the surface for the closeup images.”

As for equipment, Kamper says he relied on his Canon 5D in a Nauticam Underwater housing provided by Brownie’s Global Logistics, LLC.

Visit Kamper’s blog to view the BTS video of the shoot, as well as a full list of everyone who helped make the shoot happen, here.