ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS NUR TUCKER LRPS
Nur was the winner of the September 2020 issue’s cover competition with Alice Through The Looking Glass (right). We invited Nur to tell us more about her photography how she created the winning shot.
I
am a fanatic diver and an underwater photographer. Normally I would take photos of large whales or some tiny invertebrates that you can only photograph with special lenses and dioptres. I love entering competitions. For me, this is the way to keep myself on my toes all the time and keep up with the advances in photography. I learn to be
self-critical. In order to win, one must create something out of the ordinary. I strive to produce something unusual all the time. I never look at the previous year’s winners and try to imitate them. This is not a path to win. Before each dive, despite the fact that nature is unpredictable, I would still have a plan in my head about what I would
CREATIVE EYE GROUP MAGAZINE NO. 84 JANUARY 2021
be doing. I am interested in different techniques and also different genres in photography. For example, I try to use a technique that some people have used photographing bugs and I would apply this to underwater super macro photography. Sometimes for a particular shot, I prepare for months, mentally – this includes its choreography and its technical details such as special effects, lighting, new lenses. Last year I had a health scare and I was not allowed to dive for a year, for a fanatical diver like me, it was a very harsh ask. So, I decided to take photos in a pool using models without the additional atmospheric pressure and the nitrogen bubbles in my blood stream that depth brings. I did
a series of sessions that produced very interesting and surreal shots without employing any Photoshop. All I had to do was to cleverly use the reflections, and refractions of the sun beams, and other lighting equipment above all, my imagination. Photography in pool sometimes even requires me to brush up my skills in Physics (from optics to Archimedes principles). ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ took a long time to accomplish. For this shot, the outfit was essential. It took me several weeks to prepare the costume including the dress, apron, stripy-tights and shorts under the dress, school shoes and the ribbon. Then I had to prepare a background for which I used 7
