French photographer Romain Laurent's series, H2O, is a beautifully experimental portrait project created for Amusement Magazine. While technically it can be classified as underwater photography, the images play with that brief moment between being fully submerged and rising up, above the water.
With impeccable timing, Laurent captures the second just before the model breaks through the surface, and viewers can almost hear that first gasp as each woman fills her lungs with air. Ripples, bubbles, and splashes create a lovely distortion of facial features and the surrounding golden light reflects off of the water to create a painterly background
Each woman's glossy skin appears to be cast in a plastic covering as if she is frozen in time. However, rather than expressing feelings of constraint, the unique portraits convey a powerful sense that the women are calmly conquering their stifling, watery limitations.
