Assigned by FIT FOR FUN magazine I was eye-witnessing and portraying the preparations of Herbert Nitsch‘s Apnoe world record attempt called “BREITLING Extreme 800″. His goal is no less than diving down more than 240m in his own designed and developed, torpedo-shaped underwater sled:

20 hours packed with action: from getting up really early at night catching the morning light to the 2200m high mountain very very breezy bike snow shoot. Eventually finding our place of places in the blue hour of the day with the stunning mountainous  landscape in the background.

Overall we’ve been happy receiving the permission to shoot in this outrageous, organic-like architecture. Here come some making-of shots:

Contribution of a photo stretch of Apnoe diver Anna von Boetticher to ‘Wunderwelt WISSEN‘ magazines 8-page feature story about Apnoe:

Back from a super-intense ARENA photoshoot at the training camp of the German Olympic swimming team on Tenerife Island.

It’s been mind-blowing seeing guys like Paul Biedermann or Marco di Carli pacing through the pool. Or even hitting it hard in the swimming channel at a counter-current of 2.5 meters.

Marco Di Carli as well inspired and encouraged me trying some new underwater angles and perspectives.

Best moment definitely was being asked by one of the top swimmers if I can swim. So I had to pull up my reputation the next day by lying on the ground of the pool for 2 minutes waiting for the water surface becoming flat and glassy.

Feeling really honored for receiving a gold medal in the “General Section” of the 2011 AL-THANI AWARD FOR PHOTOGRAPHY, Quatar with my underwater photo series “Cynara”:

There’s also a limited book edition available with all the winner entries and stunning photographs.