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HFXmermaid

Mermaid & Husband
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Big News

1 min read

Hey everyone, guess what... I am pregnant! This is why I haven't been on deviantART as much. It's a miracle pregnancy! I am 35 and coping with multiple chronic illnesses that cause infertility. I've had many losses. I did not believe I could get pregnant - especially naturally. But here we are!

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This is River! He is due in August. My husband has been enjoying getting lots of underwater baby belly shots so you can expect lots to be uploaded. We do have a baby registry for anyone interested.


I was very sick until about 2 weeks ago when I found the right amount and type of medication. I am 5 months pregnant now. In the meantime Sean and I have been maxing out what we can do with our underwater photography gear and are excited to upgrade our gear shortly to see what we can do.


Hope everyone is managing with covid OK. best fishes.

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I'd like to answer some FAQ that I get asked in comments. I think folks would find it interesting! These are questions I get asked about tail swimming, underwater work and modelling, underwater performing, professional mermaid work and more. See something not listed? Ask me in the comments and I'll do up a second one!

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Q. How long can you hold you breath?

A. I can do typically 2 and a half minutes if I am not moving, and 1-2 minutes if I am moving slowly. I am training to do longer. Breath holding can increase your risk of underwater blackout and drowning, so please never do it without supervision. If you want to learn to hold you breath, take an entry level freediving course. You will learn so much, AND be safe!

Q. Do you have any certification?

A. I am a certified freediver working toward my advanced certification through PADI. I am a member of AIDA Canada. I also have a degree in education, and a degree in child and youth development. I also have a level 3 early childhood educator certification.


Q. How do you see underwater?

A. No one can really see perfectly underwater. When I am training I wear goggles to protect my eyes. But when I am performing I can only see fuzzy shapes. This is why I always have a safety swimmer with me. Chlorine hurts my eyes too. I use eye gel to help ease the pain.

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Q. Is it hard to swim in a tail?

A. Every tail is different. Some of my tails are heavy, some are light. Some have small monofins, while others have larger ones. Swimming in one tail in freshwater it may sink- but then float in salt water. I generally find it easier to swim WITH a tail than without.


Q. How are you a mermaid in Canada? Isn't it too cold?

A. Yes, it's pretty cold in Canada. We can usually only swim in lakes and the ocean in July and August. Sometimes if it's a warmer year we can do June-Sept. During the winter, we use indoor pools and travel too. Sometimes we get to swim in tanks and aquariums.


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Q. Are you afraid of sharks?

A. I've never seen any sharks where I live, and there have never been shark attacks. For my birthday one year I swam with tiger sharks in an aquarium. I was scared but it was amazing. I would love to swim with more sharks.


Q. Have you swam with other animals?

A. I have had seals and otters swim alongside me, and plenty of fish. But the only animal who really swam WITH me are the manatees of Florida. It was a mer-mazing experience that I really loved.

Q. How long have you been a professional mermaid?

A. I have been a professional mermaid since September 2008. In the beginning I only worked a little doing a few bookings a year. Then I went on to do it as a part time job. Soon, it was my full time job. Now I perform as a mermaid, publish books, makes resources, Youtube videos, and clothing. I own my company with my merwrangler Sean. I was inspired to become a mermaid by Mermaid Linden and Hannah Mermaid.


Q. Where can I buy a tail? How can I be a mermaid and meet other mermaids?

A. Start by checking out my resources on this website to learn how to be a mer. You can find a great listing of tail makers here. You can also find mer-groups on Facebook or on the forum.


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Q. Where can I find your TV and Movie work?

A. You can start by seeing my IMDb account here, and check out my youtube, along with my list of media coverage on my website.


Q. What's your favourite part of being a professional underwater performer?

A. For the mermaid stuff, it'd the magic I make for kids. For everything else? How I feel when I'm underwater and the chance to empower others.


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I really enjoy modelling underwater, but there's a lot that goes into it. I thought people might find it enjoyable to learn a bit about it! I also am currently learning underwater photography. It's been a great experience so far understanding both sides of the lens. In the bts photo below, I am modelling for Brett Stanley during a workshop in Tulum, Mexico.

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First off, I want to add the disclaimer than I am a certified freediver and have a lot of training in working underwater. Lots of people dabble in underwater work without training. But I do strongly suggest that if you really want to seriously work in it, you get freediving certified as a model, and that your photographer is either scuba certified or freediving certified. Being a freediver, you will learn how to be safe underwater with breath holds, how to watch for signs of struggle, and how to help someone who has past out, drowned, or is struggling. A lot can go wrong during underwater work, even in a pool. Even in a shallow pool. In the photo to the left you see my husband and I on our freediving course. You can take a partial course where you only work in a pool, if you aren't interested in depth, or being in the ocean.

I do a lot of different underwater work. My main job is that I am a professional mermaid and underwater performer. For this work I have been in several movies, perform in an aquarium, have a travelling tank show, do kids parties, educational events, parades, and more. I also do underwater modelling both in and out of my mermaid tail and have had some of my images appear on best selling books, in magazines, online and in art galleries. When I am underwater, I always have a "spotter". Sometimes that spotter is a rescue diver who is under the water with me. Sometimes it is someone on the surface of the water watching me. The spotter's job is to make sure I stay safe. When you are underwater, you are at risk of something called an underwater blackout. This is when you faint and usually have no warning it is going to happen. It's usually the result of carbon build up in your body. In the image below, I am working with a rescue diver while I film for a movie. To help me conserve oxygen he actually swims me to my "mark" underwater and gets out of the shot. I do my bit and either come up for air or he swims be back. By moving less, I can hold my breath longer.

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To best explain what I do, I am going to take a QnA approach!


Q. How long can you hold your breath? How do you make it last so long?

A. I can hold my breath stagnate (meaning, not moving) for upwards of 3 minutes. When I am swimming, I can typically last up to a minute. Sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little less. The average person can hold their breath for 30 seconds, but thanks to something called the diving reflex, we can actually last a lot longer than we realize. Think of when you hold your breath. You usually feel your chest tightening or a slight spasm when it's time to exhale and take a new breath - right? Well, as you practice, the amount of time it takes for those spasms to kick in is longer and longer. Your body actually has plenty of oxygen circulating in it. This is called reserve oxygen, and it's there even if your lungs are empty. When we train our breath hold in freediving, we do a lot of stagnate holds. This is when we float at the surface with a safety spotter who is timing us and watching us. Every 30 seconds or so they tap your shoulder while you're holding your breath. You give them a thumbs up to show you're still ok. if you don't give a thumbs up, they flip you over to make you breathe. You'd be surprised how long you can do this just by learning to calm yourself down and relax your body. Here's a few videos of me doing a 1 minute breath hold underwater to entertain some folks. In the top one I am doing the classic floating, on the bottom I am holding myself in a spring. To be an underwater model you don't need to hold your breath for a long amount of time. It simply helps you to be calm underwater, have more time to work with, and can keep you calm if there IS an emergency.

Q. How can you 'see' or open your eyes underwater? Doesn't it sting?


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A. Nobody can really "see" clearly underwater, but a few things can influence what you can make out. Chlorine can be really stingy and make it hard to see. Salt water and fresh water can also have low viability by just being dark silty from things being stirred up from the bottom, like sand. Underwater, I can make out shapes, and light. Sometimes if the photographer is using a gopro, I can see the blinking recording light! But you do not have to open your eyes to get beautiful photos. In fact, so long as you keep your face RELAXED you can actually get really beautiful photos with your eyes closed. If your eyes are closed, you are less likely to squish up your face.


When I am underwater, I use different cues to help me know where to turn my face or body for posing - instead of sight. One cue you can use is hearing the shutter underwater from the camera. If there's lots of clicks, the photographer likes what you're doing! It also helps you know where to turn your body or your face. You can also generally see or feel the direction of the light or sun above you. If the photographer is using lights or underwater lights, you'll be able to tell where the light is, and if they're using strobes, you will see and feel the flash.


For eyes that burn underwater, there's a few tricks you can try but mainly it's about becoming used to it and paying attention to your body. I put high quality eye gel in my eyes before I go into the water. It creates a moisture layer that's similar to wearing a contact to protect my eyes. I also flush my eyes with saline or clean water when I am finished, and I add more eye gel. Salt water wont hurt your eyes, your eyes are made of salt water! It's usually a mind game where we need to get past the sensation. You can get eye infections though from pools or lakes.

So if when you're done blurry vision or burning/red eyes lasts for more than a few hours, time to see a doctor!

Q. What about your ears and nose? I hate getting water in my ears or nose!

A. Me too! I am actually really prone to ear infections as well. I typically encourage the use of ear or nose plugs or both. They are easy to remove in post editing, and they help the model feel comfortable and more natural in the water. In all my photos I am wearing ear plugs! I choose clear, malleable, silicone ear plugs because I can shape them to my ears and they rarely show in photos. For nose plugs you can try a brand that goes IN your nose and only has a small bit sticking out that can be removed in post very easily. In fact, a friend worked on the TV show "Siren" and I suggested they use this, and they did! They were able to edit it out of video while their actors could stop worrying about water up their nose. If you're wearing ear plugs it's important to know that they can block your ability to equalize (pop) your ears at depth. There's also a brand that are ventilated and more expensive, but allow you to equalize.


Q. What about fabrics and clothing? How do you make them work underwater?

A. First, it's important to test the fabrics underwater to see how heavy they become when wet, and if they become "see-through". You might be fine with see-through fabric, or it could ruin your whole look. As a model it's good to test how it feels to be wearing this fabric underwater. It can be heavy. It can get tangled around your legs and arms easily. It can also trap air and be difficult to work with.

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I usually start by standing waist deep in the water, and getting as many air pockets and bubbles out of the water as I can. This usually means once I go underwater, the garment will be heavy. It's not going to move easily, so I usually try to minimize my movement and do poses where all I have to do is sink and then come back up. This is when it's REALLY important to have a safety person. That person can wrangle the fabric around you, and also help you in emergencies. It's really common when you start to kick in dresses, for the fabric to entangle your legs and cause you to panic. Models have actually died wearing dresses for underwater photos. It makes it really easy to lose your sense of motion and make you sink. Only model with flowy fabrics and garments with HELP.


Q. How do you make your hair work underwater?

A. Hair is REALLY tricky underwater. We have this idea that it's beautiful amd flowly, but it's not. It's a hot mess, gets in your way, ruins perfect photos, and scares the you know what out of you from time to time.

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In this photo on the right, there are two mermaids. My friend Hyli and I. Hyli has her real hair, mine is a synthetic wig. Real hair is going to go everywhere and typically the opposite direction of how you're moving. If you go down, your hair will go up. If you move forward, it'll go back. But if you stop moving, your hair will move past you and often get in your face. It doesn't float very well and once you've stopped moving it tends to sink and stick around you, often getting in your face. You can totally make real hair work, but you will need to manually move it around in between shots, or try to make moving your hair as part of your pose.


With synthetic hair, the hair will hold its shape and float really well. If you pin it, it'll stay. I wear lacefront wigs that I stick to my head using double-sided tape. I also use some sort of circlet to add extra reinforcement at the top, and it helps keep the hair from going in my eyes at all when I surface. From there I can pin beautiful hair pieces into the hair using safety pins to keep them attached while I'm underwater. Putting a wig in the water will trash is for land use, but they can still look pristine underwater without any maintenance. I usually have a few wigs on the go and keep them separate from land and water. Wearing a wig can also help you protect your real hair from damage such as chlorine.


Q. Help! I sink a lot! Or, I float a lot! How do I cope with this?

A. Figuring out your buoyancy is REALLY tricky. One of the easiest ways to deal with someone who is floaty, is to cleverly hide weights in their costume, or have something in the underwater "set" they can hang on to to hold themselves under. The benefit to this is that you can keep a full set of air in your lungs and stay down longer to get into your pose.

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The bad part about this, is that the weights could actually make it harder for you to surface. In this photo, I have weights in the silicone tail and my left hand is holding on to something at the bottom of the tank. Because I held onto something, it cut my hand out of the photo. It also made it heavier and harder for me to surface. Weights should only be used under supervision and by trained people. The amount of weights you need will differ from person to person, and differ with what you're wearing.

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In this photo on the left, I actually have a weight belt on under the dress. If you're wearing a belt, you should be able to get it off easily. This way if I am struggling to get to the surface, I can just reach under and undo the weight belt, dropping it on the bottom. That way I can come back up easily.


The other way to cope with being too floaty, is to learn how much air you need to exhale to sink, and still feel comfortable. As mentioned before, you don't need to stay underwater forever to get the shot. If you only get a few seconds, you still have a lot to work with! It will take practice to learn how much air you can get rid of. So it's best to do it in a supervised and safe environment. In the video below I show you the behind the scenes of how I empty my air to go down and pose for some of the photos you have seen here.


If you sink easier, then I suggest staying in shallow water, and having a safety nearby with something that floats they can toss to you. It could be a lifejacket, a noodle, anything that you can grab they can use to help you come up.

Here are some more behind the scenes photos of me modelling underwater to get your mind thinking and the creative juices flowing!

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Thanks so much for checking out my article on modelling underwater. If you have other questions you'd like answer, please drop me a comment and I'll save them up for a part 2 along with more FAQ information! I really appreciate you taking the time to read this as I am so passionate about it. I would love to see the underwater community grow on DeviantART, in safe way! This article includes a lot of behind the scenes content so please do check out my gallery for more polished and finished underwater photos. Thanks!

by Eric Ducharme
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Well, it's been a weird and long 16 years on DeviantART! Since we're all locked down thanks to Covid 19, my husband and I decided to revamp this account for our mermaid business. We own it together and produce all the art for it. I love the new DA look and am excited but a tiny bit overwhelmed at the idea of getting back into things. So let's see how it goes!


Curious who here that follows me is still active?

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FAQ of a Professional Mermaid by HFXmermaid, journal

Modelling Underwater - QnA Part 1 by HFXmermaid, journal