By John Hartl

“I loved touching water. Physically. Sensually. Water fascinated me.”

Trying to describe an early memory, of diving into a silty lake and opening his eyes under water for the first time, Jacques Cousteau was instinctively eloquent on the beginnings of a lifelong obsession.

“He was not at all frightened,” adds his Vashon Island-based biographer, Brad Matsen. “The water soothed him and banished all fear.”

Perhaps it was this trauma-less, literally eye-filling underwater experience that led to so many brave confrontations with death, so many narrow escapes, so many advances in the technology of underwater exploration.

When he died on June 25, 1997, Cousteau owned one of the most recognizable faces on the planet. Oscar-winning filmmaker, environmental activist, French resistance fighter and scuba diver extraordinaire, he seemed to jam many lifetimes into one very busy and public one.

Yet, as Matsen deftly demonstrates, we hardly knew him. For all his fame, Cousteau, who had an official wife and two sons, successfully led a secret life that included a mistress and two children. Only after the first wife died would he reveal that he’d had a second family for two decades.

During his later years, Cousteau continued to accept awards, create landmark movies and make speeches for his beloved Cousteau Society. But, as Matsen so wryly puts it, “he saw few people outside his immediate families.” Even then, Cousteau could be snippy. When his older son, Philippe, announced that he would marry an American, Jacques and his wife, Simone, refused to attend the wedding.

The black sheep in the Cousteau history was his older brother, Pierre-Antoine, an anti-Semitic journalist who became a Nazi collaborator. Around the same time, Jacques was spying for the other side, earning the French Legion of Honor for his work.

Possibly the strangest event in their relationship was a 1942 screening of Jacques’ early movie, “Sixty Feet Down,” for an audience of German officers and Vichy politicians in occupied Paris. Pierre-Antoine arranged the screening and a reception. After the war, he was nearly shot for following Nazi orders. Also after the war, Jacques’ follow-up film, “Epaves,” won a special prize at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946. One decade later, he would return to take the top Cannes prize for “The Silent World,” which later won a documentary Oscar. In 1965, he would win another Academy Award for “World Without Sun.”

Matsen describes Cousteau’s Oscar winners as huge box-office successes, yet neither led immediately to other films. Cousteau was forced to go into television — where he had his greatest success, collaborating with David Wolper, PBS and eventually Ted Turner. Each of these relationships led to problems too, partly because Cousteau’s ratings winners (sharks, sunken treasures) were often followed by pessimistic programs about lead poisoning, nuclear waste and Japanese fishermen slaughtering dolphins. By the end of his life, he no longer believed that the planet was salvageable.

Chris Crumley is one of the most recognized underwater photographers in the world. Over the years, his advertising and editorial work has appeared in hundreds of pages of SCUBA-related marketing materials, travel brochures and a wide range of publications.

Most photographers are known for a particular specialty, Crumley is known for working with people underwater, and he’s turned it into a special “art.” His ability to capture unique moods and colorful backgrounds combine beautifully with skilled models to produce consistently stunning and memorable underwater images.

Crumley and one of his models, Sherry Smith, developed a unique training program for underwater models. Here Crumley shares some of their secrets on “What Makes A Great Underwater Model”

Desire: A model has to WANT to be there and it shows in the shots. Even underwater, you can’t hide certain things. A desire to make pictures that speak, excite and provoke emotion are intangibles necessary with every underwater model. This trait works in tandem with a desire to share the underwater experience with others.

Attitude: A model needs to be enthusiastic, creative, willing to deal with the elements, be patient and be part of a team to be successful, Crumley explains. “It’s not as simple as getting in the water and looking at the camera. There’s a lot that goes into every shot and a good model must have the right attitude.”

Body Language (Attitude): It’s more than just being a good diver. Top underwater models know how to move through the water effortless. They use their fins to propel and steer themselves – not their hands (a common mistake). In fact, a good model’s hands fall naturally alongside the body. The EYES are a major part of quality underwater shots. The diver’s eyes don’t look straight at the camera but at the subject. “I like my models to ‘smile’ with their eyes,” Crumley says. “Expressive eyes – no stares – give every shot an added boost.”

Communications: You can’t talk underwater, but it’s necessary to communicate. This comes from preparation in advance of a shoot. Experienced divers have their own sets of hand signals. It’s no different for underwater models. “Sometimes you don’t have to do anything other than point, other shots require a bit more communication between photographer and model.”

Buoyancy Control: If you’re not a diver, you won’t understand. If you are a diver, you have to appreciate the incredible buoyancy control every good underwater model has mastered. They know how to “hover” over a reef using partial breaths to rise and fall small amounts; they move effortlessly and stop on a dime – despite all the gear, currents and unique surroundings. “We practice this skill a lot because it doesn’t come naturally,” Crumley points out. “But once you master buoyancy control as an underwater model, you are a step ahead of most SCUBA divers.!”