While shooting a job for National Geographic Traveler Magazine in Cancun, Mexico, I arranged to shoot a sailboard instructor at one of the beach hotels. I had brought along with me an Ewa-marine underwater housing for my camera and decided to shoot in the water, using the nearby hotel as a background.

Sitting in three feet of water, I pre-set the exposure on my camera and arranged for the instructor to sail between myself and the afternoon sun. Light passing through a brightly colored sail is always more saturated that light reflected off a front lit sail. I made sure I had a fast enough shutter speed, about 1/250 of a second, to stop the action and fired off some frames every time I felt the sail pass in front of the sun. Professional photography is often a lot of work, but sometimes it’s also just plain fun.