Yes, this is actually someone’s day job (and it’s okay to be jealous).
Professional photographer Seth Casteel has made a career out of taking great pictures of dogs underwater, and it all started 7 years ago at his local animal shelter.
Casteel’s first foray into photography was as a volunteer — he hit up animal shelters in his area and offered to take better pictures of the dogs and cats that were up for adoption.
In 2010, inspiration struck in the form of Buster the King Charles spaniel. Casteel was taking pictures of Buster on land, but the little scamp had other plans; plans that involved the swimming pool. Buster jumping in the pool over and over again gave Casteel an idea, so he quickly grabbed a small waterproof point-and-shoot camera he had on hand, and just like that, the Underwater Dogs project was born.
Casteel’s first book (aptly titled Underwater Dogs) was released in 2012 and made it all the way to the New York Times bestseller list. This September sees the release of his second book, Underwater Puppies.
Following the success of Underwater Dogs, Casteel wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next, until he got bitten by the puppy bug. He realized that not only would photos of puppies underwater be incredibly cute, but it would also raise awareness about swimming pool safety. A lot of dog owners don’t think about it when they bring a new puppy home, but Casteel says that learning how to have safe pool time is just as important for your fur babies as it is for human children.
He shot photos of over 1500 puppies (lucky guy!) for the book, and says they all learned very quickly how to swim and where the pool’s exit was, so teaching them is not only important, but easy too.
Many of the puppies photographed for the book were rescue dogs from animal shelters. Casteel hopes to show people how wonderful shelter puppies can be and spur others to make their local shelter their first stop when looking for a dog.
As for us? We could just gaze at these adorable pups all day long. Raise your paw if you feel the same!
[Source: NPR]
