Nudes 3rd place winner

This series of underwater images were inspired by Crystal, the model in the image, and the inspiration for a look into her personal life story, and battle with cancer. Crystal was diagnosed with breast cancer in late 2020 when Covid-19 had been severely spreading all over the world. Due to the pandemic, it was not easy to access getting proper medical attention, leading to at first, an improper diagnosis. She received this misleading report from her early medical exams causing a delay of her treatments until March 2021.

Crystal is a bright, positive, and energetic young woman and has a wide variety of stunt skills in aerial arts. It was not easy for her or any person when she found she’s in stage 3 breast cancer.

It was a very challenging underwater photo session with Crystal undergoing chemo treatments prior to modeling underwater. With her strong mindset, she conquered the fear to beautifully finish this whole underwater photo session. She wants to send the message "Cancer can't defeat your soul” to other cancer patients. It’s not an ending. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for “Hope”.

With a strong studio photography background professionally, H2Wu holds an M.A. in photography from the Ohio University, Scripps College of Visual Communications. H2Wu’s underwater photography has been published in numerous magazines worldwide, and he has worked with editorial and commercial photography in the beauty and fashion industries. H2Wu’s photographic artistry has appeared on popular TV shows as well. His fine-art work has won several awards in the editorial photography publication and has been featured in the prestigious L.A. Art Show, Los Angeles, CA.

Presently, H2Wu’s photography primary focus is on the underwater imagery realm and explores other photography disciplines. His work centers on the interaction of the underwater world and the imagination surrounding the human form. The inspirations he takes from his long-ago fascination with fine art, the history of art, and photography, fit together to form an interaction between the human form, environmental elements, and life intertwined with the water, living near the beach in CA. His wish is for his audience to experience the same magic and a sense of wonder, provoking a feeling of inspiration, discovery, and imagination.

H2Wu can be reached via this website for commercial, editorial, and underwater photography sessions. Collectible museum-quality, limited edition prints