Underwater Photographer Shoots Stars of ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ for Ocean Conservation Campaign

An underwater photographer has shot a series of images featuring the stars of Avatar: The Way of Water to raise funds to help conserve the world’s oceans.

Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Winslet posed for renowned underwater photographer Christy Lee Rogers for a collection of images that celebrated the ocean as well as the actresses’ film Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

Rogers photographed Saldaña, Weaver, and Winslet in her own unique style — shooting them through the play of light refracting through the water to evoke the feel of a sumptuous painting.

According to freediver Kirk Krack who worked on Avatar: The Way of Water, Rogers shot Saldaña, Weaver, and Winslet while they were on breath-hold.

“As a part of the campaign, I supported the individual photoshoots, which were held underwater on breath-hold with flowing fabrics in a darkened pool,” Krack writes on Instagram. “The result was as beautiful in person as it is in the final collection.”

Director, writer, and producer of Avatar: The Way of Water James Cameron commissioned Rogers to create a collection of photographs celebrating the earth’s oceans in support of the “Keep Our Oceans Amazing” campaign and The Nature Conservancy.

Disney and Avatar launched the global “Keep Our Oceans Amazing” campaign to raise awareness of the challenges facing oceans and marine life.

Meanwhile, the Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the earth’s lands and oceans — providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more sustainable. The Nature Conservancy intends to conserve more than 10% of the world’s ocean area by 2030.

“I have long admired Christy’s art and began collecting her works several years ago,” Cameron, who is a long-time supporter of ocean conservation,” says.

“Her unique style of shooting her subjects underwater naturally inspired me to suggest she do a special shoot with our cast.”

“Water is healing — it’s life itself,” Christy Lee Rogers adds.

“And as the provider of life — oxygen to all through tiny phytoplankton, our oceans need our care more than ever right now.

“It is a great honor to be able to help James Cameron, Jon Landau [the film’s co-producer], and the Avatar and Disney teams in realizing that dream of clean and protected world oceans — through the release of these images for The Nature Conservancy.”

The underwater artwork is available for purchase through Fraser Scott at A Gallery Artists Ltd. via Rogers’ website as four limited edition, museum quality photographs signed by Rogers as well as a series of high-quality prints both signed by Rogers and unsigned.

More of Rogers’ work can be seen on her website and Instagram.

Image credits: All photos by Christy Lee Rogers