Guillaume Nery underwater base jump at Dean’s Blue Hole

by Eric Cheng Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Someone forwarded me a beautiful free-diving video of Guillaume Nery doing an underwater “base jump” at Dean’s Blue Hole. In the video, it is made to look like Nery reaches the bottom, but Dean’s Blue Hole is 202m deep, and the world record for constant weight free-diving without fins is supposed to only be 83m.

It’s a beautiful movie, and underwater image makers should be doing more work like this (although divers and conservationists will have a problem with the way Nery is shown getting back up to the surface).

Seriously ? Did Guillaume Nery really needed to specifically highlight / acknowledge the fact that this was an artistic project (and an awesomely done one) and that he hadn't actually dived, while filming, at TWICE deeper than the current constant weight record ? (which he holds BTW).
The plain obvious doesn't usually require stating.

Posted by Jacques J. Routier on 2015-10-07 07:54:09 As videos go - it is a good marketing promotional video meant to drum up business. (which it probably did) I'm not much of a free diver - but - am a tech diver who's been to 100m on many occasions. You can tell that there is a fair amount of ambient light in this video - which means he's not that deep! After about 75m - things get dark and you need lights - which it did not look like they we using (probably because they were not that deep and didn't need them)! As for this video - note time index 3:16 - Nery lands on a ledge and you can see the true blackness of the hole beyond the ledge!... Now that is pretty cool - the dark blue/black calling you deeper!
Posted by p19496 on 2012-04-22 13:23:55 You have to realise that freedivers have a completely different philosophy to being underwater, they feel much more a part of the ocean rather than observers. Guillaume may be seen climbing the wall and yes, maybe there was a small amount of damage but seriously guys, as divers we are for sure the worst culprit for coral damage intentional or not. You only need to dive in Egypt to see that. The only way to protect the worlds reefs is to not dive them which will not happen. Images and video which has been very successful often show signs of touching or manipulating the environment, Mr Doubilet's nudis for example... Hands up all of you who have never touched anything, even sand underwater? And now, all those of you with your hands up... You are liars!! ;) Amazing work, Hats off to Julie & Guillaume. As for anyone asking 'did he really reach the bottom', 'did they film on one breath, one take' etc, of course not! Its called editing! And btw, the updated record for CW no fins is Will Trubridge @ 95m.... Crazy but impressive stuff.
Posted by karlmarchant on 2010-07-03 06:52:07 Having dived several blue holes in the bahamas I can say that there are often very few signs of life in them at all, especially the land locked ones. The sand slides he creates I have seen done on reefs by parrot fish chewing on parts of the reef. Also how many photogs can claim that every one of their shots has been taken without any part of them touching the reef?? This was an amazing piece of image making pure ans simple.
Posted by Divnivn on 2010-07-03 04:08:05 What a creative and extra cool short. The amazing thing is that someone actually thought this up and scripted it, then shot and edited it into a great package. Perhaps a tad shorter but amazing none the less
Posted by Rick Morris on 2010-06-17 09:46:54 The camerawork, action and setting are simply spectacular. You can see the location where it was filmed on BlooSee: http://bit.ly/buXZbW
Posted by DivingGeek on 2010-06-16 03:51:36 The technical achievement of this video, raw footage, subject matter, editing and final composition combined with the talent of the diver are both compelling and of undeniably high quality. The devil in the details lies in the context in which the final product of all that talent is used. If it is intended and marketed to show a documentary of true free-diving, it fails, it is a fake. If it is intended to convey, in an artistic format, the joy that mastering free diving can bring, it is a fantastic success. That success, in my view , is tarnished by the man-handling of the reef that is shown, and glorified.
Posted by Aquashot on 2010-06-09 23:38:25 I got this link from a friend yesterday. It's the same link that Eric posted above in the 3rd comment. It's an artistic representation of freediving not a realistic chronicle of freediving to 638 feet. It was edited from multiple clips that were shot over a period of 4 days. "I never pretended to reach the bottom. It's impossible and no one will ever do it," Guillaume said via email, emphasizing that the movie was an artistic creation -- "a fiction movie" -- that took four afternoons of diving "to get all the shots." http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/17914/freedivers+breathtaking+plunge+into+abyss+caught+on+video/
Posted by whaleshark on 2010-06-09 11:39:59 The article about the video is very informative Eric. If i see it only from the artistic side i must admit that is very aesthetic and creative, let's focus on this :))
Posted by Nicholas S. on 2010-06-09 05:58:27 I agree with Adam - that is a a great video.... original, raw and very effective at capturing the emotions through the most simple of techniques: syncing the edit to the soundtrack.... other u/w video creators would do well to take note... FotoScubo also makes a great point - do most people in here think that Steve Irwin really "found" the animals he used to show to the viewer? The art of the edit is as important, if not more so, than the actual shoot.... crappy footage can be made into a great sequence with a good edit... similarly, great footage can be ruined with a crappy edit... this is great footage and a great edit - with an awesome finished result...
Posted by WaterWorks on 2010-06-09 05:56:11 I know Julie and Guillaume well. They are both amazing freedivers and both big lovers of the sea. Although he 'climbs' back out of the hole, it does seem to be just bare rock. It is a fantastic video showing some fantastic freediving skills - I dont feel there is a need to get all high and mighty about Guillaume touching rock and sand! Great work, guys.
Posted by AdamBroadbent on 2010-06-09 04:03:22 When somene else posted this on WP, to me it was a great artistic piece. Though some portions made me go hmmm (yes climbing back up) I thought it was great, albeit, like Eric mentioned, some parts I thought could give the wrong meaning even though I would suspect not really real...
Posted by Drew Wohl on 2010-06-09 02:07:13 Video has hit Yahoo mainpage. Hat of to Julie Gautier for awsome footage while freediving and great editing. As they say here in Hollywood: "Don't bother me with the facts and politics, it is all about illusions and drama."
Posted by fotoscubo714 on 2010-06-08 21:56:47 I think it's very cool but yeah, a few little strange bits. Like that photographer just went down to around 80 metres at least and came up with no decompression - what gives? Or were they free diving too?
Posted by MitHere on 2010-06-08 21:47:37 A friend forwarded me an article about the video: Freediver's breathtaking plunge into abyss part real, part fiction Gautier states, "Our goal was to emphasize on aesthetic images and innovative camera moves."
Posted by Eric Cheng on 2010-06-08 19:47:11 I've never been there, but I assume that wall he's climbing up has coral, sponges, sharp rocks and he's doing it with no gloves or boots. Kind of makes you go, Hmmm?
Posted by resappraiser on 2010-06-08 19:12:58 My Thoughts Exactly!!! Thank you for mention this. 202m weight free-diving without fins... what a Joke!
Posted by Nicholas S. on 2010-06-08 13:53:56