Water Babies: Photographer Captures Children Swimming Underwater For The First Time

Letting your baby swim underwater for the first time can seem really scary – but in actuality it’s something that comes perfectly naturally to tiny tots.

They’ve been encased in a bag of liquid in the womb for nine months, after all.

But that first submerge still makes for some pretty incredible photos, as photographer Seth Casteel has realised. Having previously photographed the amazing faces dogs pull when swimming underwater, he turned his attention to babies and got some pretty incredible end results.

The photos star in his new book Underwater Babies and showcase hundreds of different babies venturing underwater for the first time.

But despite the cute element to each photo, there’s a serious message behind the photographs.

“A big reason I wanted to make this book is to promote the cause of water safety for babies,” Casteel, who was inspired to create the book after hearing of how many children drown, told Today.com.

He attended numerous different water safety classes for babies at swimming pools across the US and snapped over 750 babies to create his book.

“I just want to let people know about the benefits of these classes and that they are something to strongly consider,” said Casteel.

Here in the UK, there are plenty of safe classes that your baby can learn to swim at. Water babies, Turtle Tots and Puddle Ducks are just a few classes that have franchises across most of the UK, offering safe lessons for parents and babies to attend.

Underwater Babies by Seth Casteel, £14.99, is published by Headline and out now.

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