On a sparkling, clear and calm day in early December, part-time Montreal model Kim Bruneau slipped into the ocean off the coast of Nassau in the Bahamas, wearing a pink tutu, setting her sights on a new Guinness World Record for underwater modelling.
“With this type of challenge, the model has the hardest part because I put my life in their hands,” Bruneau, 38, said from her Montreal home.
Bruneau, photographer Pia Oyarzun and a large team of helpers swam 130 feet down into the ocean. There, Bruneau removed her air tank and mask, holding her breath so Oyarzun could take photos of her posing for the world record. Every few minutes, an assistant brought over a tank so Bruneau could take in some air. Then she would hold her breath again, posing for the photographer.
In all, the team shot pictures at 130 feet for nine minutes. It set a new Guinness World record for deepest underwater modelling photoshoot.
“When you put your mind to something there is really no limit. They say the sky is the limit. The bottom of the ocean is the limit,” Bruneau said. “I removed my mask and the minute I remove my mask I no longer see anything, so it has to be full trust.”
After nine minutes the team started ascending, stopping as they went along to shoot pictures at various depths. In all, they shot for 37 minutes.
Oyarzun said safety is the biggest challenge to deep underwater shoots. And then she said posing at those depths without a mask or snorkel is a huge challenge.
“Posing underwater is extremely hard. Your body wants to go all over the place. You make faces while not breathing,” she said. “You could never tell Kim was at 130 feet. She was so relaxed and comfortable, you would think she was at 10 feet deep. I am still in shock. It still doesn’t sink into me because it’s a huge achievement.”
Bruneau’s epic shoot follows a long battle to get pregnant and have a baby. Bruneau struggled through infertility for years. After unsuccessful treatments in Montreal, she moved to Mexico, where she found a doctor she connected with. While undergoing fertility treatments there, she took up free diving and scuba diving.
“I went to Costo and I spent $50 on a mask and fins. I had never snorkelled before,” Bruneau said. “I dove into the water, it was like a world I had never known. There were fish everywhere. It was silent. My body was light and free. For a minute I did not feel any of the pain and hardships I was going through.”
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Documenting her journey on Instagram, Bruneau trained with a free-diving instructor in Mexico. She also got scuba certified, and started going on diving trips. She connected with Oyarzun, a photographer and scuba diver, and together they worked on some astonishing underwater shoots in the Bahamas, where Oyarzun is based.
While anxious about infertility, Bruneau never felt stressed under the water.
“I think that part of the reason I got pregnant is because I started diving,” she said. “I had tried everything. People were telling me healers, Chinese herbs, acupuncture. I did everything to relax. It was not working. When I was diving I felt so free. I felt weightless. It’s a different world. It is so unique you do not have time to think about life stress.”
Bruneau eventually met a doctor in Florida, so she moved there to continue her battle to get pregnant. Despite being told pregnancy was unlikely, soon after connecting with the doctor, Bruneau got pregnant. To mark the pregnancy, she and Oyarzun shot some underwater photos in the Bahamas.
“The diving was so significant in my journey, it had to be there and it had to be with Pia. The pictures came out beautifully and something I will never forget,” Bruneau said.
Bruneau finally gave birth to Ella in January. She hadn’t dived in a year and a half when she and Oyarzun decided to tackle the world record.
The shoot took place in early December in the Bahamas. Bruneau had only some practice sessions in a pool in Montreal to prepare for the photo shoot.
“It was a way to honour my fertility journey with Ella so it was kind of my best way to hang my fins for a while,” she said.
Oyarzun said she was thrilled to achieve the record, but beyond that, she was documenting Bruneau’s incredible journey to motherhood.
“More than the world record, we achieved something together. It has my heart full,” she said. “In the underwater photography and deep diving world, it’s a male-dominated area. I am like, yes, we did it, two boss girls. We did it.”
Bruneau hopes her journey through infertility and diving inspires others.
“There is no word to describe how amazing it is. I do not take it for granted because it took me so much work to get there.”
She says she’s disappointed infertility treatments are so expensive in Quebec, and hopes one day to be able to help women who can’t afford to get pregnant.
“Being a mother is the best thing in the world, and if it’s something you want you should be able to experience it,” she said.
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