So I went to a kids’ swim school and got half a dozen other babies in the water.

I thought, “Man, it’s such a dick shot!” His unit was so prominent in the picture … he’s a well hung kid for a four-month old, you know? I didn’t know if the label would go for it. But when I looked at it more closely I had some doubts. That’s the thing about old-school photography – as a pro, you have to know that you’ve got it before you leave. It took an hour to set up and five minutes to do. Put him in – bang, bang, bang, bang, bang – he starts to cry, “OK, we’re done!” We ended up with about 25 frames. Mum pulls him out, he’s cool, so we go again. Dad gave him a small shove, he drifted by the camera – bang, bang, bang, bang, bang – I shot off five frames.

Then we took the little guy, blew a little air into his face and eased him into the water. I had a snorkel and an underwater camera on a tripod. I think I got $1,000 to shoot it – that was for everything, including the gear and the cost of another rescue diver.

Nirvana nevermind cover photographer