Hamilton photographer earns third deep dive world record

Steve Haining pulled off a model shoot past the decompression zone at a shipwreck in Florida that has been recognized by Guinness. 

A circling shark, a jellyfish sting, eight-foot waves, and the ever-present threat of decompression sickness did not sink Hamilton photographer Steve Haining’s quest for a third Guinness world record. 

Haining, Brantford-born model Ciara Antoski and a safety diver Wayne Fryman are named on the record for the deepest underwater model photoshoot at 49.8 metres (163.4 feet). They achieved the record at a shipwreck off Pompano Beach, Florida on Dec. 19.

For context, the deepest a dive master is allowed to go is 39.6 metres (130 feet). But with a team of highly trained technical divers, Haining pulled off the greater depth.

Haining previously achieved records at shipwrecks in Tobermory, Ont. at 23.6 metres (77 feet) in June 2021 and then 30 metres (98 feet) in September 2023.

Haining has only been diving for about 10 years after taking a learn to scuba dive course for tourists in the Dominican Republic. He was hooked and has since advanced through many levels of diving. He is now licensed as a technical diver and that allows him to go past decompression range.

The underwater work began as a joke between Haining and Antoski – both recently certified divers – during the shutdowns of the pandemic when it seemed the safest way to shoot together was with breathing tanks for scuba diving. So they started practising in a pool.

They went to Tobermory and did a shoot for fun. There was no intention to set a record and Haining and the team only realized they had when Guinness reached out and asked for documentation. 

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Prior to this latest dive at the site of the Hydro Atlantic shipwreck, a 90-metre long sea dredger, built in 1905 that sunk as it was being brought to the Florida Keys to become a natural reef, both Haining and Antoski had to go through an additional year of technical training in gas blending and decompression practice. 

After months of precise planning, the shoot had to be delayed a day due to high swells. 

And then once the dive was underway, there were plenty of challenges to overcome.

“In normal circumstances, there’s mooring tied to the wreck you can clip off to in order to have a direct line to the wreck, but because the highest point of the wreck was actually deeper than most professional divers could go, there was no mooring,” Haining told HAMILTON CITY Magazine from his winter home in Florida.

So he had to descend to attach a safety line between the dive boat and the wreck. When he did that, he realized that people baiting and fishing the water had attracted a massive tiger shark to the area. 

By the time he and his safety diver had surveyed the wreck to find the right location for the shoot, the shark was gone. But another problem arose. One of the tank bolts on Haining’s air tanks snapped and when he tried to fix it, he got stung by a jellyfish. 

“I've never had that happen in my life before. It felt like a million paper cuts,” he says.

“Ultimately, by the time we all got to the shipwreck all the issues had resolved themselves and the shoot was perfect.”

Check out a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot

Highly accomplished technical diver and trainer Mareesha Klups, of Toronto, served as a rescue diver on the latest shoot. She was the model on the Tobermory shoot, when she wore a dress with a 15-foot train, held her breath for extended periods and posed on the bow of Niagara II, an intentionally sunk dive site in 6 C water. 

About 16 minutes in, Klups began to convulsively shiver, so the team made its ascent. But Haining was happy with the shots, though being in the cold, murky water made it difficult to bring out colours.

The shoot caused a buzz in the diving world and in the photography world, Haining says.

“There was a really cool race to the bottom with people trying to hit that 130 feet for 10 minutes. Because as an experienced diver, 130 feet for a maximum of, say, eight to 10 minutes is your limit.” 

Haining’s plans for a deeper shoot in the decompression zone began almost immediately. 

Each of the record-making dives have required detailed planning and a ton of gear, including lights and camera housings that can handle the water pressure. 

And to qualify for a Guinness record, the shoots had to be at least eight minutes long, with depths and durations verified by dive computers and videos. 

The depth achieved on the latest dive is dangerous for a couple of reasons. Descend too fast and you risk narcosis, which can lead to unconsciousness or something similar to a drunken stupor. 

“Once you get to that 100 foot, even 80, you'll feel it. And you might not realize you feel it, but you do, and as you might just hit you really heavy one time,” says Haining. “The slang they call it is the martini effect. So every atmosphere you go down, so every 33 feet, is like drinking a martini as you go down. So it can get potentially really bad.”

Move up through the water too fast and divers experience decompression sickness (the bends), which can result in everything from joint pain and rashes to paralysis and death. To offset that, the divers had to make planned stops for extended periods at various depths to spend time breathing different mixtures of gases from their tanks. 

Haining says the success of the record attempt comes down to a talented team of experienced divers (a total of six although only three are on the record) and careful planning.

“We had backup plans for our backup plans.”

Haining and his wife, a singer, split their time between Florida and Stoney Creek. He grew up in downtown Hamilton and his mom was a photographer and developed negatives in a photo store. So, from a young age, he had a film camera in his hands and he documented his life and those around him. 

Photography became a “career by accident.” He was a graphic designer for the federal fisheries and oceans ministry at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters but in his spare time, he toured as a musician and took photos of bands for record labels and music media outlets.

He eventually left his job to do photography fulltime and launched his company, CreateOf, in 2015. He has a list of major brand clients and travels extensively for his editorial and commercial work. 

Haining has moved into film work, too, serving as director of photography on commercials, music videos and corporate videos and in 2019 was both director and director of photography for feature documentary The Long Ride Home. It has won awards in festivals worldwide. His first horror film Lianne is now on Amazon Prime.

When he’s not shooting for clients, Haining makes a point of visiting remote and arctic schools and juvenile detention centres all over Canada to teach photography and videography.

He and his technical dive team are already talking about the next deep-water challenge.

“I just want to take some time to enjoy the photos from this shoot before I think too much about another one.”

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