"I'm Aldara. I've been shooting underwater since 2010, and honestly, being underwater saved me.While starting my artistic career in New York, I lost access to my painting studio. That loss pushed me to work entirely from my computer, and instead of mixed media projects and oil paintings, I dove into underwater photography. I made it my sanctuary from the overwhelm of the city. Submerged beneath the surface—in city pools, during travels to Miami, anywhere I could find water—I discovered a profound sense of release, support, serenity, and freedom. I wanted to hold onto that feeling and bring it into every part of my life.I studied fashion design in Madrid, but I've always been drawn to all kinds of artistic creation—especially involving the female body. As a woman and an artist, I'm fascinated by how much we hold at once: strength and vulnerability, sensuality and power, grace and raw emotion. My photography celebrates that complexity—the full spectrum of what it means to inhabit a female body.That surface reflection in most of my images? That's my signature. I love how it creates this mirror between worlds, where everything doubles and transforms. The colors are just as intentional. I experiment with light, body, and water, working each area of a photograph individually the way a painter builds up a canvas. People always tell me my work looks like paintings—they even call it that. That's exactly what I'm going for. I call it "painting with light."These are emotional self-portraits. I'm deeply connected to my subject during each shoot—I feel what they're feeling. It's almost like transferring emotions between us, and that's what you see in the frame. Inspired by my passion for dance, I bring that emotion and energy into the water.Every shoot is spontaneous. We have a concept in mind, but I never know what I'm going to get—there's always an element of surprise. The model and I hold our breath at the same time. I've shot everywhere: swimming pools, oceans, cenotes, open water across the Caribbean and Mediterranean.​Different series explore different ideas—What Would You Rather Be? looks at perception, Coral Dream dives into color and coral formations in the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (Roatán), Freedom in Confinement plays with paradox. But it all comes back to the same question: How does water transform us? What happens when we surrender to it?That's what I thrive creating—the transformative energy of water, inviting you to connect with its profound emotional resonance."