Meet Christine Ren of The Underwater Woman in Beverly Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Ren.

Christine, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was a professional dancer, who then pursued science and ultimately dove into filmmaking and media communications, as well as marketing. I’ve always loved the ability of a single image to capture a powerful story and after my Master’s degree in Marine Conservation, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head to bring all my loves together somehow: the ocean, conservation and performance art.

Eventually, through endless creative testing, I began to formulate the basis of that body of work with a narrative underwater photo series conveying ocean conservation as a human issue. Conceptual shooting lends me the ability to craft emotionally-evocative images that stand out from the crowd. I create narratives that people can truly see themselves in, connect to and desire to share widely and my art typically always has a social or environmental message interwoven.

Has it been a smooth road?
The challenges to do this type of work and pursue this creatively extreme of a life are manyfold. I don’t anticipate it ever to be a smooth road. I know what I’ve signed on for. I’m simply incapable of being anyway else.

To-date, I’ve self-funded the entire series and am now exploring various funding options and how to land this imagery and underwater performance work with maximal impact for leading conservation organizations. Further, working in an underwater medium is never easy because everything is in constant motion and you must work triple as long to nail a specific look, concept or pose. From a physical standpoint, I have to have precision control underwater including an extended breathhold and the ability to stay calm in extreme conditions.

When I first moved to California seven years ago, I landed a 9-5 position with an ocean policy agency that made me feel like I was drowning. I felt trapped and my had panic attacks for all of the three months I was there before taking a leap of faith to pursue my dream: film. With no prior experience other than being self-taught, I built a production company that grew and sustained me quite successfully though I wasn’t making work I was proud of.

Slowly my dream shifted to align my business-savvy with my environmental and social values. I embarked on building a social enterprise called Buchaholic, a bold line of Thai flavor-inspired kombucha teas to fund women’s education in the region of Northern Thailand. While launching this startup and juggling the production company, my underwater art series was also beginning to pick up traction.

Despite an incredible product with Buchaholic and much interest from customers and stores, Silicon Valley money was not interested to fund past a first seed capital stage. The technology boom has left investors expecting massive returns and small businesses in the dust.

I was unable to sell my production company to self-fund the next round of seed capital required to produce Buchaholic’s products at scale and in effect, lost absolutely everything I’d worked for the last four years. I left California with a single suitcase and my dog Jade. My second suitcase broke at the airport and I carried the salvaged items on the plane with me in a trash bag I begged from the kindly staff at Starbucks to let me have. It was not my finest hour.

After moving back in with my parents in Pennsylvania, working a $4/ hour job waitressing and applying for job jobs again, it took me an entire year to work up the courage to try – basically anything – again.

Because I’m likely certifiable crazy, I eventually did the scariest thing I could: after a year, I went back to California to write a new ending to that story.

Now I’m embarking on a new leap: merging underwater performance and cinematography for commercial and conservation pieces, along with teaching in small workshops and destination retreats. In my spare time, I write screenplays and short stories. Suffice it to say, my life’s been as opposite of a smooth road as it can get.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Underwater Woman – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
I’m known for my imaginative and meticulously choreographed underwater performances and conceptual photos. My work typically always carries a theme around ocean conservation and to-date have been featured by NatGeo, KQED, Fstoppers and more. I work to inspire other artists to use their art as a means of impact in the world as well. My website is TheUnderwaterWoman.com and I also host Underwater Play Days in the Los Angeles area that help humans flow. These events culminate in an underwater portrait session and are run every month.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that in Los Angeles no matter what time of day or night it is, there’s someone up dreaming their dream – whether that’s filming a movie, penning their novel or putting on a show. That energy is inspiring and infectious for me. People here believe harder than anywhere else in the world it seems.

I hate what everyone hates about LA though: the traffic.

Pricing:

• Underwater Play Day | Monthly full-day immersions in LA with underwater photoshoot | $300/ person
• Underwater Movement & Healing Retreat | Oct 8-13, 2019 | Koh Tao, Thailand | $1100/ person | Full details: http://www.theunderwaterwoman.com/workshops/koh-tao/

Contact Info:

• Website: http://theunderwaterwoman.com
• Email: me@theunderwaterwoman.com

Image Credit:
Brett Stanley, Justin Lutsky, Chiara Salomoni, Jose g. Cano

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.