Magical Photos of Babies Swimming Have Important Meaning

“I’m more of a dogs guy — I don’t have a baby,” admits Seth Casteel, the sharp-eyed shutterbug behind the new book, “ Underwater Babies.” That makes sense, as the Venice, Calif. resident is best known for his first two photography collections, “Underwater Dogs” and “Underwater Puppies,” which showcased playful images of swimming canines. But by working on those two books, Casteel tells Yahoo Parenting, he met lots of people with kids. And through those parents, he learned that a leading cause of accidental deaths for kids under 5 in the U.S. is drowning, and that the sooner you can teach a child to swim, the safer he or she will be. Casteel, 34, began attending infant swimming classes around the country — 18 swim schools in 10 states, in fact — and photographing more than 750 babies in the process. It taught him a lot about getting the shot. “Dogs are more interactive in terms of how to get the picture — they want to play,” he says. “With the babies, I’m more of just a documentarian. I’m not luring them to jump in and chase a ball.” Here, a sneak-peek of images from the new book.