Katharine Kollman
Freediver, PFI Freedive Instructor, Safety Diver, Analog & Digital Photographer, Creative Director, Darkroom Specialist
self portrait on FujiGW690II
Katharine Kollman is a free dive instructor and film photographer based in Honolulu, HI. Her work explores the magic and mystery of our oceans, using primarily black and white film to capture the textures and shapes that characterize the otherworldly nature of underwater landscapes. Katharine’s background in diving and teaching make her uniquely qualified to create intentional photos in a transient, mutable environment such as the ocean. She often collaborates with other divers in her community, interested in how humans engage with our world below the surface. Katharine is a creator from start to finish of the process, as she also develops and prints her film using her own at-home darkroom.
Katharine currently lives on the island of O’ahu, Hawai’i. She is a freediving instructor through Performance Freediving International (PFI), and is scheming a future full of travel, teaching, and shooting off rolls all across the globe.
She is available for classes & collaborations anywhere in the world.
casse-cou - /kasku/ French, meaning “daredevil”, or “reckless person”
the term stems from “casser le cou”, which literally translates, “to break the neck”
Having started learning French at an early age, and pursued it through university, the language is close to Katharine’s heart. She began sharing photography on social media several years ago, and unsure of where it would go, used a “nom de plume”, a pen name, instead of her own.
“Casse-c0u” became a sort of artistic alter-ego, providing a means to detach from that self-doubt, and become someone who was confident in their work and sharing it publicly.
“La mer imite le bruit du bonheur”… “the sea imitates the sound of happiness”
— Régis Jauffret
Photos by Perrin James, Lenny Kaholo, Estelle Wild, Terry Flanagan