About: Forty of Bruce Mozert's underwater images of "staged scenes with a twist" from the 1950s, captured at “Florida’s Original Tourist Attraction,” Silver Springs, feature attractive models performing aboveground activities such as reading a magazine, peering through a telescope and barbequing steak while under the crystal clear waters of the Silver River.
Upon returning from military service, Bruce Mozert (b. 1916) came to Silver Springs after World War II to work in its publicity department. The park, originally opening in 1878, had become a tourist mecca famous for its 99.8% pure headspring waters that remain at 72 degrees year round. In 1950 some 800,000 people visited Silver Springs to enjoy the natural wonders of the largest artesian spring in the world.
Mozert's staged underwater pictures at Silver Springs attracted a lot of attention, attaining him the title of chief photographer of the park, as well as a part of its marketing team.
Thousands of Mozert’s glossy 8”x10” prints were sent across the nation by wire services from the early 1940s through the 1970s making him one of the most published photographers at the time.