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Freedivers drink coffee with sharks in staged underwater photo

Two men sit casually in white chairs, legs crossed, holding cups of coffee, a lamp glowing on a nearby table and sharks circling over their heads.

These models dressed in jeans and buttoned shirts might look like they're enjoying a coffee break, but in fact they're 30 metres underwater, posing while holding their breath, according to CNN. And the sharks are real.

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Photographer Lia Barrett told CNN she was shooting photos of the Caribbean Cup freediving competition in May where extreme athletes dove off the coast of Honduras, plummeting 90 metres or more into the Caribbean Sea using only the power of their lungs.

She decided to recreate ordinary scenes deep underwater, such as a biking excursion at the bottom of the sea, and the surreal scene of coffee with the sharks.

She told CNN the freediving models, Walid Boudhiaf and Esteban Darhanpe, posed for nearly an hour while helpers gave them oxygen every few minutes. Although they seem at ease immersed in water, freediving is a dangerous sport.

The absence of oxygen tanks and pressure deep underwater put divers at risk of blackouts and death.

One of the safety divers for the competition, Soren Frederiksen, blogged about travelling from Toronto to Honduras this year, where he helped set up, monitor and stood by in case anyone needed rescue.

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He wrote there weren't many blackouts this year, perhaps because the divers weren't feeling too stressed.

Maybe that's because they remembered to take their coffee breaks.