Diving 27 meters underwater , the light turns a deep , hazy blue . Emerging from the darkness , three ballerinas in white tutus stretch their legs on the deck of a sunken military ship . It 's not a ghostly apparition but one of a series of haunting photographs displayed in the only underwater gallery of its kind in the world . The 12 sumptuous images of everyday scenes -- from a housewife hanging out washing to a teenager watching TV -- take place against the eerie backdrop of sunken ship USNS General Hoyt S.Vandenberg . The 10,000 ton ship -- located off the coast of Florida -- functions as both the backdrop in these evocative photographs and , for a time , the gallery wall on which they 're hung . `` Divers must have been checking their oxygen levels to make sure they were n't seeing things , '' said Jed Dodd , executive director of The Studios of Key West , which showed the Vandenberg Project exhibition . `` Diving is already a dreamlike experience and I think these images really correspond with what people imagine an underwater world might look like . '' Viennese artist Andreas Franke , who worked as an advertising photographer for more than 20 years , took the powerful images while on a diving exhibition last year . Sunk just off Key West , an island in the Straits of Florida , in 2009 , the Vandenberg is the second-largest artificial reef in the world , attracting a diverse range of marine animals and plant life . But before her most recent reincarnation as a divers ' paradise , the historic vessel cruised the waves as a U.S. transport ship during World War II . It was this rich history that gave Franke the inspiration for his unique World War II era scenes . The 45-year-old artist used specialist underwater cameras to capture the ship , before heading back to the studio to photograph models in 1940s and 1950s costumes . The retro scenes were then superimposed over the top of the Vandenberg , creating an eerie underwater world frozen in time . `` It 's like bringing the Vandenberg back to life , '' Franke said . `` It 's a huge empty ship with fish swimming around -- at 27 meters below the surface , the sunlight is this beautiful blue green color . I shot the models in the studio with the same lens , so the images matched . '' Around 10,000 divers visited the underwater exhibition and now , after four months sitting on the ocean floor , the unique pictures have come up for air , displayed in their first exhibition on land . Despite being protected between two sheets of plexiglass and sealed with silicon in a steel frame , the images were not left completely untouched by the ravishes of the ocean . The all-pervasive sea water still left its mark , seeping into the frames and discoloring them with salt stains and algae . `` When we brought the photographs to the surface we found all this growth on them -- it 's a third dimension on top , '' Franke said . `` The sea life had created new images . It 's very cool , they almost look like Polaroids . '' The remarkable pictures , worth up to $ 30,000 , had crossed the realm from photographs to performance art , said Dodd . `` The extra layer of growth tells the story of their voyage to the bottom of the seabed , '' he added . `` When they were first brought into the gallery and unpacked , this intense smell went through the building like a windstorm . They feel like living objects . '' While the Vandenberg photographs attract art lovers on land , Franke 's latest underwater project is bewitching divers again -- this time off the coast of Barbados . Displayed on the sunken SS Stavronikita , the 12 new images depict Renaissance aristocracy gallivanting in a palatial underwater setting . Much like the Vandenberg , Franke superimposed the baroque scenes on top of the former 1950s Greek freighter , where they are now displayed . `` The shipwreck has been down there 35 years so there 's this wonderful , overwhelming growth and coral , '' Franke said . `` If you look at the elaborate hairstyles of the models it fits pretty well with this surrounding . '' They may appear pristine now , but if the Vandenberg is anything to go by , the lavish ladies of the Stavronikita may not be so picture perfect when they finally come up for air . Get the latest news from CNN.com .
World 's only underwater photo gallery on sunken ship attracts 10,000 divers . Haunting images aboard sunken WW2 vessel , The Vandenberg . Mother nature leaves mark on images , now displayed in gallery on land . Score: 6