Over the course of the winter, I found myself settling into feelings and experiences of the past seasons, years, and cycles that manifested in different written and visual expressions. I enjoy transmitting what I feel in the water through video and photo and sometimes I create a story from an idea, an inspiration, a mood which may evolve into words...
I began the Driftwood Series in Menorca when hiking around the perimeter of this beautiful Spanish Mediterranean island with my partner from 30 Sept to 9 Oct 2021 on the Camí de Cavalls hiking trail. I swam every day, often multiple times, in the enchanting aqua waters. Huge quantities of impressive driftwood on Menorca's north side ...
Blue. Green. Tree. Breath. Arm. Hand. Bubbles. Sun. Moon. Sometimes when I'm open water swimming, with my mind full of thoughts and I want to clear it, I turn to elementals like primary colors. Single words for single moments. I turn my head to breathe, life giving agent, and there is the Sky. Cloud. Pink. Sun. S...
On 8 June 2021, by coincidence World Ocean Day, I began an unexpected, marvelous friendship with an octopus I began to call Mof (My Octopus Friend). Even though we only had 14 encounters together until she simply vanished after 24 June, I know that these unique moments of wondrous connection, communication and co-creation of a familiar bond, even f...
I made this short video after a sunrise immersion in a calm pool in late March 2021. The immersive experience was not just in the water but in the entire tidepool environment where stillness and observation helped open my eyes to the many wonders always around us but which often go unperceived due to our inability to 'see'. I'm aware I've only...
Empowerment. This photo captures for me what 180 days immersing myself in the cold Atlantic at dawn has done for me. I see a strong woman in that photo taken in dawn's glorious light next to my favorite changing rock that has become my shadow play backdrop. In this photo I sense and feel strength, confidence, openness, power an...
Broken glass conjures images of accidents, bad luck, sharp shards, danger, cutting, negativity. But when broken glass is polished by the sea, over many years, it can become a thing of great beauty and recycled into art or simply a delightful object to focus on when beach combing. When dry, it is lovely, yet hides its beauty. When wet, it ...
It's hard to imagine nature mirroring more profoundly a common mental, inner process than this morning's walk and swim in the sea. Who doesn't experience 'mental fog' from time to time, ie, a lack of clarity, vision or feel overwhelmed by doubt? This sequence of four photos focused on the same view show my descent into the fog....
Swimming at dawn also signifies for me swimming towards the light, ie, towards discovery, inner understanding as well as simply being, experiencing joy and living in the moment. At the same time there is an implicit swimming away from something - the dark, the night, the doubt, the hidden, unclear parts of th...
The idea of La belle sauvage or the wild beauty came to me as I looked at my footprints disappearing into the tide pool. Then the words, "....and then she was gone" came into my mind. And, "Where does she go?" Like my footprints, creative ideas emerged from within tiptoeing out into my watery magical world where I have found such joy...
They say that the bodies of drowning victims float to the surface on the 9th day. Yesterday was day 9 for the two 20-year-olds missing somewhere in the waters just off the coast where I swim. They lost a paddle while kayaking on a very windy day with cold, heavy, choppy wave action. A day even the local fisherman stayed in port. Atte...
Bubbles captured at sunrise amidst the liquid aqua as I float and feel myself adrift in the sea's power. That's my desire; to merge with the aqua atoms and feel myself enveloped in the substance invisible to the naked eye. I like how this camera (Olympus T3) allows me to slow down the rushing movement that I somehow instinctively feel whe...
Despite being July, a stiff, cool breeze greeted me as I set out for the sea. A few high clouds sat in the eastern sky, the sun yet to rise, the long familiar ridge now a knife-cut silhouette. Bird song filled the air, gulls flew high in the sky and small black birds looked for snails and slugs along the pathway as usual hopping down the path ...
