they are the sea
Your profound connection to the Ocean is crystal clear in your photographs. Being underwater together, I witnessed your body coming home as it merged with this greater body. Where do you think this natural blending stems from?
The pureness of it. The unpredictability. You can’t enter the water with any expectations. There’s this constant lightness of not having any control. Even though you set everything up perfectly, you can be on that boat, you can be riding that perfect pocket of a wave that’s about to break. But you really don’t know what it’s gonna do in the end. Not having a choice, I think that is what I love. The uncertainty. The randomness. Always something you never quite expect.
If we desire to capture the essence of our subject, we need to adjust our pace to her nature. This requires incredible attention and patience…
It’s not always gonna go your way, especially when you’re working with nature. You just have to be able to flow with it. It’s a very fine line, letting things happen and pushing for things you believe in. It’s all about staying pure to who you are while trying to grow and move forward.
Looking through the viewfinder, we have such a concentrated view of reality, it’s easier to perceive a moment of un-pureness. Do you sometimes sense yourself stopping from clicking the shutter when that happens?
Yes, for sure, it happens all the time, especially when shooting models. I’m all about capturing that true feeling. I learned to see the difference by photographing children and wildlife - they taught me how to recognize purity (and so much more).
It’s about being able to take off all those layers we built up over the years. The way children see everything new for the first time, every single time - that’s ultimately the goal.
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Once you figure out what gives you purpose. Invest in that purpose, invest in your tree of life.
From there, take small steps, one step at a time. Take steps into unknown spaces, be open to wherever they might take you.
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Purity/Nudity… Before we created together you weren’t too experienced with photographing the nude human form…
It was a completely new experience, I had no reference, I never looked at other peoples imagery of nude art. I think I never tried it because it seemed so taboo, the notion around it gave it a negative connotation. It wasn’t until our first experiment that I learned the amount beauty it can bring to an image. Honestly, in a way it was life-changing… Capturing a clothed person in nature is not as fun, not as pure. “So thank you for that” laughs.
Yesterday we finally manifested the vision that brought us together, swimming with sharks, completely naked without any gear. Our intensive free-dive training turned this daunting experience into an effortless meditation.
I’m so happy you the got to experience this, it’s only a select amount of people who truly get to look below the surface and truly witness how these animals live their lives. It’s so humbling to see these prehistoric creatures move the way they do, and allow us humans to be in a space with them, a space we are not actually meant to exist in.
Sharks are very welcoming animals. You sense an unlimited amount of forgiveness. Humans sometimes tend to take advantage of that. Instead, observe that forgiveness. Acknowledge it. Learn from it.
