Obsession Series / Pools

Pool Series (2002 - 2004)

I am a daily lap swimmer. The watery world is very much a part of my life. "Pool Series" catches the way things look through wet goggles: the refracted light, the wash of color, the abstract shapes and mysterious objects. Swimming removes me from everything I know. I disconnect from the world as I normally know it. Land noise is muted; parts of bodies are visible in the next lane - an outstretched arm, a head-strange shapes-all part of the experience, transporting me to a faraway, semiconscious state. 

These pictures were taken in Arizona. In Arizona I can catch the blue, blue sky; colors so saturated, they pull the viewer right in. Distortions and reflections are captured on 35 mm film, using no digital manipulation or special effects. 

The face-mounted, quarter-inch layer of nonglare acrylic enhances the feel and sensation of the watery look. The acrylic is a subtle tool for bringing the viewer into the wet, obscure world. The viewer is not conscious of the acrylic. The prints are borderless, mounted on aluminum. They hang out from the wall, further transmitting the swimmer's sense of boundless, unencumbered suspension. 

Each year, I try to catch that watery world in which I live. And, each year, as I change, my eye and my images change. Sometimes, photographs from one series will work with another. Sometimes, not. 

Photographing in the pool and through the water is a significant part of my artistic expression. The choice of materials, the size, the mounting takes these prints out of straight photography into the contemporary art world. These are not digital or manipulated images, but taken with 35mm, film cameras.