Damn I love swimming.
As an Australian, the water is key to daily pleasure. It’s really hot in most of Australia for most of the year and finding a way to cool off is essential.
I grew up inland and far from the coast. Fresh water was the place to be. The cool, muddy, mysterious liquid. We would spend hours swimming in a dam over mid year breaks despite the water being freezing. We learnt to water ski on rivers and dams at a young age which is still one of the strangest things I know how to do.
One year I attended a camping festival set along an inland river in the height of summer. The flies were bad, but the water was delightful. Part of the daily ritual was getting naked and covering yourself in mud. Amazing.
The norm for every town, small or otherwise is a pub, a racetrack, a bakery and an outdoor olympic sized swimming pool. It’s a daily ritual for many Australians to wake up early and hit the laps.
When I lived in Sydney during my 20’s the pool options were fantastic. The Bondi Icebergs Club was incredible. A 50 metre pool built on the side of the ocean rock cliff, filled with natural sea water. It was a spectacular place to make your lengths with the promise of a cold beer up in the clubhouse afterwards (or a dip in the actual ocean at Bondi Beach). Swimming at The Bondi Icebergs is up there as one thing I miss most.
Now, as much as I love a swimming pool, there’s really no comparing getting into the ocean.
I’m looking for a photo here which would be this scene from my childhood… myself and my 2 sisters sharing the shade of an umbrella with my dad and his esky of beer, on a beach after being crash tackled by waves for hours. Mum would be on the side suntanning reading a glossy.
This was the moment we lived for the entire year….our one month caravanning holiday to Woolgoolga on the north coast of NSW. This trip was my fathers pride and joy. The ultimate relax vacation. The caravan itself with modifications for fun and enjoyment, the actual shrimp on the bbq dinners, the board games when it rained, but mostly the swimming.
This holiday was all about the beach. All about learning to swim in the ocean. How to body surf, how to swim out past the breakers and how to read a riptide and learn when the water didn’t look safe and maybe today would be about playing tennis instead.
My dad was a strong swimmer. He got us into that ocean and coached our confidence. Years later I would show off as a young adult by heading into the ocean late at night and swimming out there in the dark. Something I would be too scared of doing now.
Abraham playing on a beach in QLD, 2017.
Abraham and Nyra, QLD, 2017
Meanwhile….in Canada I have found a new annual water highlight. Swimming in the lakes of Algonquin.
A different kind of swimming. It’s dark, it’s deep, it’s cold, it’s beautiful.
Once a year a special trip is planned to get into that backcountry and it is so amazing. I crave getting my body (nude) into that lake.
The trip is also about making photographs with film. The natural beauty of the water is always a recurring theme. It is a little ritual to continue making pictures on these trips. I have a few rolls from last year which may be getting processed tomorrow! I can’t wait to discover what surprises await on those rolls of film.
Gunnel Bobbing, Algonquin, 2012
Shot with the Holga Camera
With Jane, contemplating the waters of Algonquin, 2012.
Because we head into back country camping where you are quite alone and private on your site, nudity is on. It’s actually one of my favourite things to be able to swim nude. I have not yet met anyone who would not agree to this sentiment.
Having said that I do own a collection of vintage bathers and I am partial to the speedo costume, but I digress….
St. Mary’s Quarry, ON,
Quarry swimming is another special experience.
This summer I have been doing my best to get into the water at any opportunity and to teach Abraham the joy of swimming. Tonight we are going on a boat ride and I’m sure I’ll jump in somewhere out in the open lake north of the city (wearing my bathers)!
Abraham swimming in Nottawasaga Bay this summer, 2021
I’m also considering that my portrait making could be done more with water backdrops. It just looks so good. More often than not I head to a park for the location for portraits but now I’m in the mind of the water beauty.
Keep a check on my instagram feed as I continue to post water themed imagery this week.
See you in the lake! xoxo Phillipa