Wild Swimmers

Some of these images were taken in the summer of 2019 where I spent a week as artist in residence at the Dartmoor Summer School of Photography in Devon. On the second day, a group of the participants got up early to take a swim in the icy cold waters of the River Dart, so I followed them down with my 8”x10” plate camera and portable darkroom. The wet collodion (ambrotype) process has a timeless and other-worldly quality, it seems at first that this could have been taken during the Victorian era, yet on second glance the modern bathing costumes bring you to the present day. There is a stillness to the scene, the women in the photograph appear distant yet relaxed, returning your gaze as if they have been discovered and interrupted during an intimate moment. As this project has progressed and with the emergence of COVID-19, I have begun to realise the importance of swimming in the rivers, being in nature and the link with physical and mental health – and so have the people I have started photographing. This picture was selected for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2020 and feels like the catalyst for a future project and I am excited to see where it leads.