What the Water Shows Us

Sunlight illuminating through the water

Every time I photograph someone underwater, the same amazing thing happens.

They arrive nervous. Maybe they're worried about their body, or about holding their breath, or about looking silly. I understand, because I've felt all of it. Then they go under, and something shifts. The nerves melt. The laughing starts. Suddenly, a grown woman is twirling like a six-year-old, blowing bubbles, reaching for the light, completely unselfconscious and completely herself.

I have watched this happen in every single session, and it never gets old. It might be my favorite part of what I do.

I've been a photographer for over twenty years. I love this work, but I'll be honest: underwater gave me a whole new lease on my creativity. I'm in the second half of my forties, in a new chapter of life, and this is the art that woke me up again.

Part of what I love is what water does to everything. At the water's edge, the world bends and warps. Light fractures. Fabric floats where it wants to. Hair becomes its own element in the frame. I can't control any of it, and I've come to treasure that. After two decades of making things happen behind a camera, it's a gift to work in a place where I have to let go.

Underwater Session in my private spring in Tampa

So before every shoot, I take a quiet moment and hand it over. I ask what each client is meant to see about herself, and I try to stay out of the way. I can't plan that part or predict it. But time and again, the images show something the person didn't expect: a strength, a softness, a joy she'd forgotten she had.

That's what I hope these portraits are. They aren't about perfecting anyone. They're about revealing someone.

This blog is where I'll think out loud about all of it: the art and craft of working underwater, growing as a creative in midlife, aging and being a woman in this season, and making peace with the body we live in. I'm not writing from the other side of anything. I'm writing from the middle, which has turned out to be a pretty wonderful place to be.

If you've been waiting for permission to play, to be seen, or to start something new, consider this your nudge.

The water's warmer than you'd think. :)