I had been wanting to photograph someone in water for quite sometime before finally getting around to shooting it. I think my subconscious mind knew before my conscious mind as to why I waited so long to do this. I see now, that I had to overcome certain obstacles and life lessons about relationships and my own emotional and mental deficits first. While I'd like to say that I have arrived at some type of 'state of contentedness', I know there will always be more to come. More growing to do.
To me, water means cleansing, rejuvenation, renewal, fluidity of life, organic survival, freedom and transformation. This past year and a half has been a time of transformation for me, (well, for probably all of us). For me, it has encompassed it all, the good, the bad, the in-between and did I mention, the bad? I understand now why I felt compelled to shoot this. It started off in soft focus and slowly became razor sharp clear to the meaning behind this for me.
We need to be free and unencumbered from our pasts, cleansed from it to be our authentic selves. We need to be free and self sustaining. Free from complete dependency. Fluid in our understandings of ourselves & others and our unique capacities to evolve and change. We need to allow space for constant newness to forge, because we must always be moving and growing. Our unrelenting determination to survive life’s obstacles, brought on by ourselves, others and things beyond our control, grant us the opportunity and freedom to transform and grow as individuals.