A WATERPROOF BOOK ABOUT SWIMMING POOLS IS VERY ORIGINAL; HOW DID THE IDEA ARISE?
I've wanted to do this book for years, so I've been collecting great pool photographs for a while. In a way, you're hard-pressed to find a photographer who hasn't captured a pool at some point in their career. So many photographers have created fantastic pool imagery, often that we all know and love. Stephen Shore and Guy Bourdin are just two great examples. For the book, I wanted a real mix of photographers (young, old, celebrated, unknown) and also a blend of styles and genres, from fashion through to documentary. Part of the reason was to show how the swimming pool has remained a seductive place for photographers over the years. It may sound negative to call it a trope, but in a way, it is. Pool pictures litter the history of photography.
WHY ARE SWIMMING POOLS SO MEANINGFUL FOR YOU?
As a teenager, I was a competitive swimmer and would spend evenings and weekends at the pool. I write about this in my book:
"I learned the strange body arcs required of butterfly, the flicks of the tumble-turns, the fearlessness needed to keep on holding your breath, just for one more stroke, one more reach, one more second."
However, when I went to university, I stopped swimming entirely. I soon noticed that I'd developed a fear of the water. I felt anxious in the deep end and very aware of other shadows or forms. I have a very overactive imagination! To cure my fear, I began swimming regularly. Lakes, rivers, ponds, pools - it didn't matter - I'd get in. Now I’m something of an obsessive, and swim whenever I can.
TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS AND B.A.M. LONDON, THE DESIGN STUDIO YOU COLLABORATED WITH FOR THIS PROJECT.
I was thrilled to work with the team at B.A.M. on the design of POOLS. I've collaborated with them previously for other books and exhibitions, and they're exceptional! I knew I wanted the book to be playful yet beautiful, and the blue acetate cover encapsulates that mood. It makes the book simultaneously a gorgeous object, but also, something that could and should be found poolside (it's waterproof!). The wiggly rows of dots found on the end pages are another favourite detail, inspired by an old issue of Nest magazine (an experimental Shelter magazine which ran from 1997 to 2004). The B.A.M. boys took that reference and turned it into something completely new and great. A lot of little design details in the book nod to pool life - the recognisable aesthetics of the signage, the tiles, the symmetry.
