While I'm not a speedy swimmer (or speedy anything, for that matter) I've always been quite confident in the water - mostly due to having a mother who was a swimming teacher, and who introduced me to the water when I was far too young to be nervous of it.
When I spotted some stunning photographs of the lovely Lindy Pieri (a beautiful model of my acquaintance) taken in the unique Tankspace venue, I commented that I'd love to give it a go. The cost of a directly-booked session was somewhat beyond my budget - a solo two hour shoot costs £350. However, a few weeks after commenting on Lindy's post, she dropped me a line to say that her photographer, the magical Halo, was booking the tank for the whole day and selling 45 minute slots for £70. Despite being a three-hour drive away in Northants, I decided it was a chance not to be missed.
I then put up a Facebook shoutout to see if any other friends fancied sharing the journey / petrol / experience, and happily Dawn decided to join in. We shared the most wonderful day, booked adjacent slots, took it in turns to dive / change costumes to make best use of the time, and had an absolute ball.
The trickiest bit is the buoyancy. I am a natural 'floater' (something to do with large front-mounted waterwings?!) and keeping myself low enough in the tank is quite a feat. The process is to breathe in through the nose, but then exhale through the mouth as you descend - if you keep lungs full of air you just stay bobbing on the surface. Not very photogenic. Trying not to strangle oneself in scarves, drop props, or breathe in a lungful of water on emerging are all interesting challenges. However, by the end of the session, both Dawn and myself loved it and only wanted to have another go. There's no question of if we return to TankSpace - only when!
I took two costumes - a red evening dress and my (last worn in 1995) wedding dress. As a last-minute thought, I also took my favourite rainbow dungarees, and sneaked in a quick five-minute dive at the end of the session, also using the hoop (last encountered in my 'budgie-hooping' attempts a few years ago).
The Tankspace staff and Halo the photographer were delightful, friendly and reassuring; the tank itself was beautifully warm, as were the loos and changing room; the whole experience was empowering, amazing and magical.
I couldn't have been better pleased with the results. We had to wait for a couple of weeks until Halo had had a chance to sort, choose and edit from a day-long session, but they arrived on 30 December (the shoot was on 16 December), and as my husband put it, I didn't stop smiling for the rest of the evening.
It's a tough choice, but I think this is my favourite shot:
- the whole set can be seen here.
What a fantastic end to the year.
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