Portraits of the Plungers!
I've long been fascinated by the juxtaposition of the expected with the unexpected and for years, I've had this vision of people soaking and freezing from the ocean having their photograph taken against a hand-painted backdrop in a somewhat painterly style.
And then I found out about the Polar Bear Plunge in Santa Monica, a chilly dip into the Pacific Ocean the city does at the Annenberg Community Beach House in early January. And I kind of tried to ignore it but then I thought, you said you wanted to do this. Do it.
Very fortuitously, I got in touch with the man at the beach house who could actually make this happen, Heath Hamilton, and he did. Along with the talents of Blanca Venegas, also of the beach house, who wrangled our subjects, we did it.
Exactly what I wanted. It happened so easily it must have been meant to be.
I like the expressions, they make me happy. It was fun and these beautiful subjects created a little magic for my camera.