This piece was constructed to show the moments of swimming: one hand, one school of fish, one bit of brain coral at a time. I collected my swimming hands, and then, since there was film left in my Fuji disposable underwater camera, I took various pictures of my boys snorkeling. Initially, I approached this work as with the mountaineering series, wanting to document the moment-by-moment observations. But with swimming, unlike with walking, ones view is always, simultaneously, the greater view. The movement of the body is in synch with the scene to be visually explored. When I arranged my one-hour photos, I slowly added in images of the boys as I took out images of the hands and found that the movement was still present, though the concentration became distracted. I slipped into the story. I scanned the photos, then used digital imaging software to adjust the color. They are printed on Bergger Archival Cotton paper, on an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 printer.

Stand back and one gets the impression of the movement of swimming, one hand stretched out after the other. Get close and one becomes the swimmer, seeing beyond the hands. The hands at times become like shells, transformed by the presence of the environment. Within this environment enter the figures: unobserved, observed, playing, interacting, leaving. Two images are without the hand, creating a separation. One, the solo figure of the boy with the Speedo, diving, and the other, with the two boys together, exploring. Though I have created a context for my boys, we are at the time in our lives when my actual presence is becoming removed.