Last Saturday I had a rather unusual assignment to cover the 2010 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships hosted by my Alma-mater, the University of Houston. As I prepared for the event I realized that out of all the things I have shot in the past and out of all the sports I have shot in the past, I had never shot a swim meet or competition diving. For years I had seen great swim meet photos from local newspaper photographers all the way up to the Olympics, but never had I shot it myself.

So I called some friends for some inspiration.

A few told me that it would be dark and damp (it was) and that I should bring in some lights to light the place up. I would have, but there was little time and the Campus Recreation Center where the meet was being held was a little hard to navigate. Since the competition pool is sandwiched between the dive pool and a training pool, angles for shooting are pretty slim. Even though the conditions were not ideal for photographs I enjoyed myself. I must say, I have complete respect for someone who can swim 66 non-stop laps in an Olympic-sized pool, not to mention one who wins that heat.

After I had made plenty of proper (and identifiable) images of swimmers leaving the block, celebrating, etc, I decided to play around a bit and shoot some more abstract stuff from the venue. With the obligation of identifying the schools and individual swimmers behind me, I felt inspired to follow my instincts and shoot a series of images that played with the color of the water and the natural motion of the event.