Water Geomaids: The beauty of synchronised swimming

Brad Walls’s latest aerial project has been inspired by the lack of existing synchronised swimming photography.

He said: “I was surprised at the lack of imagery capturing the shapes and patterns that synchronised swimmers create.” 

Having already photographed the arts of diving, gymnastics, tennis and ballet, he knew the hybrid sport aligned perfectly with his work.

The fine art photographer teamed up with a Sydney-based synchronised swimming team, choreographed by Katrina Ann, a former athlete, who has competed at the Commonwealth Games and in multiple world championships.

The ideas process grew from the combination of many artistic sports, which inspired Walls to draw out the geometric shapes he wanted to create in the pool. Walls collaborated with Ann closely in order to bring the drawings to life. 

His shoots are meticulously outlined beforehand. However, speaking on whether you can plan 100 per cent of the process, he said: “No matter the amount of planning that goes into it, there will always be an unplanned frame that looks awesome and couldn’t possibly have been planned. That is the embodiment of art.”

Ann spoke about how happy she was that Walls was able to showcase her team’s hard work, which she feels is “often lost to the naked eye.”

The award-winning photographer plans to curate a collection of his sports images from the past few years into a book.

For more of Brad Walls’s work, visit bradscanvas.com or his Instagram page here