THE POOL STORY

My discovery of the Pool of Possibilities was as big for me as Hiram Bingham must have felt as he first explored Machu Picchu in Peru or when Jimmy Angel piloted his small plane over Angel Falls, Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world. In twenty-five years of world travels, I have witnessed and photographed both these places. As grand and exciting as they were, each in its own right, they did not stir my heart or take me to the depths of my soul in the same way as the Pool does. Here's how it all began:

The Resolve On the autumn equinox of 1999 (September 23rd) I calculated that there were exactly 100 days remaining in the Millennium. I vowed that I would do something significant with my camera everyday.

The Task Finding a block of time with my camera soon became a daunting task. I was in the midst of a cross-Canada promotional tour for my new book "W. O. Mitchell Country". The busiest days of all seemed to be when I was home preparing for the next leg of the journey. Late afternoons, as the September light gently waned and October light was rapidly shrinking, I would dart outside to photograph whatever caught my eye. On four or five occasions, the first thing I noticed was the pattern of reflections in the forty-foot swimming pool, right outside our patio door. When the water turned to solid ice, I often found myself focusing on the shapes created by the play of morning light on its ridges. I thought little of all this at the time and was happy to return to what I perceived to be my "real" work: preparing for the next trip and multi-media show.

The Epiphany In February 2000, with a more relaxed daily schedule, I reviewed the nearly 7500 slides I had acquired for the Hundred-Day Project. In choosing my top ten images, I was shocked to realize that they were all of the swimming pool! My backyard had won over national treasures such as Algonquin Park, the Canadian Rockies, the Pacific Coast, Vancouver Island and Niagara Falls! This epiphany led to some soul-searching questions. If a few minutes with the pool over several days could result in this body of work, what else was I missing - in the pool, in my photography, in my career, in my relationships and in my life? Thus began years observing, contemplating, photographing and learning from my pool - my inspiration, my teacher, my Muse.

View a sample of my e-calendar and gallery of Pool of Possibilities images: sample 

 

Purchase e-Calendar  See our Affiliate Program for Fundraising Opportunities

Top