The Secret Life of Swimmers: Trois Nageuses Françaises Part Deux (finally)

When I first saw these lovely ladies at the pool, I was intrigued by the fact that they were French, and because they always swam together. It was never just one or two of them, but always the trio. I was curious about their lives and who they were.

(Carine, Géraldine and Armelle)

They never arrive at the pool with a ton of equipment, just the essentials: nice bikinis and the ability to swim breaststroke. They pretty much adhere to the European approach to swimming, but without the zigging and zagging. (In most European pools, the concept of circle swimming is woefully non-exisistent.) No, they fit right in. Except they are far more slinky than most of the women at the pool, which, I suppose, is directly related to being French. (All those baguettes, bottles of wine and chunks of cheese make the pounds just fly right off--if you're French.)

After a few weeks of seeing them come and go, I decided I had to approach them. When I finally had an opportunity tell them about my project they agreed to be part of it. Armelle, Géraldine and Carine all met here in the US through the French ex-pat community. They are all busy moms, raising many kids. I think between them there are 9 kids, and of course, the various stray family members who come to stay with them. Setting up the second shoot wasn’t not easy. Between the holidays, travel, families and schedules it took a few months.

(beautiful children not taking directing but having fun)

We met at Armelle’s back yard one Sunday. I think the ladies were concerned that the kids would not sit still, but there’s only one great way to photograph kids--let them be kids. They ran around, jumped, posed, and were delightful, beautiful children. When they were finally tired from all the excitement, we got down to business of taking the pictures and I had the opportunity to capture some really nice moments with the kids as well as my lovely French friends.