brad walls captures synchronized swimmers from above

just in time for the 2021 summer olympic games in tokyo, sydney-based aerial photographer brad walls — also known as bradscanvas — has unveiled a new series titled water geomaids. featuring an intimate and unique perspective on synchronized swimming, the series portrays the aquatic stunts from above and reveals its splendorous poetry and rhythm in a body and color-coordinated scenario.

images © brad walls

‘I was surprised at the lack of imagery capturing the shapes and patterns that synchronized swimmers create,’ commented brad walls on the motivation behind the water geomaids series. ‘having previously captured the arts of diving, gymnastics, tennis and ballet, he set his sights in creating a new series featuring synchronized swimmers, something that seems to be perfectly aligned with his aesthetic, leveraging synchronicity and symmetry.’

for the series, walls tapped a sydney-based synchronized swimmer team choreographed by katrina ann. ‘when working with katrina, our aim was to cherry-pick static positions from routines that build repetition of form and geometric sequences,’ he said. the project began with walls doodling his ideas of what the pictures might look like, and together with ann, they collaborated closely to bring them to life. ‘artistic swimmers spend hours every day working to achieve perfection,’ said katerina ann. ‘with brad’s eye for detail, perspective and creativity, we were able to showcase our hard work that is often lost to the naked eye.’

walls is known for planning his shots in extreme detail, but regarding the majority of the shoot, he states that ’80% is planned, 20% is impromptu,’ adding that, ‘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.’

project info:

name: water geomaids

artist: brad walls