Open water swimming is my escape. My freedom. My return to me.

A few weekends ago I found myself in wispy Dartmoor on a swimming adventure with some buddies. Among them were the founders of the Ruckraft, a brilliant piece of kit that opens up a new world of adventure for swimmers. We had one cheap waterproof camera between us and unsurprisingly, I was voted designated photographer.

The camera brought me back to the magic of film. No exposure settings, no controls, just good old fashioned point and shoot and hope for the best.

That simplicity seems to open up space for something special… I feel like we captured pure, real adventure. A sense of being right in it, getting splashed and thrown about by the waves, ducking under and catching a glimpse of colour underneath, then popping up above, seeing an abstracted view of the horizon through smeared goggles. And three lone Ruckcrafts bobbing along aimlessly, yet determined.

This all happened because I was part of it. I was there feeling it all with them. That’s my kind of photography. Natural, instinctive and bursting with energy. My return to me.