Although I spent time at the ocean, most of my swimming growing up occurred at a lake, one lake in particular. Those who have spent a lot of time around and beneath the surface of a lake, understand it's an entirely different experience than diving into the ocean. There was no sand, just rocks lining the shore. The bottom was rocky at first, then incredibly slimy. The goal was to life your feed before the slime, but sometimes you took one step too far.
There were minnows and eels, eel grass and in my lake, snapping turtles. The lake was freezing in the spring but that didn't stop us for going in, sometimes as early as mid to late May. The reason for the rush was simple, but late July or early August, the lake was usually closed, usually due to pollution. Some brave souls still ventured in, but the rest of us had parents warning us of what sickness lay ahead if we dared enter in.
The lake became a part of many milestones, one of the most memorable, the first time I tried alcohol. It was the early 90's, I was about 15 or 16. A group of friends and I paid someone's older brother to buy us something at the liquor store. We didn't want beer, but hard liquor! Unfortunate for us, the guy didn't know his alcohol any better we did. We ended up with a small plastic bottle of Lemon Gin. If any of you have tried it, you know that first experience didn't end well. Many of us added to our poor lake's pollution that fateful summer Friday night.
When searching for lake themes images, I remember a couple of shots from photographer Dan Nelson's portfolio. I featured Dan's imagery in two pieces earlier this year, A Piece Of Art and Getting It Right back in May. The lake in Dan's images was Travis Lake outside of Austin Texas. The incredible body in the water, glistening in the sun is Jody Clark, a personal trainer from Canada. I am not sure anyone could turn down a naked dip with Jody. Dan shares that Jody was great to work with, incredibly professional with a natural ability to play for the camera. They shot a second time in a studio when Jody was in San Diego.
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