Most people remember spending some part of their childhood summers at the pool. These images, which were taken on one June afternoon at a suburban Maryland community pool, stir up memories of long, warm, summer days spent poolside. I named the photo essay “Pool Time” to reference both going to the pool and the experience of the pool for people over several generations.
I was struck by how even grown ups still enjoy floating around in an inner tube on a Lazy River and how kids can be fascinated by simple things like streams of water jetting out of the ground. What is it about water that we have always loved so much?
“Pool Time” aims to share a timeless summer experience with both abstract and concrete images. I purposely paired some images, such as three girls running followed by three girls floating in the pool and a young boy in an inner tube followed by a grown man in an inner tube, for the comparison and contrast. I book-ended the essay with an antique effect on both the first and last images of the essay to reference the passage of time and universal experience of the pool. I also wanted to give a better sense of the pool fun with the morphing of three images of a girl sliding into the pool.
These photos were taken on June 3, 2012, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outdoor Pool in Silver Spring, Md. The pool is operated by Montgomery County Recreation Services and charges a small fee for county residents (and a higher rate for non-residents). There’s also an indoor swim center next to the outdoor pool.
“Pool Time” was designed with the Washington Post’s online photo galleries in mind.
Click on Fullscreen and the “Show Info” option for captions.
