A photograph of Jodie Meares – before she became the first Mrs James Packer and swimsuit designer Jodhi Meares – performing an underwater high jump is among the highlights of photographer Craig Holmes’s exhibition Water Line.
Water Line, a collection of photographs taken underwater in pools, lakes and waterways stretching from Brisbane to Fraser Island, opens at The University of Queensland Art Museum on March 6.
The 1993 Meares shoot was memorable for Mr Holmes because of the hardships he faced working in Lake McKenzie – Fraser Island’s “Blue Lake”. As he was snapping a test-shot five metres below the freshwater lake’s surface, Holmes found himself in difficulty.
“The lake has got 10 to 15 centimetres of leaf litter on the bottom so you can’t wear fins,” he explains. “I was heavily weighted down and, to get the right angle, I had to take the regulator out of my mouth. It’s hooked up to your weight-belt and it floated off somewhere behind my back.
“I did the shot then thought, ‘Time to breathe again’ and of course I couldn’t find the regulator,” Mr Holmes recalls. His mind raced. Should he drop the weight-belt and regulator on the murky bottom and dash for the top? Or should he keep scouting for the mouthpiece even though he was now desperate for air?
“I looked up and the two divers I’d hired to look after me decided to look under the water to see how I was going,” he says. “I gave them the sign that I was drowning [drawing a finger straight across his throat] and they came and rescued me. I rethought the whole situation and decided to free-dive [holding his breath rather than using compressed air]. I seldom get into trouble free-diving.”
Mr Holmes had perfected his free-diving technique over many years. His ability to hold his breath underwater for long periods helped him capture mesmerising images of swimming squads hard at work in Musgrave Park Pool in South Brisbane, as well as kids cutting loose when they were allowed “free swim” time.
The results were so stunning that the Art Gallery of NSW acquired a group of his photographs for the gallery’s permanent collection. The gallery’s then Curator of Photography, Sandra Byron, says the acquisition formed “an important extension to the gallery’s holdings of images portraying aspects of Australian summers”.
The images also impressed playwright David Williamson. He says: “Water is central to Australian life and no photographer I’ve seen captures our love of the life aquatic in a more arresting manner than Craig. We are all water babies, and Craig has captured us at play with an originality that is often startling.”
View the exhibition online at www.craigholmes.com.au
Venue: UQ Art Museum, University Drive, St Lucia
Hours: 10am – 4pm, Tuesday to Sunday: Free parking on weekends
MEDIA CONTACT: Peter Liddy, Operations Manager, UQ Art Museum
Phone: 07 3365 3046 Email: p.liddy@uq.edu.au
