“Don’t you realize that the sea is the home of water? All water is off on a journey unless it’s in the sea, and it’s homesick, and bound to make its way home someday.”
– Zora Neale Hurston

Light from the scoreboard reflects off rippling blue water like fresh, pink-red blood. The swimmer moves shark-like through it.

Wearing a mercurial shroud, his human body, already 60 percent water, shimmers and breaks like a fragile shell around life, completing the transformation. He swims forward, backward through the depths of evolutionary history. A primitive creature shifts swift through waves under strobe lightning flashes, beneath the red glow of volcanoes erupting through seas.

He moves smooth as molecules. Now, moving faster, breaking apart like waves into water, and finally, base elements.

Our roaming photographer captured this image at a recent swim meet in Denton. The light from the scoreboard provided a red frame on the water for the portrait. He waited until a Decatur swimmer moved through the perfect spot. The water shrouding the swimmer added intrigue to the shot. Swimmer and photog both got closer to home in their respective elements.

Words by Brandon Evans/ Wise County Messenger