Alison Bounce, aquatic photographer: "I feel safe in the sea, I can be naked, it envelops me"

Late dive

She lived a childhood in the Ardèche, far from the water. A firefighter's destiny sketched at the age of 13, before becoming a volunteer. "I was 18 or 20 the first time I put my head under water." Five delicate years before going to the dark areas. "And then, one day, everything came free. There was a click, for a competition, I had to know how to swim a crawl."

Passion emerges

She left the fire department to become a photographer. "Two totally opposite universes: from the executor that I was, I became contemplative." During a trip to the islands, she sees a mother and her baby swimmer. "The wonder of the little one looking at the light on the surface... When I got out of the water, I said to myself: "I'm a photographer, I want to show this to the world. (She became an aquatic photographer in 2014, Editor's note). My two passions have brought me this far."

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Water that heals

She photographs men and women comfortable underwater, such as those who have had trauma. And water becomes a "therapeutic working tool". About fifty young women under the age of 40 pass under her lens to reconnect with their femininity. Like others suffering from fibromyalgia, a painful disease that alters bodily sensations, including sensitivity to pressure and therefore skin contact with water. "These are very emotionally intense sessions" She remembers a woman who suffered from it, wanted to be tied up. "Seeing her with her ties, I cried in my mask. It ended up completely appeased, today it is reconciled with the aquatic elements."

If she carries out some sessions in the pool, she prefers the sea "busier, stronger, more restrictive, but more supervised too. It's my source of energy." She moved to South France three years ago. "From now on, there is not a day when I am not in the water. I feel safe in it. I can be naked, I feel reassured, she envelops me. Water is 70% of our body and 70% of the planet, so get used to it."

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