Up Close: Pools

Photographer Stephan Zirwes’ ‘Pool’ series illustrates the incredible waste of potential drinking water – not only in private pools but also in the privatisation of a public asset for commercial reasons.

  • Words + Photography: Stephan Zirwes

The ‘Pools’ series is a study of water: one of the most precious resources for life on our planet. My approach was to show water as a location for entertainment, but also to show the incredible waste of potential drinking water – not only in private pools but also in the privatisation of a public asset for commercial reasons.

Public pools are an important reminder that water should be free and accessible to everyone. The clean formal language and the simple design of the pictures treat this newsworthy issue with an elegance… almost a playfulness. I copied parts of the original pool tiles and enlarged them in a clear, visible way to create a kind of mount in patterns and take the viewer on a deep dive into the blue.

Stephan Zirwes is an award-winning German photographer.

Article taken from

Issue 02
Articles

Further Reading

View All

Peak Performance

Playwright David Greig describes how he grappled with turning one of the most famous survival stories of all time into a gripping psychological drama.

Flows: Chinese Garden

Shot over the course of five months in and around Tulum, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, Flows leads viewers on a journey never before taken.

Hunting Eagles in Mongolia

Against the backdrop of an unforgiving landscape, the Kazakh tradition of eagle hunting endures. Photographer Frédéric Lagrange documents the culture he first fell in love with seventeen years ago.

The Kombai

Oliver Steeds describes the fast-changing world of the tree-dwelling Kombai tribe in Papua New Guinea, whose members are as fond of wisecracks as they are of the Sago grub.

Where Are All The Female Grandmasters?

Girls play chess better than boys at primary school, so why do so few make it to the top? A look at how challenges facing female players have changed from the medieval era to the twenty-first century.

The Anatomy of an Antarctic Explorer

Last December Louis Rudd became the first Briton to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone. Here he describes in precise detail how the 925 mile crossing impacted on each part of his body.
Browse by Category