Being in the ocean is truly like coming home to me. It's as if I've returned to the womb. I crave it constantly. I crave the feeling of being nurtured and immersed, quiet and weightless. I crave the sensuality and healing. I crave salt and sand on my skin and hair. Swimming, surfing, diving, floating, bathing, water is what balances me.

The time I spend with pregnant women reminds me how Mother Ocean's power is ripe with birth and life metaphors. I once photographed a group of pregnant women in water and was struck by the gracefulness and joy they found in becoming weightless. It seemed as if they were mimicking the movements of their babies within their bellies. And though it was the mothers' bodies I saw through my lens, it appears that the spirit of the babies is what I found on my film.

This body of work began over 7 years ago, born out of my voyeuristic interest in the way women's bodies look and move in water. As I dive deeper into my own body through yoga, meditation and my experiences in the ocean, the images become increasingly more about the internal landscape and the emotions we hold within our bodies. Supporting women (and their babies) through pregnancy and birth has further fed my fascination with what's happening beneath the surface of our skin. Science (as well as common sense) tells us that babies are sentient beings even before birth. Just as they absorb nutrients from their mother, they can perceive the lights and sounds around her, receive the love that she sends, the stress she undergoes and the fruits of her spiritual practices. These photographs are an expression of my perception of life within another body, within the ocean, within the womb. Whether the images seem to be embryonic snapshots or visceral illustrations, they are inspired by the femininity of water and the fluidity of everything feminine.