The Blue Eye

The Blue Eye near Theth was the destination — the whole reason for the 23km day. A natural pool fed by a waterfall tumbling down through the limestone, the water that particular shade of glacial turquoise that looks artificially enhanced until you’re standing in front of it.

Shot first, swim after. The right order of operations.

Getting low enough to let the pool fill the foreground was the key — the long exposure smoothing the churning water into something closer to the colour it actually was, the spring canopy pressing in from either side. The rock face catches the light just enough to give the scene some depth without competing with the water.

The swim happened. The water temperature was somewhere between bracing and genuinely alarming. Worth it, in the way that things you immediately regret usually are.