Houhai Lake Winter Swimmers

• Prize
• Photographer
  Chris Jelley, United Kingdom
• Website
  http://www.chrisjelley.com

I spent two days visiting the Houhai lake in Beijing taking portraits of the swimmers there. They have become something of a tourist attraction. The participants are mainly men of retirement age or older and swim in the ice frozen lake from morning to evening everyday. People even visit from outside of Beijing to take a dip in the icy water, outside temperatures can drop to -10 celsius at this time of year. I would shoot any willing persons immediately after they exited the water. Having to move quick to make my pictures so the person would not freeze. I chose to photograph my subjects in the areas that are used to change and dry off in. Rather then seeing the lake, making for a slightly more surreal set of images.