I was a lifeguard as a teenager, and was actually teaching swim lessons at a summer camp when a beautiful young counselor (and my future wife-to-be) walked in with a group of kids.  So when time came for me to teach my own young daughter how to swim, it was a rite of passage filled with meaning.  

I started out trying to document my own journey with my daughter -- from the calm of floating on your back to the exhilaration of jumping through the air and landing in a warm pool -- and then I broadened out to capture the other kids in her class as well.  There's something universally sacred about our relationship with the water that parents, children, and even infants, seem to instinctively understand.  I hope these pictures help illuminate that special moment.

A selection of these images was recently on display at the Los Angeles Center of Photography in Hollywood, CA.  Several of these images have also been featured in the LA Times Southern California Moments feature.