Maria Davey | British Heart Foundation
Outdoor swimming from Battery Rocks in Cornwall
My portraits of Maria Davey, photographed for the British Heart Foundation. We began shooting as first light hit the beautiful Battery Rocks off the Cornish coast. Behind the camera I'm in full arctic get-up, it was freezing, but Maria's made of stronger stuff and was more than happy to brave the winter temperatures.
Maria Davey, preparing to swim off of Battery Rocks in Penzance, Cornwall.
Maria feels lucky to wake up every morning having been born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a cluster of structural problems in the heart including a hole in the heart. She needed surgery at eight months old, then again when she was two and again at five years old, then a heart valve replacement at 28. Despite these health issues, Maria is a keen swimmer and undertakes distance swimming challenges to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation.
We started outdoors on the coast before escaping indoors to Maria's local leisure pool to photograph her swimming in warmer water.
Swimmer portrait in cap and goggles
Preparing to enter the swimming pool
Swimming the front crawl
Swimming Pool Portrait with Maria Davey