#sharetheswimlove: Winter

Sophie is a writer, producer, surfer and environmentalist living off the Atlantic coast of Ireland, who has recently shot a series of swimmers photographed at the water’s edge – her local swimming tribe. Seeing the yoga teacher, gardener, podiatrist and more, in the elements, in their costumes underlines how we are all the same in the water.

Liz Ke describes herself as a “hobby photographer, hobby triathlete, hobby Instagrammer” but with 43.4k followers, and almost daily training images, her hobby level is other peoples world class. Born and raised near the German Alps, her images are against a backdrop of snow, mountains and application.

These swimmers are braving the North-Atlantic, dipping in frozen lakes and bathing in cool springs across Iceland. The air-temperature in most of their recent posts are minus numbers, with the sea also falling below zero. Winter images of shadowy swimmers keep us going back to this feed.

As one of Tom’s captions reads, his images “look like real winter swimming”. Tom and friends swim in Zurich across the Zurichsee. A frequent spot at Seebadi Stäfa includes diving boards. We feel alive watching this group swim together in snow and low temperatures.

Kevin Meredith is renowned for his photos of swimmers, swimming off the Brighton seafront. He captures stunning photos in all weather, at sunrise and sunset and of all kinds of swimmers, nature and situations. He then writes about his photos in his blog. The images with starling murmuration and the haunting West Pier are something to seek out.

These swimmers are a community group from Walpole Bay, Margate. ​They post wonderful atmospheric shots of their tidal pool.

Featuring the best images from the swimming community, @theoutdoorswimmingsociety is the place to go to hit yourself up with wild, beautiful, joyful, adventurous images that make you want to dive right in – with regular images from our Ambassadors, @caldamac and @viviennerickmanpoole, that’ll put the world right again.

William Thomson is an author of two books about tides. He travelled the British coastline in a van he kitted out with his partner Naomi. With their six-month daughter Ottilie, William and Naomi explored the water around Britain learning about currents, tides, streams and sea creatures. Follow William on Twitter to discover how to escape quicksand and learn the truth about peeing on a jellyfish sting.

A regular on the group, Matt’s photos, videos and captions always inspire us to get out of bed. Matt regularly captures the mood in a really authentic way and always ends his posts with good wishes to all swimmers. Can’t fail to make you smile.

Photos by James Kirby – we are still holding our breath as we look at the images of Graeme’s face from behind the ice holding his breath. We hope Graeme and friends are swimming safe as well as capturing these brilliant, if not scary shots!

Chris Popham has contributed some excellent swimming spots across the wildswim.com map for Outdoor Swimming Society swimmers. His collection the ‘Best of South Devon’ is worth looking through when planning your swims across the popular part of the country. Chris’s photos, clear instructions and safety warnings make plotting your time in Devon simple and enjoyable.

Katie and Manda are swimming bloggers who swim at Tooting Lido who swim with frying pans for Pancake Day, make heart shapes to celebrate Valentine’s and post lots of images of themselves laughing – a lot.

Funny, funny, funny. Swimmer, film maker and OSS Ambassador Calum Maclean is one to watch.