A Swimming Sexagenarian By Will Grunewald & Gabe Souza

Upper photo by Gabe Souza of Lone Spruce Creative and story by Will Grunewald of Down East, Rockport, Maine.

Will Grunewald is a senior editor at Down East, the magazine of Maine. He wrote a comprehensive, touching article on the remarkable career of Pat Gallant-Charette, a record-setting 60-something swimmer from the state of Maine.

Read the article on Gallant-Charette here (Oceans 7).

Grunewald described how photographer Gabe Souza was able to capture the dramatic photo of Gallant-Charette above, “Gabe used an underwater camera housing with a strobe. To keep him submerged, director of photography Mark Fleming filled a backpack with 45 pounds of dumbbells. Then, with two safety divers in place, Fleming says, ‘We strapped the backpack on Gabe and hoped for the best — he was able to hold his breath for a good 40 seconds to nail the shot.‘”

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