Swedish-born, Vienna-based photographer Emma Hartvig captures the human body with equal parts reverence and realism. Though she’s long been enamored with the idea of Hollywood glamor, her work—primarily shot in black and white—is as concerned with the humanity of its subjects as its beauty. In 2017, we spoke to Emma about her series “The Swimmers,” for which she traveled to sunny California to photograph the Los Angeles-based synchronized swimming group Aqualillies. In the photos, the participants float, pose, and dive with bare faces and white swimsuits—a marked departure from their usual glitzy costumes.
