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My first contact with Tanya Streeter was through her American agent over two years ago. At that time, I was presenting a production proposal regarding an idea I had for a collaborative effort between freedivers and technical divers. The idea of linking Tanya with a technical diving production company on the east coast was sound and well received, but the production company folded before the idea could take shape. Tanya contacted me and thanked me for the idea, and we began casual communications regarding production work through email.
To me, Tanya always represented certain forms of single mindedness - the will to get something difficult accomplished and the concentration to break through barriers of physical pain and mental anguish to achieve the extraordinary. Before I began communicating with her, I developed a deep appreciation for what she had done. Freediving was after all, the exact opposite of technical diving in some ways, but they prove intrinsically tied together in the sharing of the challenges of depth, and the razor-sharp levels of concentration the both require. One discipline however, requires the exact opposite of the other – breathlessness as opposed to exact breath calculation.
In my own personal life, I have discovered loneliness in my clear distinction between right and wrong, and for some reason I suppose I think Tanya may feel somewhat the same. I understand what it means to do hard things, moreover I have learned how to distinguish between certain emotional feelings; respect for things greater than myself, and fear for that which can become unmanageable and dangerous. I do not know Tanya well, but in attaching what I consider this wisdom to my definition of bravery, I have imagined we shared certain qualities and strengths in the water and perhaps even out, of the water. While I do not view Tanya a hero, I do admire her iron will and I consider her an iconic figure in the world of diving.
In my endless curiosity about certain aspects of her accomplishments, I still consider Tanya somewhat of an enigma. I have questioned my motives for trying to understand her, and arguably, they may be selfish. Mine is a curiosity about how she does what she does, and exactly what it feels like to go, where no one has been in body and mind. Once I asked Tanya how it felt to swim under the Humpback Whales in the Hawaii segment of her "Freediver,” production, and although she was gracious to send me a logistical description of that particular event, she held close to hear heart exactly what it all meant to her. I was after a description of emotional or spiritual feelings but she would not share them with me. Perhaps she does not share them with anyone. I am certain Tanya is deeply moved by these encounters with animals, the mystique of exactly how those soul-melding experiences effect her however, remains one of my greatest curiosities about her. So many interviews have taken place with Tanya, that it seems useless to ask her for one more. Interviewers ask the same kinds of question, until the average diver seems content with how little they really know about her.
What is apparent is that Tanya seems kin to her surroundings, particularly in her BBC productions, and what she now offers us, is a bridge between worlds. Lands of the earth and vision of the oceans, she helps us to step into the freediving world of the sea. When she continues in her spectacular TV presentations, I expect to see more of what we have seen in the past, but perpetually expanding. The potential for her in the role of freediving TV presenter then, seems limitless.
Maybe in our need to have Tanya connect with us, we perceive her greatest calling is to the earth, for most will never completely understand exactly what makes her tick. Some divers have a greater passion for the water than for the land, and many of us have a mysterious longing for depth. We, inherently understand some of what she is trying to say, and it is a comfort to know that in many ways we understand Tanya… if only a little.
CB
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My first contact with Tanya Streeter was through her American agent over two years ago. At that time, I was presenting a production proposal regarding an idea I had for a collaborative effort between freedivers and technical divers. The idea of linking Tanya with a technical diving production company on the east coast was sound and well received, but the production company folded before the idea could take shape. Tanya contacted me and thanked me for the idea, and we began casual communications regarding production work through email.
To me, Tanya always represented certain forms of single mindedness - the will to get something difficult accomplished and the concentration to break through barriers of physical pain and mental anguish to achieve the extraordinary. Before I began communicating with her, I developed a deep appreciation for what she had done. Freediving was after all, the exact opposite of technical diving in some ways, but they prove intrinsically tied together in the sharing of the challenges of depth, and the razor-sharp levels of concentration the both require. One discipline however, requires the exact opposite of the other – breathlessness as opposed to exact breath calculation.
In my own personal life, I have discovered loneliness in my clear distinction between right and wrong, and for some reason I suppose I think Tanya may feel somewhat the same. I understand what it means to do hard things, moreover I have learned how to distinguish between certain emotional feelings; respect for things greater than myself, and fear for that which can become unmanageable and dangerous. I do not know Tanya well, but in attaching what I consider this wisdom to my definition of bravery, I have imagined we shared certain qualities and strengths in the water and perhaps even out, of the water. While I do not view Tanya a hero, I do admire her iron will and I consider her an iconic figure in the world of diving.
In my endless curiosity about certain aspects of her accomplishments, I still consider Tanya somewhat of an enigma. I have questioned my motives for trying to understand her, and arguably, they may be selfish. Mine is a curiosity about how she does what she does, and exactly what it feels like to go, where no one has been in body and mind. Once I asked Tanya how it felt to swim under the Humpback Whales in the Hawaii segment of her "Freediver,” production, and although she was gracious to send me a logistical description of that particular event, she held close to hear heart exactly what it all meant to her. I was after a description of emotional or spiritual feelings but she would not share them with me. Perhaps she does not share them with anyone. I am certain Tanya is deeply moved by these encounters with animals, the mystique of exactly how those soul-melding experiences effect her however, remains one of my greatest curiosities about her. So many interviews have taken place with Tanya, that it seems useless to ask her for one more. Interviewers ask the same kinds of question, until the average diver seems content with how little they really know about her.
What is apparent is that Tanya seems kin to her surroundings, particularly in her BBC productions, and what she now offers us, is a bridge between worlds. Lands of the earth and vision of the oceans, she helps us to step into the freediving world of the sea. When she continues in her spectacular TV presentations, I expect to see more of what we have seen in the past, but perpetually expanding. The potential for her in the role of freediving TV presenter then, seems limitless.
Maybe in our need to have Tanya connect with us, we perceive her greatest calling is to the earth, for most will never completely understand exactly what makes her tick. Some divers have a greater passion for the water than for the land, and many of us have a mysterious longing for depth. We, inherently understand some of what she is trying to say, and it is a comfort to know that in many ways we understand Tanya… if only a little.
CB
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