Paddle-boarding in Greece
Explore Series by Lane Oliveri for Branwyn, : A Travel Friendly Wool Performance Underlayer
As part of an Active Lifestyle Travel series with Branwyn, photographer Lane Oliveri shot up the coast from Athens, for a scene straight out of a Homer epic, paddle-boarding and hiking ancient ruins in Greece. Explore behind the scenes with us on this shoot.
We shot paddling out under the ancient Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sounion before later hiking to the ruins themselves. The site is historically significant to the Attica region as a point of return and sendoff for heroes mentioned in the Iliad and Odessy. Suspended between the sky and the sparkling Aegean we made the most of this truly mythical backdrop, to wrap the lure of travel into an active, adventure lifestyle set.
I love that Branwyn has the Busty Bra. These pieces are so incredibly versatile to body type making Branwyn an incredibly unique “fits all” brand but our activewear bent had often resulted in silhouettes that we would describe as “sporty”. For this shoot I looked for a model with real natural curves, whose natural shape is relatable to so many women yet vastly under-represented in fashion and fitness imagery.
Our model shared that it was really refreshing to shoot a set that focused on adventure, nature, travel and connecting with your own space. Women with natural curves spend their lives trying to disguise it under loose clothing to avoid unwanted attention or they decide to wear what they want and boldly wade directly through the humiliating sea of yuck that exists especially for them. They grow accustomed to the dangers and exhaustion of the un-asked for male attention at some point perhaps, but the real sting is in the way that even fellow women never see them as chic or tough. Curves are viewed as hyper sexualized regardless of intent.
As we shot, a few images that just happened naturally jumped out to me as reminiscent of a figure holding a spear and shield, a common Greek motif but in this instance, it brought to my mind the Greek legend of the all-female warrior Amazon tribe that has captured the world’s imagination for centuries. My thoughts flowed along those lines momentarily; what is it that is so terrifying about women who don’t need men to define them or protect them? Does the world even know how to process an image of a woman who is not looking for attention, who is not defined by a relationship or even motherhood, but rather just enjoying her life, for no one’s benefit but her own? How much more confusing is it if the woman is curvy and stereotypically “attractive”?
Although an hourglass figure is very feminine, it is ironically often far removed from concepts of female empowerment. Breasts and actual curves are seen as base, and inappropriate.
I imagined these same shots on a woman with higher muscle tone and a more masculine figure - somehow they loose their essence. Shooting in an athletic space has constantly brought to mind how we have to either emasculate or neuter women to make them respectable or “not sexy”. Yet the images from this session are meaningful to me particularly because they don’t shy away from the very typical “woman” silhouette that unfortunately even as women, we have all been trained to see through a “playboy” lens.
During this shoot we experimented with mix and match color options which turned out to be some of my favorite.
As the shadows began to grow long, we packed up the paddle board and hiked up to the ruins, following a steep path through the brush and up the cape. On the ruins Lord Byron deeply engraved his name, back when defacing ancient structures with personal graffiti was not as frowned upon. He mentions the ruins at Sounion in a poem, inspired by his time in Greece where he ruminates on the Greek empire, the shadow of its glorious past looming large over its fallen present.
To me the ruins and all ruins like them, that have withstood the test of time only to whisper unintelligible mysteries to the future, bring to mind the power of ideas; The way that a “hero culture” can inspire exceptionalism. The way that a small Athenian town in one corner of the world could take a sort of local pride in its value of ideas, like democracy or concepts of philosophy, and the ripple effects could be felt, still present and influential, in our current reality. The way that myth is often the needed motivation for achievement and can in turn become a reality. One can’t help but wonder what those who come after will see in our ruins and how our choices are already affecting them.
