Director Ian Derry revisits the thrill of cold-water swimming with a follow-up film profiling model Vivian Solari. In 2016, Derry took a plunge into the Arctic for a study of Finnish freediving champion Johanna Nordblad. Now, the director’s latest project, One Day In December, travels to the English south coast for an immersive portrait of the model and outdoor swimming advocate.

“I’ll never forget that first morning. We sat in the dark in the middle of nowhere listening to the gulls in the distance. It was cold, the sea mist was damp and I was really nervous,” says Derry of his shoot with Solari. “Slowly, the black started to turn blue and the orange flames were a beautiful contrast to it.”

By swimming naked on select days, Solari feels the changing of the seasons more intuitively and is thereby more connected with nature. Moving through the cold British waters has become a meditative ritual for her that she shares through Instagram posts under the name ColdSeaWarmHeart.

“She moved gracefully down the beach and into the water, it was visual poetry,” Derry continues. “Once in the water, the way she moved was so elegant, she’d forgotten I was there and was completely in the moment. We didn’t talk, I just kept shooting and moved with her. This was exactly how I wanted it to be and I really think you can see that in the footage.”