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How did you make the transition to freediving? What was your professional life like? I've had a camera in my hand since I was seven years old and worked as a professional photographer for 10 years. Freediving is something I started aer I finished my degree. I moved to Sydney when I was 19 and from there, I was accepted into NIDA; e National Institute of Dramatic Art where I studied TV and then went on to finish a Diploma of Journalism and Degree in Media Communications, focusing on cultural studies. One of my favorite philosophers is Edward de Bono who came up with "lateral thinking" which is all about thinking outside the box and looking at things differently. I just loved that side of my education. en I decided to go to ailand to do a scuba diving course and I became a divemaster. Coincidentally, not long aer, I heard about freediving. I took a course and basically worked my way through to advanced. It really is another level of exploration because you're in a world where nature calls the shots. You don't know what's going to come out and say hello to you, but you just have to be really open to it. at's what I love about exploration in itself but more so in freediving because you have this excitement mixed with that need to breathe. When did you start to freedive competitively? A year and a half ago, I was photographing a freediving competition in Indonesia that I usually document every year and the girls said to me, including the Australian national champion, "Jules, we're short on competitors. Can you compete?" It was crazy, you know? I had never competed in this sport in my life and now I'm with these supreme athletes who are diving down 80 meters and they want me to be a part of the competition. So I gave it a go and honestly, it scared the crap out of me. I actually ended up placing third overall in the Australian Championships. From then on I really entered the world of freediving and self-discovery. Freediving gives you the courage to reach your potential psychologically, mentally, physically, and really opens the doors to how much control we have over our minds—it's so powerful. e sport isn't just about breath hold, it's about tapping into those triggers and things that worry us and learning to control them so that we can reach our full potential. So whether that is going down to 50 meters for two and a half minutes or getting out of bed in the morning knowing you have to go to a meeting, you can kind of work your way through things with that skill set that you've learned from freediving. It's such an incredible way to unlock your superhero and really discover who you are as a person. We're always telling ourselves we can't do things, but we can. For me, it's not about winning competitions, it's about learning. P H O T O B Y K A L I N D I W I J S M U L L E R V U E N J . C O M 94 POINT OF VUE

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