capable, earnest, honest
Swimpruf is a full service agency providing professional writing and photography for editorial and commercial use. Our focus is on outdoor adventure, travel, gear and wristwatches and our expertise in these areas sets us apart. Our ability to work together, in the studio and the field, to provide words and pictures, gives us a unique advantage and offers a single source solution.
We’ve done commercial photography assignments for brands including Bell & Ross, Blancpain, Deepblu, Doxa, Eterna, IWC, Red Wing Shoe Company, and Tudor. This is in addition to a decade of editorial photography for publications from Gear Patrol, Hodinkee, Revolution, Wired, Bloomberg, Outside and many others. Shoots have taken us underwater everywhere from Mauritius to the Great Lakes, and from 600 feet underground to 11,000 feet above sea level.
Our writing includes both product and travel journalism, copywriting for ads and websites, press releases, as well as strategic marketing consultation. We’ve worked for some of the biggest names in the luxury watch industry, as well as many respected publications, both print and online.
And what about our name? “Swimpruf” was the word that appeared on a hangtag included in the box of a certain iconic dive watch in the 1960s and ‘70s. Roughly translated, it meant that the watch was waterproof enough for scuba diving and we chose the name for our business since we got our start reviewing and photographing dive watches. Though we have diversified our work, we’ve never forgotten our roots.
J a s o n
I’ve always been a bit of an adventure fiend, a Midwestern boy seduced by the exoticism of adventure magazines and Hemingway novels. So writing gear reviews and travel and adventure articles justifies as “research” a lifetime of tramping about the planet, climbing mountains, scuba diving, and having a basement that looks like your local outdoor shop. Along the way I developed an interest in wristwatches and feel a kinship with past explorers who wore them as instruments and companions on their own adventures. This is where adventure, travel, and timepieces intersect.
The New York Times called me, “a test pilot for the world’s most illustrious undersea timepieces” and I admit that sounds a little grandiose. But somehow over the years, my focus on diving with watches became a niche and it’s one I enjoy. And while writing about dive watches isn’t exactly saving the world, if one of my stories inspires someone to try diving and he or she falls in love with the sport and the sea, that’s a job well done. I have that same goal for all of my writing: to inspire.
I can’t say where my writing will take me next. But as someone once said: “it’s not an adventure if you know the outcome.” And that’s just the way I like it.
email : jason@swimpruf.com
instagram : @jasonheaton
twitter : @jasonheaton
Gishani
It’s not really about the watch, is it? It’s about what you can do with it. The same goes for any piece of gear: a backpack, a kayak, a camera. So that’s how I try to shoot: put the gear, and the people using it, into the backdrop of natural surroundings.
Photography has a way of evoking emotion and inspiring us to try new things and get out of our comfort zones. And sometimes just taking the photo does that to me. I’ve learned new skills and been to places I’d never even heard of before. Caving in the jungles of Belize, diving a shipwreck in Lake Superior, hiking above tree line in a snowstorm. If I can bring back the feeling of being there and of the experience through my images, I’ve done my job.
email :gishani@swimpruf.com
instagram : @gishanir
twitter : @gishani