These Awesome Photos of People Emerging From a Water Slide Capture the Essence of Summer

Simply titled “I Love Summer,” this series of high-speed photographs focuses on the specific — and, it turns out, highly captivating — experience of bursting out of a water slide.

Krista Long, a clinical social worker from Des Moines, Iowa, came up with the idea for the series last summer after spending time with her kids at a local pool. She found herself entertained for hours watching people emerge from the water slide, one by one, each with comically distinct facial expressions and body contortions. As a photography enthusiast, she began to think, Hey, this would be a great subject.

“I love how people’s emotion right before they splash down is either total excitement or fear or cringing,” Long says. “So I just really wanted to capture that moment.”

Capturing that moment, however, took a healthy dose of trial and error. After plenty of goof ups, Long eventually learned how to get her framing and timing just right. She also learned how to use Photoshop to add a black background, making the subjects and the water droplets stand out.

Ultimately, what Long says she hopes to convey here is that fun, carefree feeling so many of us enjoy in the longer, lazier days of summer.

“We just came off of the worst winter, and I know in many areas of the United States it was horrendous,” Long says. “It was so cold, it was so frozen, it lasted forever. I just thought, you know what, this really does capture just how wonderful it is to be enjoying summertime.”

Below are some of our favorite shots. Head over to Flickr to see more.