Closer, an essay in beach anthropology.
I've never liked the handling of long lenses, heavy, bulky and not very discreet. Yet a photographer friend of mine got rid of some of his equipment at the beginning of summer 2017, so I got a light but powerful zoom camera for a ridiculously low price. And I got caught up in the game! It is true that the daily spectacle of the Marseilles beaches in summer did not let me fascinate, no further than down from my house.
To better advance under cover towards the summer beach where the heliotropic crowds break in successive waves! The beach is a paradoxical space, as if out of time and out of customs, where the prohibitions that regulate life in society are abolished: one walks there half-naked, one lies undressed next to strangers, the bodies are displayed in complete freedom, they show themselves and are seen together.
In worked postures, slouching or conquering, each one advances towards this moment of an awaited well-being at the edge of sand and water. Sitting, with a book in hand, standing facing the open sea, curled up, sometimes buried in the sand, flat on the stomach, stretched out, languid, exposed! Sometimes the bodies intermingle, throwing themselves noisily into the water or engaging in intense physical activity. Sea, sand, sun and more if affinities!
How can we hold back from wanting to capture this delicious human comedy, the spectacle of those I call my so-so fellows. If there is an intrusion, it is infinitely respectful.
I suddenly remember my teenage summers when ten or fifteen of us would lie down on the sand with our faces together in the center of a myriapod star made of our bare feet. From the pier, someone would sometimes look at us, but we didn't care!
