In one of the last weekends of August my friends and I went to a quaint beach town called Santa Marinella. Santa Marinella’s atmosphere is utterly local, as it is beautiful but not quite enough to be sought out by tourists. Therefore the perfect destination for young American students to practice the language and observe what it is like to be Italian in a small coastal town.
Upon arriving you find yourself in a mass of private umbrellas of which you must pay for if you want to put your towel down. My friend Lauryn and I decided to seek out the public portion which took us to the very far left end of the beach. The limited space was quite extraordinary because we felt our presence quite literally overlapping with the people around us; our towels could touch and we barely had room to spread our feet in the sand.
We became wallflowers and quietly people watched the whole afternoon.
As an aspiring photographer this was an extraordinary opportunity to take photographs of people confidently and without hesitation. I found that this crammed public space was intimate because I had the time and space to observe and establish a relationship with my subjects. I did not have to leave my towel to take my photographs that afternoon, I just sat and waited.
I waited until the humble and free people of Santa Marinella walked, skipped, or splashed into my frame.
