ChasM
Summer of 1985 and myself and four collage buddies continue our backpack journey in the Black Sea-side town of Odessa. Lush, green, and shabby around the edges, Odessa is a vacation spot for Russians from all walks of life. We did spend an afternoon at the rocky beach, tho for whatever reason I didn’t bring my camera so I didn’t get an image of the rows of men along the periphery sunning themselves while standing, arms outstretched to embrace the warmth. The images here were captured the day prior while roaming the city. Technically, some of these are not my best, but whatyagonnado? It comes as a realization that as I’ve gotten older I’ve become less and less inclined to shoot people in my street photography, preferring to focus on textures and the geometry of spaces. Undoubtedly this is because I’m less willing to intrude in people’s lives than I was in my youth, and less convinced I’m invisible to others.
It’s the middle of summer and although a hot day, the city itself is kept comfortable by a heavy canopy of tress that keep everything under shade. Here, women gather outside a shop.