PS : I am writing to you from the Seagull beach

 

Away from the commotion of tourists that troubles the Mediterranean coast in the summer season, the beach in Sète called “la Plage des Mouettes” (Seagull beach) spreads over a few hundred metres along the Etang de Thau (Thau lagoon). This lagoon, the largest in the Languedoc with an area of over 7500 hectares, connects seven boroughs spread around its shores and is traditionally a livelihood for fishermen and shellfish breeders. Essentially based on seaside activities, tourism has also found its place here. Aside from the infrastructure brought on by tourism, the lagoon also offers barely developed, almost untamed areas, such as the Plage des Mouettes. In these places, there are no roads, no public lighting and no shops ; only a lagoon with irregular shores and small sandy islands inhabited by a few locals and regulars that have come back since their childhood.

Away from prying eyes, bathers and fishermen meet up as families and friends, to delight in their togetherness, to lay down their towels amidst the seaweed and the reeds, and perpetuate the rituals of a popular sociability, typical of the Mediterranean coast, in the tranquility of the calm lagoon waters. Here is a dive into a lagoon community and a territory

set aside from the bustle of the world that seems to have slipped away from our modern urban and industrial modernity. 

 

I realized this photo essay during summers 2012, 2013, 2014 with my medium format camera.