“Beaches have always felt to me like rare sanctuaries of freedom. You strip away the layers you wear elsewhere — clothes, expectations, even time. Before you stretches an endless horizon of sea and sky, and in that openness, your soul remembers how to play. I made this series on a beach in Split, Croatia. I was jetlagged and drowsy, lying on a lounge chair, when the scene began to unfold. One of the strange gifts of arriving in a place you’ve never been is how sharply your senses awaken — how the smallest things stand out with startling clarity. I first noticed the people: so strikingly healthy, athletic, glowing with youth — men and women who seemed carved by sunlight and sea air.

Then my eyes caught a group of boys on a distant dock, juggling a soccer ball with effortless grace, their laughter carried across the water. Teenage girls stood nearby, half watching them, half pretending not to. Younger boys lingered on the edges, studying the older ones’ moves. It was like watching a small, wordless play about youth itself — strength and longing, rivalry and tenderness, all mingling under the blinding afternoon sun. They were far away, but I had brought a long lens. It felt like a gift — to be close enough to witness them without intruding, to preserve their unguarded joy as if I were invisible. I stayed there for hours, clicking quietly, as they leapt, kicked, dove, and disappeared into the sea — and for a moment, I was back in my own childhood, floating in the Marmara Sea, salt-kissed and weightless, believing summer would last forever.”

-Bahar Kural

Awards: Honorable Mention, 2023 Tokyo Foto Awards, Honorable Mention, 2023 Paris Street Photography Awards, Honorable Mention, 2023 International Photography Awards, Honorable Mention, 2023 The Prix de la Photographie, Paris (PX3) – Street Photography