Joseph Szabo: Jones Beach

Beginning in the early 1970s, Joseph Szabo started capturing the melting pot of humanity on Jones Beach, one of the busiest strips of sand and ocean in the world with more than six million visitors a year. Among the sea of bodies, Szabo’s camera reveals moments of both quiet introspection and unashamed exuberance. Images of tanned muscle men, catwalk-like displays of beach wear, heavily oiled skin, masses of sprayed hair, and shy adolescents all reveal the dynamics of the beach so close to New York City. Class, race, and other potential divisions are temporarily forgotten, and the perfect and the flawed are portrayed with the same respect and tenderness. Szabo is an internationally acclaimed artist whose last two books (Teenage, Almost Grown) have influenced and been admired by a whole generation of photographers. Fans of Szabo, Jones Beach, and people interested in beach culture in general will treasure this funny, sexy, lovely volume created over 35 years.