A young man standing on a beach holding a fishing rod with a fish caught at the end of the line.
A fish caught on a fishing line on the beach, with ocean waves and rocks in the background.
A shirtless man standing on a sandy beach, holding a fishing pole, with a shark lying on the ground near his feet. In the background, there are several people sitting on the sand and a city skyline with tall buildings.
A black and white photograph of the ocean with a cloudy sky in the background, showing gentle waves and a sandy beach in the foreground.
A man standing shirtless on a beach with crossed arms, wearing a cap, sunglasses, sweatpants, and sneakers, with high-rise buildings in the background.
A woman in a vintage swimsuit and wide-brimmed hat standing on a sandy beach in black and white.
A black-and-white photograph of a beach with buildings in the distance and a bird flying overhead.
Person with wet hair leaning on a bathtub edge in a hot, foggy bathroom.
A man standing on a sandy beach, wearing sunglasses, a hat, and swim briefs, with his hands behind his head.
Two elderly men in swim caps and shorts standing on a beach, posing for a photo near the water with buildings in the background.
A black and white photo of a pier with wooden posts extending into the ocean, with two people at the end of the pier, one standing and the other leaning over the edge.
A woman with dark, full hair covering her eyes, standing on a boardwalk near buildings and a pier.
Black and white photo of a beach with high-rise buildings along the shoreline and a cloudy sky overhead.
An elderly man stands on a sandy beach with a large rock formation in the background, wearing dark swim trunks, in a vintage black-and-white photograph.
A lifeguard tower on a sandy beach facing the ocean during daytime.
Silhouette of a person standing on a rocky shoreline looking towards the ocean, with a building and people in the background.
Dark, cloudy skies over a beach with a few people, city skyline, and iconic Space Needle in the distance.
A smiling man in swim shorts standing on a beach, scratching his head, with buildings in the background and footprints in the sand.
Two women in swimsuits standing on a sandy beach near large rocks, smiling at the camera.
A black and white photo of a city street under an elevated train track with cars and pedestrians.
A woman with black hair, wearing a sleeveless fur coat, standing on a beach with a pier and buildings in the background, looking at the camera with a slight squint.
A smiling cashier at a candy and snack store wearing a red apron and a red polka dot headband, standing behind the checkout counter surrounded by shelves of snacks and candies.
A woman with dark hair and red lipstick lying on her side on a rocky surface, resting her head on her hand, wearing a thick fur coat and leopard-print pants, with green foliage in the background.
Two people relaxing on a sandy beach with urban buildings in the background, one man in swim trunks and sunglasses sitting in a striped beach chair with his hands behind his head, and a woman in a swimsuit and white cap sitting in another striped bea
A woman in a bikini standing on rocks at the beach with city skyline in the background.

Little Odessa

Little Odesa is my ongoing project about the Russian-speaking community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. I use Polaroid film because of its imperfect qualities—the soft colors and instant development mirror the way memory works. These photographs carry nostalgia not only as something sentimental but also as a way of holding onto fragments of identity that are constantly shifting, and documenting a specific time and place. Little Odesa is both personal and collective. It honors the neighborhood I grew up in, the elders who carry urban landscape traditions, and the younger generations who reinterpret them. It asks how we continue to say “this is home” even as the shoreline and the people along it keep changing, and what remains unchanged.