Larry Hallegua’s vibrant, flash-lit photographs of beachgoers are a slice of the often-awkward, always-human reality of summer. We sweat, we burn, we flail in the water.
His work, characterized by its stark brightness and candid framing, speaks to a rich history of photographers seeking to capture life’s unfiltered moments. His work perfectly highlights the unique challenges and triumphs of this pursuit.
A Brief History of the Awkward Candid
From the early street photographers of the 20th century to contemporary documentarians, artists have sought to capture, as Henri Cartier-Bresson famously coined it, the “decisive moment”. The exact place and time where subject and context align in a fleeting instant. A profound representation of life.
Candid photographs promise a kind of authenticity—a glimpse into a moment untainted by self-conscious posing or performance, often reveling in the awkwardness of the human condition.
Within this pursuit of the real, the awkward candid holds a special place. It’s in these moments that the true, unguarded behaviors and personalities of the subjects often emerge. Hallegua’s subjects show no awareness of observation while being buried in sand, or sunbathing. He patiently waits for the self-conscious pose for a friend’s camera as another is struck in the background— These photographs challenge classic notions of beauty and composition, instead celebrating the imperfect, the vulnerable, and the truly odd.
The Art of the Capture
For photographers, capturing un-staged moments is a soft skill. It requires not only technical ability but an acute sense of observation and anticipation. Invisibility is also an asset, but hard to manage when using a flash, as Hallegua does, eschewing invisibility for certainty; with this reliable and immediate fill technique, on bright days he documents vivid cinematic moments that may otherwise be lost to another fraction of a second.
This approach, which can often feel intrusive, instead amplifies the raw and unexpected quality of his images, pulling subjects out of their surroundings and emphasizing their unguarded expressions. It’s a bold choice that underscores the challenge: to make the ordinary extraordinary without resorting to manipulation. This requires a photographer to be both empathetic and detached, recognizing the humanity in their subjects while maintaining the distance necessary for observation.
Summer Exposed
A season so anticipated it has inspired an entire category of culture and multiple sub-categories within: “summer blockbusters” are plotted years in advance, “sounds of the summer” dominate pop charts, “summer fashion” pulls us into stores to get the look. Alongside the accessories is a pervasive expectation of endless sunshine, perfect bodies, and effortless fun. Images depicting idyllic beach scenes, romantic sunsets, and perfectly orchestrated and executed vacations become increasingly at odds with global warming bringing record temperatures, and an economy that would have us staycation—which is a kind of all-inclusive resort, right? Yet—depending on your geography, one place remains refreshing and relatively democratic and accessible: the beach.
Arguably the setting most synonymous with summer, the beach’s siren call brings millions to its shores.
Hallegua’s captures of candid tableaus along the ocean horizon are the deleted scenes and bloopers of the summer vacation. Showing us the reality of sand-covered bodies, sun-kissed skin (too-kissed, wear sunscreen!), and the small, often comical, dramas that unfold when people embrace the strange chaos of vacations and allow themselves to play out a different role on this natural stage.
Hallegua brings his ready eye to these human experiences, in a landscape made for awkward interaction, and revels in the humanity on display outside of time. From the team effort of burying a friend in sand, battles with inflatables lost, and the intimate but public ritual of sunbathing, this series captures the ways we engage with each other in this place where worries and routines are suspended, and our vacation personas overwrite the everyday versions of us. Larry Hallegua‘s portfolio on Format is a compelling showcase of candid photography, inviting viewers to appreciate the beauty in the strange, the grace in the awkward, and the moment decisively captured.
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Contributor
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Julia Martin is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Montreal. With an MFA in Visual Arts and a BFA in Photography, her work has been exhibited across Canada, China, France, and Finland, including multiple artist residencies. She has taught at the University of Ottawa, served on art juries, and has fifteen years of experience as a freelance photographer. Julia's own artistic practice could best be described as "sad stories punctuated by jokes."
Though sometimes it's the other way around.
