05/29/2026
It took me nearly four years to make this photograph.
Not because I was working on it every day, but because I could not let the image go. The piece is called Marisol, photographed in Polignano al Mare in Southern Italy on 35mm film.
I first came to this village in November 2021. It was rainy, gray, and the beach was almost empty. Beautiful in its own way, but not the sun drenched summer scene I had been imagining in my mind. So I left without the photograph.
I returned in September 2022, thinking this would finally be the moment. Instead, the cliffs were covered in massive scaffolding and colorful logos for the Red Bull International diving competition. Because I shoot on film, that means no editing. No erasing the reality of the scene just to force the image into being. So again, I left without the photograph.
Then, in September 2024, I returned for a third time. And finally, everything had aligned. Colorful sunbathers were scattered across the beach. The water was alive with movement. The village opened around the scene exactly as I had imagined it years before.
Marisol captures the levity of an Italian summer, warm, timeless, and full of life.
Photography has taught me so much about patience. Once an image takes hold in my mind, I have a hard time letting it go. I will return, wait, revise, and try again until the thing I imagined becomes real.
This one was worth the wait.
Experience Marisol and the full collection at culterra.art. Available in both a horizontal and vertical orientation.
