Portraits of Retirees in Coney Island Engaged in ‘Sunday Morning Sports’

Countless photographs have been captured along Brooklyn’s Coney Island and Brighton Beach. From Lisette Model and Weegee’s famous images of bathers on into the present, sun revelers have been an endless source of inspiration to photographers. Spanish photographer Salvi Danés takes us to his Coney Island in a series he calls Sunday Morning Sports. In one image, a bather descends down jagged rocks into the water, his body engulfed by the textures around him—water, rock, light and body becoming one. The men of Sunday Morning Sports, active and invigorated, are less worried about life than they are about living. We recently caught up with Danés to find out more about this community.

Tell us a bit more about these men.
“They are neighbors who have always lived together in “Barceloneta”, a neighborhood in Barcelona. They are acquaintances, friends, even relatives, who since they were teenagers, have spent their time having fun doing exercise outdoors and enjoying the sun that the beach offers them.”

Why did you want to pursue these men photographically? What is it about them that touches you?
“My intention is none other than capturing a lifestyle. Their way of facing life breaks the stereotypes established by old people. They don’t want to accept the sedentary life that old people are supposed to have; their eagerness and will to live are intact.”

Did you learn anything about yourself in the making of this project?
“We can all learn a lot of things from these people. One, maybe the most important, is to give relative importance to the worries of our immediate future and enjoy the present with all the strength and energy that our body allows us.”

This post was contributed by photographer Sahara Borja.

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