12:42pm UTC-10 | Bondi Beach, New South Wales – Amongst Australia’s famed beaches, Bondi may be its splashiest, but after a visit to the kilometer-long crescent-shaped expanse, it’s easy to see why. Just four miles east of bustling Sydney, Bondi Beach really is a gift of nature — an accessible oasis to city-goers, locals and tourists alike. Walking from one end to the other, I can’t help but notice the spectrum of Bondi Beach’s patrons. Towards the north, leggy sun-bathers and couples relish the calmer waters; midway, locals and tourists (a few too many for my tastes) pour in seeking a couple hours of sea, sand and bites along Campbell Parade; while farther south, surfers and the odd flock of topless bathers sprinkle the craggier rocks. Everyone’s commonality? They’re drenched in cheer. It’s hard to imagine that the vim and vigor of it all was once the ground zero of Australia’s famed Bikini Wars, where patrolmen literally combed the beach enforcing “decency” rules and sunbathing was officially banned during most daylight hours. How shitty. A wind-battered information sign earlier has explained to me that in native Aboriginal, bondi means water breaking over rocks; but today as I tap this observation into my phone, engulfed in sun, it might as well mean endless summer.
Photo Info: Fujifilm XT-1 | 66mm | f/14 | 1/350 | ISO400
WHAT ARE POSTCARDS?
A postcard is always a pleasant surprise, particularly in an era of Instagram and SMS pics. We don’t have enough postage for our entire readership, but our new bite-sized series, Postcards lightly details the who, what, when, where and why. It’s a simple, and effective, premise. Whether they’re based on a life-changing subject or just a strange one, shot with a Red Epic or an iPhone, we hope you find these little moments more genuine than the stock images you’re used to seeing opposite of the Xs and Os.
