Comfort Zone: Relaxed People at the Beach

Every day photographers around the world looking for new ways to tell stories or to capture what we previously did not notice. We choose interesting photo projects and ask their authors what they wanted to say. This week is the Comfort Zone series by Lithuanian photographer Tadas Chernyauskas: a project exploring the boundaries of personal space.

I rested on the coast and decided to call on a public beach, which has not been since childhood. I looked at the objects that people bring with them, and suddenly realized how much they can tell. It inspired me so much that I immediately suspended my current project and switched to the “Comfort Zone”. A week later, I returned to the beach with everything I needed to shoot.

I did this series because I was amazed at how particular places affect people's behavior. As part of the daily routine, we tend to hide our shortcomings, both physical and psychological. But once on the beach, we forget about everything and behave quite differently. Perhaps because others do the same? If so, then I would like this rule to work outside the beach: people are less worried about what others think about them. I believe that only then we realize how different, interesting and beautiful we are.

These photos are not staged, people were not aware that I was shooting them. I began to take pictures of sleeping guests precisely because it reflects the name of the project “Comfort Zone”. This project is only about the coast, sunbathing and idle sleepiness, isolation from the outside world. The faces of people are not closed by chance, it allows the viewer to calmly, without being distracted, see every work. It also avoids antipathy and any interaction between people in the photo and the viewer. It doesn't matter who they are: the details do not tell stories, but allow us to recognize ourselves in them. My favorite work is with two older women, this was my first frame: as soon as I saw the result, I realized that I had to finish this project at any cost.