Pleasure Avalanche

Minding their own business, Capri, Autumn 2016.

Akila Berjaoui (Australia)’s incredibly sensual photographs often feature sand, sun, water—or a combination of all three. This highly sought-after fashion photographer, armed with her favourite analogue cameras, takes us to breathtaking seaside locations, from her former hometown of Sydney, Australia, to the bathing hotspots of Italy, France, Brazil, The Balearic islands, to name just a few. 

Much in the tradition of Slim Arons, Bruce Weber, Peter Beard, Claude Nori—all of whom she regards as influences on her work—Berjaoui’s photos harken back to the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s with their soft colours and sultry joie de vivre.

Saturated with sun and late-70s, early 80s hues, Akila Berjaoui's photo's channel the hazy holiday romance of bygone eras. Her sun-streamed photographs of bathing beauties are steeped with the heady colours of late 70s and early 80s photography. Her film photographs seem to emerge from another time; every detail is rich in the romance of 20th century travel, right down to the Campari red beach brollies, sporty Speedos and azure-striped sun loungers dotting pristine, almost tourist-free white coves. Even the bodies – the soft curves and sandy tan lines of Berjaoui’s often unsuspecting subjects – hark back to a pre-selfie era.