Welcome to the Bronx Riviera.
In 2005, photographer Wayne Lawrence set out to shoot the most charismatic, interesting and stylish beachgoers in all of New York — and, for him, that didn’t mean the Hamptons.
“I felt like the photographs should reflect the world I live in,” Lawrence says. “These are hardworking people trying to live life — but because they’re lower status, they might be considered ghetto. I wanted to create a celebration of that.”
Lawrence’s new book, “Orchard Beach: The Bronx Riviera” (Prestel), is the result of seven summers spent on one of the city’s few man-made beaches.
When he told some friends of his idea, they warned him off: “People said, ‘Oh, you don’t want to go there. That’s a hood beach.’ ”
His reaction? “That’s exactly where I need to be.”
There, he found subjects like Jae, Lindy and their daughter Jaelin (right). Lawrence feels no other beach is as representative of New York’s soul.
“These are people in love with their own culture,” he says. “That’s what I love about this community: It’s straight no chaser, classic New York.”