Buckroe Ave.
Photographer and Director Mikayla Gamble looks back to the beach of her childhood and the nostalgia the connection evokes
words & photography – mikayla gamble
location – hampton, usa
I was eight when I got on a boogie board and attempted to see how the waves were made at the non-existent ‘end’ of the ocean.
I was 11 when I got stung by a jellyfish on my left cheek.
I was 20 the first time I brought my camera here.
For most of my childhood, Buckroe Beach was just the place down the street from my house where I wasn’t allowed to be at night and where my YMCA Summer camp took us on a field trip. As I get older, further and further from carefree periods of play and teenage years, I became nostalgic towards that beach.
My trip to Buckroe on this particular day was a casual one; we were showing out-of-town family members what our side of Virginia had to offer. It was a Saturday, about a quarter till 6 and the beach was buzzing with kids meeting up with their best friends, rocking their old 11s and actually enjoying the outdoors. I’m not sure where my fascination with capturing youth comes from but there’s something beautiful about looking through my lens at kids taking the same footsteps I took. I don’t want to play into the trope that my generation, and those who follow, are all technology obsessed and unable to enjoy ‘traditional’ activities, because it’s not true. The unsuspecting were deep in conversation with one another, indulging in eating and preoccupied with playing as I snapped away that day. Sure, every city has a history, but this isn’t a lesson. I want this series to allow you to submerge yourselves in others’ footsteps, to think about their lens and the beauty of observing the observant.
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