Photography by
Ward + Kweskin
By
Micah Frenkiel

Styling by Karolyn Pho. Talent: Wiley Archbold, Ben Cardoza, Noah Cardoza, River Covey, Kennedy Cusato, Rachel Fleming, Mya Harry, Nick Melanson, Andy Nieblas, Ana Ordorica, Karina Rozunko, and Brendan Sepe. Hair by Ramsell Martinez at Lowe & Co. Makeup by Homa Safar. Casting by Lauren Ward.

SALAD DAYS BY WARD + KWESKIN


“We couldn’t wait to get out of San Clemente,” Alex Kweskin recalls of his adolescence, very likely one of the only times in human history that these words have ever been spoken—or even so much as thought—about his idyllic coastal hometown. The proof is in the photos.

Kweskin and his wife Lauren Ward, who together form the West Coast-bred, East Coast-based photography duo Ward + Kweskin, returned to Southern California to capture these dreamy, improvised portraits in a series they call “Salad Days,” a Shakespearean idiom alluding to “a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person.”

From left, jacket by BILLY [found].Top, talent’s own.All vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles. All jewelry, talent’s own.
Left: Shirt, talent’s own.Right: From left, all vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles.Vintage sweater from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. Jeans by BILLY [found].
Jacket by Wrangler. Trousers by The Gap.

The pair evokes the enviable, deliciously mellow lives of local teenagers as they go about their average weekend, shown in repose, basking in the salty air as they make out in front of mint green walls and vintage cars, sipping beers and playing guitar along their precious stretch of empyrean Pacific coastline. They appear totally and deliriously consumed by the relish of one another’s company, and, according to professional surfer Karina Rozunko, one of the subjects, this glee is entirely genuine. “We’re all from San Clemente or the South Orange County area and we grew up surfing together,” she explains. “Everyone has been close, close friends, like family, since we were twelve years old and nothing’s really changed.”

Kweskin builds on this same notion, detailing the distinct culture of his oceanfront stomping grounds: “There’s a thread that runs all the way back to the Fifties of Herbie Fletcher and the Beschens, these somewhat counterculture surf crews—”

“Free surfers, not as a sport,” Rozunko interjects, “but as a complete life.”

“They live and breathe this life,” continues Kweskin. “It’s a thread that has run through many people of San Clemente outside of really competitive surfing. There’s this underbelly of rebellious spirit that lives in that counterculture. Karina and everyone are a continuation of that tradition.”

When asked about his shared return with Ward as a collaborating couple to San Clemente, Kweskin becomes understandably nostalgic. “I left San Clemente right out of high school and moved to Los Angeles when I was eighteen,” he recalls. “She followed shortly after. We were always trying to get out of San Clemente, but now that we’re older, we have a whole different perspective.” Kweskin’s words become clouded by the cacophonous blitz of New York traffic, an appropriate ode to the stark distinction separating the utopian seaside dream town of his childhood from his present on the opposite coast.

Left: Jacket by Levi’s.Right: All clothing by BILLY [found].
Top: Jacket by BILLY [found]. T-shirt, talent’s own.
Jacket by BILLY [found]. T-shirt, talent’s own.
All clothing, talent’s own.

wTLM_SaladDays_9

Jacket by Levi’s.
Left: All clothing by BILLY [found].Right: Jacket, talent’s own. Trousers by Dickies.
From left, all vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles.T-shirt, talent's own. Jeans by BILLY [found].
Left: From left, jacket by BILLY [found]. T-shirt, talent’s own.Vintage jacket from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. T-shirt, talent’s own.
From left, sneakers by Converse.Overalls by BILLY [found]. Top, talent’s own.
Shirt by BILLY [found]. Hat, talent’s own.
Jacket by Levi’s.

wTLM_SaladDays_17

Left: Shirt, talent’s own.Right: T-shirt by BILLY [found].

wTLM_SaladDays_19

Left; From left, jacket by BILLY [found].Top, talent’s own.All vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles. All jewelry, talent’s own.Right: Vintage sweater from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. Jeans by BILLY [found].
From left, all vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles. All jewelry, talent’s own.All clothing, talent’s own. Sneakers by Puma.T-shirt by BILLY [found]. Vintage trousers from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. Sneakers by Converse.

wTLM_SaladDays_22

From left, shirt, talent’s own.T-shirt by BILLY [found].
Left: Jacket, talent’s own.Right: All clothing by BILLY [found].
Left: Wetsuit, talent's own.From left: T-shirt, talent's own. Jeans by BILLY [found].All vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles.
Shirt, talent’s own. Trousers by The Gap.
Left: From left, all vintage clothing from Painted Bird, Los Angeles.Vintage sweater from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. Jeans by BILLY [found].Right: From left, t-shirt, talent’s own. Trousers by Dickies.Tank top, talent’s own. Trousers by Dickies.

From left, jacket by BILLY [found]. T-shirt, talent’s own.Vintage jacket from What Goes Around Comes Around, Los Angeles. T-shirt, talent’s own.





Photography by
Ward + Kweskin
By
Micah Frenkiel

Styling by Karolyn Pho. Talent: Wiley Archbold, Ben Cardoza, Noah Cardoza, River Covey, Kennedy Cusato, Rachel Fleming, Mya Harry, Nick Melanson, Andy Nieblas, Ana Ordorica, Karina Rozunko, and Brendan Sepe. Hair by Ramsell Martinez at Lowe & Co. Makeup by Homa Safar. Casting by Lauren Ward.

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