Wanderlust: 14 Photographers & Artists Share Their Dreamy Summer Dispatches

Wolfgang Tillmans

France, 1987

“He was a fellow traveler I did not know. I was touched by the beauty of this moment. It was August, and I was in the South of France on the Interrail. I went on my own for the most part, but in Nice I met my best friends, Lutz and Alex.”

Sofia Coppola

Greece, Provence, Monte Argentario, and Belize, various years

“I love the European tradition of taking August off, being with family and friends in the sun, living meal to meal. We try to go to France every summer to see our family there. My father-in-law makes great rosé at Château-Thierry.”

Chris Rhodes

Todos Santos, Mexico, 2025

“This was my first time in Todos Santos. I enjoy harsh sunlight and work best when exploring a new place. I’m drawn to everyday subject matter—I’m inspired by the grocery store in the same way I am by a majestic landscape. This photograph was taken outside the fruit stall I would visit each morning.”

Pamela Hanson

East Hampton, 2024

“We bought a house in East Hampton in 1999 and go a lot of weekends all year round. We have a small Boston Whaler we use to hang out in the bay, usually when we take friends out with little kids. There’s a group of us who get up early as many mornings as we can to water-ski.”

Ming Smith

Baltic Sea, 1987, and New York City, 1983

“The man in the top image is Hamiet Bluiett, one of the members of the World Saxophone Quartet. I was with my ex-husband, David Murray, who is a member of the quartet, touring in Europe. In the bottom image, I was with my family, celebrating the beginning of summer vacation. We were at an Italian restaurant called Mamma Leone’s.”

Martin Parr

Elie, Scotland, 2024

“I am always looking out for strange places where people play cricket. I heard about a pub in Scotland overlooking a beach where the games can be held only at low tide. Here they are in a match wearing all the traditional cricket whites.”

Alec Soth

Road trip from Minnesota to Virginia, 2023

“I had a small job in Virginia and thought it would be fun to drive and take pictures along the way. On roadsides, I’d gather wildflowers and take them into abandoned houses, where I’d arrange them in found glassware. One home felt magical, but the doors were locked and it looked too tidy to have been fully abandoned. After doing some sleuthing, I tracked down the owners. They gave me a key, and I spent a few hours making still lifes.”

Jamel Shabazz

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2010

“The reason for the trip was the annual Addis Foto Fest, where I was an exhibiting photographer. A passerby saw me with my camera and pointed me in the direction of this high school. All of the students were dressed in traditional Ethiopian garments. Despite the language barrier, I was able to communicate with them using my portfolio, showing them photographs of Brooklyn in the 1980s. To my surprise, everyone agreed to let me photograph them. I spent four hours in that one school, shooting both film and digital until my batteries died.”

Senta Simond

Marseille, 2021

“I don’t skate, but I grew up in a skate environment, so I feel quite connected to this world. Margot is a skater from Marseille. Not so many girls were skating at this time. She impressed me.”

Inez and Vinoodh

Kyoto, 2023

“It was our first time in Kyoto, and it blew us away. We had coffee at a tiny café that used the holy water from the shrine it was positioned next to for the cappuccino. We had longed to see the Katsura Imperial Villa, as this particular room, with its rice-paper screens, had been a source of inspiration for our home in the Hamptons.”

Grace Ahlbom

Death Valley, 2024

“Every fall, my dad and I travel to one of America’s national parks. This started sometime during the pandemic, when he bought a lifetime pass. We would set our alarms to 5 a.m. to give us enough time to catch the sunrise. Driving through the desert in the dark really created the effect that we were on planet Mars.”

Tim El Kaïm

Marrakech, Morocco, and Fécamp, France, 2024

“My son wanted to take pictures of me and my wife with my camera, which he had started to do earlier that summer. The other images on these rolls are a mix of sky, floors, and sometimes half a face or leg.”

Takashi Homma

Jeju Island, South Korea, 2023

“It had been a while since I swam in the ocean instead of a pool, and it was a beautiful but slightly scary experience.”

Maripol

The Caribbean, 1977–1979

“Love the warm blue water, the sun, the coconut water fresh from the tree. The girl with the long black skirt is me, shot by my boyfriend, Edo. Being photographers, we just shot and shot. Notice the Polaroid camera with our equipment, and my Frederick’s of Hollywood leopard shoes.”