Capturing a different side of Marseille

For many photographers, knowing when to wrap up a photo project is the one of the hardest parts of the job. Luckily for Isaac Lamb, that decision was made for him.

“Summer was petering out in Marseille and a huge storm passed over the city,” he says. ​“It went from summer to autumn in 24 hours. It was like the universe’s way of saying, ​‘It’s done’.”

The Essex-born photographer first visited the city last year with his then-girlfriend; while she was busy getting a tan and dipping in the sea, Isaac got to work photographing locals. ​“I’ve got ADHD, which makes it hard to just sit on the beach,” he says, laughing. His first port of call: kids cliff-diving from as high as 30 feet.

And there you have it. Much like what seems like half of London over the last few years, Isaac had caught the Marseille bug – so much so, he decided to move out there for three months, intent on integrating himself in the city’s culture.

“It’s become a sort of cliché to go to Marseille”, he admits, ​“and a huge part of the culture is kids doing wheelies, Nike TNs and people jumping off cliffs, which means a lot of brands will go there to shoot. But there’s so much more to the city’s youth culture. The only way to show that is if I go and live there.”

Now, Isaac’s released a new photobook: Pastis and Hashish. It’s a sun-drenched account of the coastal city, capturing kids stretched out on rocks sunbathing or looking clear-eyed into his lens, visibly comfortable. In some shots, Isaac visits his subjects at home – his photographs of Hamza and Helen, for example, show the couple in their kitchen, surrounded by drying plates and saucepans. She’s wearing a navy mini-dress; he looks to the camera in a thobe and TNs.

Isaac met Hamza and Helen on the bus – he, originally from Morocco, was working as a delivery driver in Marseille. Helen, meanwhile, was visiting from New Zealand. They made eyes at each other and swapped numbers, but ultimately lost contact. A year later, Helen came back to the city and bumped into Hamza, who was beeping her on the street. They fell in love and she moved to Marseille.

This story encapsulates so much of what Isaac loves about the place. He speaks about the geography of the city, its mountainous landscapes and coastal mouth that opens onto the Mediterranean sea and the melting pot of Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian cultures that seep into the city.

But it would perhaps be remiss to talk about Marseille without mentioning its gentrification or, as Isaac jokes, its slow transformation into ​“Hackney-on-sea”. For the photographer, remembering that it’s a small community is key. ​“Not a lot of people have money in Marseille and after Covid, a lot of Parisians bought properties there and turned them into Airbnbs –it’s the same thing you’d see somewhere like Barcelona. Rents have gone up and so have the prices of beers and sandwiches.”

He mentions there are plenty of great Marseillais spots that specialise in small plates and wine – but if you’re visiting those, it’s also worth checking out ​“local Tunisian and West African restaurants and support them, there’s just so much good food there from that part of the world.”

Pastis and Hashish is available for purchase now on Isaac’s website. A portion of funds will be going to youth charity, Collectif Jeunes Exilés en Lutte.