Photographer Casey Kelbaugh Stumbles Upon Spring Break in Miami

When New York City-based photographer Casey Kelbaugh was a college kid, the notion of “spring break” was a remote one, influenced more by popular culture than by actual lived experience. It came as a bit of revelation, then, when the photographer accidentally found himself in the midst of a full-fledged, booze-soaked party scene unfolding on the shores of Miami Beach.

Miami Beach is often buzzing with a sense of youthful abandonment and barely concealed sexual currents, but on this particular Friday afternoon–and the two days that followed– things were palpably kicked up a notch. Complete with topless beer pong tournaments, twerking showdowns, and fistfights, this was the kind of moment in which we are all invited to be voyeurs, and where the lines between audience and participant become uncomfortably blurred. Ultimately, though, Kelbaugh prefers to remain an outsider looking in; “Would I go back in time and do it myself? Not if you paid me,” concludes the artist.

To see more of Kelbaugh’s spring break adventures in Miami, check out the full project here.

All images © Casey Kelbaugh

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