THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER # 1 – Split

On my way to Mostar, I decided to take the scenic route—via Split. Direct flights from Glasgow on EasyJet made it almost too easy. Hard to believe that 30 years ago when I first visited Croatia – it was still a war zone and getting this far would have meant three separate flights, a patchwork of airports, and hours of waiting. Now, in a single flight, I was over the Adriatic and already glimpsing Croatia’s sunlit coast. I had seven hours in Split on the 28th of September before my bus to Mostar, just enough time to wander, observe, and let the city reveal itself slowly.

For this visit, I chose to shoot entirely in black and white—a conscious nod to the old days of analogue film. Stripping away colour allowed me to focus on textures, contrasts, and the quiet poetry of light and shadow. The stone streets, the weathered façades, and the Adriatic sparkling faintly in the distance seemed to whisper of time passing, of moments suspended between past and present.

The temperature was warm but softening, the light fading and sometimes flat. Summer’s sparkle had gone, leaving a gentler, quieter glow. Yet even in the waning season, traces of summer lingered. Some people clung to it stubbornly, lingering over ice creams, strolling along the promenade, or savouring the last warm evenings before autumn’s cool grip arrived.