Shifting horizon by Geert Van Baelen

With this photograph of a menacing cloud cover above a deserted beach, I wanted above all to play with perspective. By not treating the horizon as a fixed and recognisable feature, but allowing it to shift, as it were, the way we view the landscape changes. What at first glance appears to be an ordinary beach scene thus begins to evolve more and more into an abstract image.

The sky occupies a large part of the frame and creates a stark contrast with the empty beach. Clouds, sand and water increasingly blend into one another visually. The horizon seems to lose its familiar function as a dividing line between sky and earth and instead becomes a moving element within the composition.

I was searching for that moment when a photograph begins to detach itself from reality. The original setting remains recognisable, yet at the same time becomes something else: an interplay of textures, lines, planes and colours. The beach is no longer just a beach; the sky is no longer just a sky. Through perspective, an image emerges that becomes almost painterly and abstract.

For me, that is precisely where the appeal of photography lies. A photograph does not always have to be an exact representation of reality. By looking at shapes, light, colour and perspective, a familiar landscape can suddenly take on a completely different meaning. In this image, I particularly wanted to evoke that sense of alienation, as if reality is slowly beginning to shift.