Sunset curtain
- 📍 Location: Cap Blanc-Nez, Escalles, Côte d’Opale, France
- 📅 Date: 2022
One woman standing at the end of a railed platform, and between her and the horizon a single column of light running down the sea from the sun. The water was rough enough to break that column into thousands of separate glints, which is what gives it the texture of a curtain.
I framed upright and put her low, at the bottom of the column, so the eye comes down the light and arrives at a person. Vertical was the only option: the subject is the distance between the sun and someone looking at it, and that distance is measured from top to bottom.
Exposing for the sun leaves the platform, the railing and the figure as pure silhouette against a sky that runs from deep grey-blue down to orange. There is no detail anywhere below the horizon, and none is needed.
People come up here in the evening and stand still for a long time without saying anything. I photographed her from behind, at a distance, and left before she turned round. Some pictures are better for the subject not knowing.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
