Rineke DijkstraDe Panne, Belgium, August 7 1992 1992

This is a large-format colour photograph of a girl standing on a beach. Holding her arms awkwardly to her sides, her palms pressed against the tops of her thighs, she stares intensely at the viewer. She is wearing a black and white stripy swimsuit and has a fine gold chain around her neck. Pictured in bright sunlight, she casts a shadow on the sand directly behind her as her long, black hair streams out to her right in the wind. The image is formally composed. Dijkstra used flash in combination with natural light and a narrow depth of field, placing only the foreground and subject in focus, with the result that she appears artificially illuminated… (read more)