Strand Oostende

Strand Oostende is a long, wide stretch of soft sandy beach. This beach feels like it stretches out endlessly and at low tide the water pulls back so far it leaves a huge sheet of wet sand. That smooth surface mirrors the sky and is amazing around sunset, when low light skims across the ripples and footprints for clean texture and long shadows. The coast faces roughly northwest, so in the summer months the sun drops straight into the North Sea, giving you colour over open water with nothing in the way. Line up the rows of white wooden beach cabins for a strong repeating element, or use the curving promenade and the seafront buildings behind it to anchor a wider frame that holds both the city and the sea. Patches of grass on the low dunes give you foreground when you want something closer. Access is easy straight off the promenade, with plenty of open sand to spread out and work. (Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium)