Anyone who has ever been to a beach knows that the ocean has both a high and low tide, depending on the time of day. For a beach-goer, that often simply means moving back a bit when the water starts splashing up towards your beach chairs and towels. However, this natural phenomenon means much more to photographer Michael Marten, who documents the spectacular occurrences through an impressive collection of diptychs.
Sea Change is an ongoing series that captures the differences of high and low tides along the coast of Britain. Marten photographs the landscape from exactly the same location at different times of day. It is almost unbelievable to see a side-by-side comparison of the dramatic changes between a beach first filled with people and then, later, completely submerged in water.
Marten says, “I hope these photographs will increase awareness of natural change, of landscape as dynamic process rather than static image. Attending to Earth’s rhythms can help us to reconnect with the fundamentals of our planet, which we ignore at our peril.”