In Between Sea and Sky, fine art photographer Soo Burnell turns her lens toward the space between what we know and what comes next. Quiet, dreamlike, and deeply personal, the series explores transition through suspended figures that seem to exist somewhere outside of time, caught between holding on and letting go.

The collection marks a new chapter in Burnell’s practice. Known for her carefully composed studies of architecture, historic swimming pools, and public spaces, Burnell has long been drawn to stillness. Here, that stillness takes on a more intimate form. Architecture recedes and the human figure becomes central, floating against expanses of blue that offer few clues as to where, exactly, they are.

Between Sea and Sky emerged from a period of profound change. Burnell began developing the collection while navigating grief following the loss of a close friend. At the same time, other areas of her life were moving forward, bringing positive transitions of their own. The resulting photographs hold both experiences at once: grief and possibility, closeness and distance, endings and beginnings.

“As I thought about these pieces, I wanted to capture a sense of calm and quietness,” Burnell explains. “To me, these figures feel very calm, suspended in time, and I wanted to hold that feeling in each photograph while also creating space for the viewer to bring their own life experiences and perspectives to each piece.”

That openness is essential to the series. Burnell does not prescribe a single narrative. Instead, the figures become vessels for experiences that are at once personal and universal. They reach, fall, embrace, and drift. Some appear intimately connected; others seem alone even when another body is near. There is tenderness in their proximity, but also an awareness that no moment can be held indefinitely.

For Burnell, these figures are not entirely new. They are characters carried forward from earlier stories within her work, now placed into an unfamiliar visual world.

“The figures are the characters from the stories I have told before in my work, so this collection is also a continuation of these familiar narratives although it feels very different visually,” she says. “For me, Between Sea and Sky is a study about love and connection. It is about holding on but also understanding when to let go, and offering that space to evolve into whatever our next chapter of life might be.”

There is no clear beginning or ending within the photographs. Instead, Burnell focuses on the moment in between, when the past remains close but the future has already begun to pull us forward. It is a fleeting and fragile space, but also one filled with possibility.

With Between Sea and Sky, Burnell offers a meditation on the inevitability of change and the connections we carry with us through it. Suspended somewhere between sea and sky, her figures remind us that letting go does not necessarily mean leaving something behind.