As Real As It Gets

© Thomas Nolf

As Real As It Gets is a photography project by Thomas Nolf that explores the human need for escape through aviation culture.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Nolf rediscovered his childhood dream of becoming a pilot. At a time when travel was prohibited, he installed the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator on his computer and embarked on a virtual journey. The memory of the slogan “As Real As It Gets” — printed on the box of Flight Simulator 1998 — inspired him to seek out plane spotters around international airports and meet flight simulator pilots at home. Through their fascination with aviation, they found ways to keep their dreams alive or to temporarily escape from reality.

Flight simulator pilots are passionate about building cockpits at home.
Some mount multiple screens to their desks, while others use actual aircraft parts to create immersive environments. These simulators offer a structured escape from the chaos of everyday life — a world where navigation is often harder. In the cockpit, with its switches and procedures, they find structure, autonomy, and control.

The plane spotters, on the other hand, operate in the real world. They observe, document, and photograph aircraft with great precision.
While most stand at a safe distance along runways, a more adventurous scene unfolds at Maho Beach in Saint Martin (Caribbean), where tourists gather in the jet stream of approaching planes. Against a backdrop of turquoise water and azure skies, they feel the thrill of jets skimming just overhead before landing a few hundred metres away — a spectacle that has turned Maho Beach into an iconic holiday destination.

Nolf combines photography with simulated imagery, personal diary text fragments, and childhood snapshots to explore aviation’s romantic and dreamlike appeal. His refined compositions and colour treatments echo the stylised, almost surreal aesthetics of video games, film, and advertising.

Whether photographing Maho Beach or a runway in Miniatur Wunderland, Nolf frames each scene to highlight its artificial, staged quality. The people in his images appear caught in a still, stylised version of reality — suspended somewhere between fiction and truth.It’s within this ambiguity that the project thrives, blurring the lines between documentary and dream.

As Real As It Gets is both a collective portrait and a personal story. It reflects on our shared desire to escape, to find freedom — if only for a moment — and to dream of flight in a world that often feels heavy

click to view the complete set of images in the archive

Published by Art Paper Editions
Design & Edit by Thomas Nolf & Jurgen Maelfeyt
March 2025, English, Dutch
24 × 30 cm, 200 p, ills. color, hardcover
ISBN 9789083438481

Texts by Thomas Nolf & Arnon Grunberg

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