17th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Wave patterns rippling across sand

This is a photograph of wind patterns I found imprinted into sand dunes. Upon seeing them, I was struck by the similarity all waves have across different mediums; from water, to air to these sandy dunes, waves crop up in surprisingly consistent ways. When I developed the photograph, I felt there was an uncanny consistency between the sand in the image, and the grains of silver halide crystals of celluloid. I intentionally left the brackets of the film in this scan as it highlights that strange relationship, and reminds us of how wonderful the medium of real celluloid is.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2018
Date Uploaded: 11.2019
Photo Location: Winnemucca , Idaho, United States of America
Copyright: © Curtis Tamm