Backbone of Time

I had been walking south of Pismo Pier, crested a sand dune, and saw the rippling formations of the creek leading to the sea. The sun was already low on the horizon and I knew that if I were to have a good chance of getting the mood and light that I wanted I would need to hurry. I rushed down—and into—the creek, where I considered several locations for making the exposure. Not until I had decided on a position for the photograph did I set up the tripod and camera (which I had left on the sand nearby). Because of its wide latitude, I decided that Fuji NPH (ISO400) film was best for this photograph.

There was no luxury of a long exposure time. First of all, I wanted to hold the shape of the ripples, without blur. Plus, the tripod was in the creek, and the water was moving the sand and the tripod. I made my first exposure, then bracketed three or four more.

I expected that printing would be difficult, and it was. The film was scanned to yield about 100 megapixels. The challenge in creating the print file was in bringing out the very dark areas of water and holding their royal blue color. Very slight changes, even as small as one unit, at the low end of the luminosity curve had considerable effect. The task became a matter of mapping by hand each point of the darkest tones. After putting it aside several times, I got the result that I wanted.

Ripples in the creek water create the illusion of vertebrae curving toward the sea. The flowing water, the perspective, the evolutionary implications of the backbone imagery, and the setting sun create visual prose of the relentless advance of time. Like crown jewels connecting land and sea, the texture and light on the sand are truly regal, and the water shimmers in the late light.