Ripples

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 1/25 · ISO 200
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Wind sculpts intricate sand ripples across the dunes of Tin City. This remote settlement, built from salvaged materials, endures the coastal elements. Sunlight highlights the delicate patterns on the shifting landscape.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

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A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

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Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Ripples
Series: Tin City
Catalogue: TCI-031
Process: Giclée
Captured: 1 February 2018
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/25 s
ISO: 200
Focal length: 24 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Wind ripples cover the upwind face of a dune behind Tin City, a fine pattern of parallel ridges running across the slope in a single direction. The ripples are small, around the width of a finger, set in close repetition. The wind that made them was the prevailing southerly that runs up the coast. The sand catches the early light low and from one side, throwing the ridges into shadow on their downwind face and bright on the upwind. Where a footprint or vehicle track has crossed the slope, the ripple pattern is broken; the rest of the field is unmarked. The dune itself drops away behind the ripple frame.

The Stockton Bight is the largest mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere, in the NPWS's wording. The dune field migrates approximately 4 m northward each year on the prevailing winds, but the surface ripples re-form much faster: any wind strong enough to move sand will rework the upper layer in a single afternoon. The ripples in this photograph belong to the day they were taken. They will be gone by the next strong southerly. The dunes themselves are slower: at the pace they move, a Tin City shack at the south end of the settlement has a generation or two before it has to deal with the sand catching up to it.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Sand rises in a smooth, wind-rippled drift against a low corrugated iron shack. The dune reaches halfway up the front wall, burying the threshold. A satellite dish and television aerial sit on the roof. Two outdoor chairs stand on a narrow strip of ground to the left, pressed against the cladding. Diamond-pattern security screens cover the windows. The sky is heavy and grey.

Brett Patman

The series

Tin City

2018 · 37 photographs

Two tin sheds were put up on the Stockton Bight dunes in the late nineteenth century to hold provisions for sailors shipwrecked on the beach. During the Great Depression a group of squatters built a series of shacks around them. The settlement that grew became Tin City, on Worimi country, in the largest mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.