If you stand at the beach just half a meter inside the water, you will notice that from time to time, a few ripples pass by on their way to the shore. As they run around, they cast beautiful patterns of light and shade onto the sand beneath them. The patterns change very quickly. In a fraction of a second they metamorphose to other shapes and vanish before your memory can record them. They are quicker than our thoughts.

Every wave brings a different assortment of ripples – single or multiple, short or long, straight or curved, thin or wide, clustered or sparse – and together they draw beautiful patterns on the sand. Having a convex surface, the wavelets act like elongated magnified glasses. Round grains of sand transform to bars as the wavelet passes above them. The ever-changing patterns resemble a natural kaleidoscope, created for our enjoyment.