Ice

[Tom Robbins]

Love the stuff, but the mild temperatures this winter has resulted in few opportunities to photograph it. Northern Illinois this morning was around 10 degrees F, so I headed off to Matthiessen State Park, just a couple miles south of the Illinois River.

Ice following a one inch stair step in the creek:

http://www.pbase.com/salty_one/image/73309525.jpg

A suggestion to anyone setting up a tripod in cold water - don't retract the legs while they are wet! You won't be able to extend them again until you can thaw the tripod out.

[Mike Spinak]

Tom,

I, too, love photographing ice.

http://www.mikespinak.com/images/frozenpuddle1.jpg

Thanks for sharing the nifty picture, and thanks for the reminder about the tripod.

www.mikespinak.com

[Tom Robbins]

Hi Mike,

Cool concentric rings - great image!

The change of seasons is a wonderful thing, don't you think? After several months of summer, I get tired of green, green and more green. Then, after a couple brief months of fall, I get tired of orange and brown. Hmmm...after an eternity (just kidding) of winter, I eventually get tired of the harsh (dynamic range) shades of ice and snow. Then again comes spring, hope eternal, and around we go again.

Tom

[Erik DeBill]

The change of seasons is a wonderful thing, don't you think? After several months of summer, I get tired of green, green and more green. Then, after a couple brief months of fall, I get tired of orange and brown. Hmmm...after an eternity (just kidding) of winter, I eventually get tired of the harsh (dynamic range) shades of ice and snow. Then again comes spring, hope eternal, and around we go again.


Around here we have different colors and timings. After 5-6 months of summer, I never get tired of brown and green. Then in fall, there's a brief month of yellow and orange and brown. And green. Our major trees all keep their leaves. For winter, it's back to brown and green for a month or so. Spring is 2 months of green and blue and yellow and orange and red and white, desperately blooming before summer comes.

One day I'd love to compare the differences in seasons in different places. I used to drive from Central Texas up to northern Kansas fairly regularly. In the Spring it was like going back in time. The corn got shorter, was harvested, got tall again and then started getting shorter. Chicks unfledged themselves, nests were unmade and birds began courting.

I can imagine a photographic project, with pictures of the same places taken at intervals, shown together. You'd see the same field/tree/stream/waterfall every month of the year, and you could compare early March in Austin, with Kansas City, Minnesota, northern California, Maine and Florida.

I started on doing that here in Austin, but dropped it after ~8 months when I realized I hadn't picked a good spot to take the photos. If I was going to do it again I'd want to pick several different locations in the area and be less rigid about the exact day (I was trying to always hit the exact same day of the month). Then I could pick the best/most representative picture for each month.

[Tom Robbins]

If I was going to do it again I'd want to pick several different locations in the area and be less rigid about the exact day (I was trying to always hit the exact same day of the month). Then I could pick the best/most representative picture for each month.

Eric,

This is a great idea. Limiting yourself to one particular subject, or vantage point, would certainly reduce your options. Especially as sunlight angle, warmth (color temp), and seasonal changes in surrounding elements all have an impact. A scene with an easy dynamic range in summer could, for example, be all but impossible in the winter.

The resulting images would work great in a calendar or as a montage.