Just Sharing: Puddle Ice

[Tom Robbins]

A small area adjacent to the Illinois River with no drainage has remained wet the last several years. During this time, leave fall off the trees and collect in the pond, creating an increasingly stout tannin "tea". Half a foot of snow has fallen in the last couple of days and temperatures have steadily dropped. As a result, ice is beginning to form at the surface.

I've spent many years stumbling around the woods, but I don't think I've ever seen surface ice patterns quite like these.

[John Angulat]

Hi Tom,
What an intriguing pattern! I've never seen anything like that.
I too would like to know how nature creates such a pattern!

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

A small area adjacent to the Illinois River with no drainage has remained wet the last several years. During this time, leave fall off the trees and collect in the pond, creating an increasingly stout tannin "tea". Half a foot of snow has fallen in the last couple of days and temperatures have steadily dropped. As a result, ice is beginning to form at the surface.

Tom Robbins Puddle Ice

This picture has so many interpretive paths. First there's a woman on the left with oval breasts in embrace with Kama Sutra embrace with another lithe figure to the right. Then if one rotates the image clockwise there are sultry lips. The shapes break up and then we just see a worm bent over on itself.

Later the tree and snow intervenes and it’s a frozen puddle. Still, it does not relapse all the myriad of other living possibilities.

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

I've spent many years stumbling around the woods, but I don't think I've ever seen surface ice patterns quite like these.

Likely they were there, just not so much in the open.

Asher

[Rachel Foster]

oooooooooooooooh nice!

[Cem_Usakligil]

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

....This picture has so many interpretive paths. First there's a woman on the left with oval breasts in embrace with Kama Sutra embrace with another lithe figure to the right. Then if one rotates the image clockwise there are sultry lips. The shapes break up and then we just see a worm bent over on itself.

Later the tree and snow intervenes and it’s a frozen puddle. Still, it does not relapse all the myriad of other living possibilities.

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

I've spent many years stumbling around the woods, but I don't think I've ever seen surface ice patterns quite like these.

Originally Posted by Asher Kelman

....
Likely they were there, just not so much in the open.
Asher

Hi Asher, Tom,

This to me looks much like a classical fractal pattern. Which doesn't diminish the beauty of this picture Tom. But I am a bit divided whether the tree belongs in this picture or not. Thanks for showing.

Cheers,

[John Angulat]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

...But I am a bit divided whether the tree belongs in this picture or not.

For me, the tree offers a sense of perspective (size or magnitude).
Without it, the ice puddle could range in size from something small enough to be captured in macro or large enough to skate upon.
Also, it supports the winter scene, with the snow clinging to the trunk.
I think it's absence would make the image a bit to "Peter Max-ish" for my taste (geez, I'm dating myself, aren't I?").

[Tom Robbins]

Thank you all for your comments.

Yep, that tree doesn't quite fit in, but as John points out, it does offer a point of reference. I wrestled with this point while looking through the viewfinder.

Not much is gained with this closer view, and the sensual aspects, aptly noted by Asher, are missing. Compromise, compromise...

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

Hi Asher, Tom,

This to me looks much like a classical fractal pattern. Which doesn't diminish the beauty of this picture Tom.

Cem,

Perhaps, but without fractals, we may not be here!

Originally Posted by Cem_Usakligil

But I am a bit divided whether the tree belongs in this picture or not.

Cem,

I think that the trees and snow on both sides frames the tea-stained struggling fractal life forms well! Try and remove them and the picture will become rather flat.

Asher

[Winston Mitchell]

I had no idea that ice could look so organic.

Thanks for finding and sharing this.

I like the tree. For me the image would be too abstract without it.

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Tom,

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

A small area adjacent to the Illinois River with no drainage has remained wet the last several years. During this time, leave fall off the trees and collect in the pond, creating an increasingly stout tannin "tea". Half a foot of snow has fallen in the last couple of days and temperatures have steadily dropped. As a result, ice is beginning to form at the surface.

Fabulous! I wouldn't change a thing.

Thanks.

[janet Smith]

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

Not much is gained with this closer view, and the sensual aspects, aptly noted by Asher, are missing. Compromise, compromise...

Hi Tom

I like both of these, but I love this one! I like the abstract quality, the colours and the way you've framed it - very nice indeed!

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hi Tom,

Great catch. very intriguing. It was probably caused by a branch sinking through a partially frozen surface and then it froze over again. Do you have any other views of it, or is this the only one?

Originally Posted by John Angulat

For me, the tree offers a sense of perspective (size or magnitude).
Without it, the ice puddle could range in size from something small enough to be captured in macro or large enough to skate upon.
Also, it supports the winter scene, with the snow clinging to the trunk.
I think it's absence would make the image a bit to "Peter Max-ish" for my taste (geez, I'm dating myself, aren't I?").

Hi John,

Like Cem, I'm undecided. I agree that the tree trunk adds some reality/perspective to the image, but I think that in isolation the abstract shape would do very nicely as a large format print on a wall. Maybe Tom didn't have the possibility to step a bit more to the left, without other 'stuff' getting in the way, but I would have tried to if I had been there. But then I like abstraction in nature, that's why I'm also fond of macro photography, to discover a composition of organic shapes with stunning colors.

Cheers,
Bart

[Tom Robbins]

Winston, Doug, and Janet,

Thanks for your comments. It was certainly an unexpected scene to discover on a snowy day.

Bart,

Your ideas, as well as those of others, played out in my head as I stepped carefully around the small pond. As a result, many variations are stored away and backed up. Here's one of them, sans tree -

The ice was rather more like freezing slush. Lots of snow fell during the night, and it continued to fall while I was there. My theory; this slush froze, or did not freeze, depending on the local chemical composition of the tannin-rich soup in the stagnant pond. The infusion of snow made the lack of homogeneity in the mix evident. I've no evidence for this, so it's just a guess.

[Winston Mitchell]

Now, I know I like it better with the tree ;-)

[Ruben Alfu]

Originally Posted by Tom Robbins

Winston, Doug, and Janet,

Hi Tom, I lean toward this, I see a lot of potential in the abstraction of these forms.