Ice

Last winter my Sunday nature series was frosted over. Remember picture after picture of ice formations? So far this year, my hunting expeditions have not yielded great photo ops, but while I tromp through the snow, I’ve been thinking about the weather conditions that make the best ice photographs.

1. Moving water – like a river or a fountain. No splashing – no stalactites.
2. Temperatures just below freezing. This year we had a hard freeze right after the first snow, and the Red Cedar River crusted over.
3. Sunshine. Yeah, it’s all about light. Unfortunately in this part of the world, when the temperatures warm up to freezing, the sky is often overcast.*
4. Lower water level. As the water freezes, the river level goes down, leaving ice formations high and dry.

I’ll keep searching.

*To be honest, that sentence should read: Unfortunately in this part of the world, the sky is often overcast.