Description

Pelican Catching a Log Fish in Ice Water

The art piece was discovered in an ice pond using a macro lens and reveals an abstract appreciation of the shapes. To the photographer and artist, a pelican is seen to the left of the image with a wide open beak pursuing one of the two fish swimming in the water.  The shapes of the fish look more like logs.  The small ice ponds in the local park were the source of this photograph.  The macro lens allows the capture of the minute detail, otherwise not appreciated fully by the naked eye.  There has been no electronic alteration to the art of natural form.

The formation of ice crystals and shapes in the thin ice require special winter conditions. In this case sharp white lines form a variety of shapes. Waves of water in the ice form the corrugated structures.

The Science

Ice crystals are solid ice.  The shapes that are formed include columns, needles, plates and dendrites. Freezing cold and water are basic ingredients. Temperature and humidity determine crystalline forms.

On the day I photographed the image, the conditions were ripe. A  “bad” snowstorm in February 2016 with 8-12 inches of snow, was followed by a Valentines day of zero degrees Fahrenheit, and then followed a day later by a morning with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  Ice ponds with transparent, and often cracked thin ice, could be found all over the park  As I looked more closely at these ice ponds with my macro lens – my breath was taken away by the geometric forms of nature.

Just a click of the camera and a moment of time in nature, likely never to surface again, was captured.

Related categories:  forces, shape, units to unity, time, bonds and connections, forces, water theme