As I've mentioned before, I spend a lot of time in ditches. The ice in this one was thin, so I couldn't walk on it - I had to lean precariously over the ice from the margin and use live view rather than my viewfinder to frame my shots, while taking care not to fall in or wreck my back.
Sometimes the idea of how to crop comes after the fact, but in this case I knew immediately it had to be square. The frozen bubbles, framed diagonally; the horizontal fracture line across the top. Square felt right. I like its formal dimensions. I find it too static for most wildlife shots but just right for some other subjects and situations.
And that golden light seemingly originating beneath the ice. Just remember The Merchant Of Venice: "All that glisters is not gold." (Today we generally substitute the modern word "glitter", but in Shakespeare's day "glister" was a synonym.) Anyway, cold, not gold.
The usual setup here: macro lens, tripod, cable release, because my camera's shutter is not electronic, but rather, mechanical, with moving parts that create vibration. Locking up the mirror helps. Soon only dinosaurs will still be using DSLRs.
I love shooting spring ice; it's always a good exercise in imaginative seeing.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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