What does a wildlife photographer photograph when there is no wildlife to be seen? That was my dilemma, yesterday when we finally had some sunshine after a series of dreary days. I wanted to be out in nature with my camera, but I also wanted to avoid people as much as possible. Weekends are particularly problematic as crowds of people flock to popular areas, so I deliberately chose a remote trail at Huntley Meadows Park that took me past a partially-frozen pond.
There were no ducks or other birds at the pond. Instead I encountered a series of wonderfully abstract patterns in the thin ice atop the pond. A long telephoto zoom lens might not have been my first choice for these kinds of shots, but it worked remarkably well in capturing some of these patterns.
Initially my favorite image was the star-like pattern in the first photo below. Increasingly, though, I am drawn to the final photo that brings to mind a satellite or drone photo of a frozen mountain range at the edge of a sea.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
These are really beautiful, I love the textures in them.
Thanks, Jessica. The textures really struck me too. Our temperatures have been alternating between just below freezing and mostly above freezing and I suspect the melting and refreezing cycles have helped to produce these effects.
You can always break out your phone and take 100 selfies. Seems to work for my daughter! Lol
I have never understood the fascination with selfies–it must be a generational thing. I don’t know if you saw it, but last winter I did a posting with my kind of selfie. https://michaelqpowell.com/2020/01/17/my-kind-of-selfie/
textures, are wonderful… so glad you made creative use of your time and talent!
Thanks. Although I photograph primarily wildlife, I try not to get stuck into a single niche and welcome the chance to express myself sometimes in a more artistic way like this.,
Beautiful 👍🏻
Nice Mike! Ice is fun to photograph!
No ice to photograph here in Tucson. Plus, there’s no water. We have had so little rain for months now — no water in the streams, washes, creeks, or rivers. That’s why I say, “ice is nice.”
Thanks, kenne. Precipitation is not a problem here. Yesterday a number of the dirt trails I was on were really muddy and wet feet were not all that comfortable with the temperatures in the upper 30’s.
I love images like this, Mike.. Well done.
Thanks, Dan. Our winters tend not to be as harsh as yours, so seeing ice on a pond is a bit of a novelty for me. 🙂
Glad you got a chance to capture some ice patterns, Mike. Always interesting to see what Jack Frost has marked. 🙂 I imagine that isn’t a common thing in your area.
We sometimes have snowstorms that drop a lot of snow on our region, but that has not happened in a number of years. The ponds do freeze over, though, and one of my absolute favorite shots ever was one I took of a fox on a frozen pond (https://michaelqpowell.com/2016/01/31/fox-on-a-frozen-pond/).
Nice Ice, Mike, I especially like your third one.
That’s my favorite too. The way that WordPress displays photos in the reader make me reluctant to use one in portrait mode, because it will be cut off significantly in the thumbnail for the post.
These structures in frozen water can be real art work. Nice shots !
Thanks. Most of the time I try to photograph living creatures in the wild, but sometimes patterns or textures or reflections or lighting capture my eye and my challenge is to capture images to share the moment with others. Beauty is all around us and art is everywhere.
In with you- the final image settles over you, like a leaf print. Brilliant, do like the star though too!!!
Thanks, Damien. The final image leaves lots of room for imagination–like looking at shapes in the clouds. The “star’ has a cool geometric form that makes me think of artists like Mondrian and Calder.