Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Icy surprise

I spent some time this past weekend at Ash Cave in the Hocking Hills region.


While I'm all for the wide-angle shots that seem to be required of something as large as this ice formation, I'm more about the macro shots as I'm sure you know by now.

Some subjects lend themselves to macro photography more than others, and ice is actually kind of tricky when it comes to macro. I had to really keep my eyes open to find something unique. Finally something caught my attention. Tiny limbs that were frozen just below the surface of the ice.


Interesting, but not terribly unique. But then I looked around and found a few more twigs under the ice, finally landing on one that was very unique.


I didn't really even fully realize what was going on with this until I looked at the pictures when I got home. The ice twig was cupped upward when it landed in this spot, and the ice grew up from the tips of each offshoot...




...giving the impression of a hand reaching out of the ice. How cool is that?


To see other icy images from this visit to Ash Cave, please visit my nature blog.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

That IS cool... Like I've said before, you've got a great eye for photography!

Kelly said...

...very cool....makes me think of a tree frog's suction cup fingers! :-)

Heather said...

Tricia - Thank you so much!

Kelly - Ha, I like the way you think! ;)

KaHolly said...

Wow, Heather, that's incredible! At first I didn't see it, then when I scrolled down I was in awe. What an eye for the unusual you've got there. It's kind of a shame it will all melt away. ~karen

Meg said...

I totally agree with KaHolly--an "eye for the unusual." I just love the "hand."

Heather said...

Meg - I love that hand, too. I was so excited to see it materialize when I looked at the picture on my computer screen.

Heather said...

Karen - Thanks for your comments. It is a bit of a shame that it all has to melt away, but I know it will be replaced with something equally beautiful!

Mark said...

What a great find! I am glad you were able to preserve it forever.

Heather said...

Mark - I love it when I happen to stumble across something so unique, and being able to photograph and preserve it forever is icing on the cake!