A different approach to ice.

One gray winter’s day in 2007, my husband and I decided to visit the Ice House that Microsoft Canada had built for the launch of Windows Vista and the 2007 Office System, where people could have a look at the latest software.

A person who works in computer technology couldn’t possibly miss that. Despite the freezing weather, there was a long line to visit the pavilion. My husband and I accepted out fate of standing in it. Either it was so cold that the people didn’t stick around too long, or we were just lucky, but in some twenty minutes we made it inside the pavilion. Another pleasant and lucky circumstance came about when we ended up standing right next to two guided tours. There weren’t many people in my way, and I so took lots of photos. However, because the weather was particularly gloomy, the lack of any direct sunlight meant that not all the photos turned out well. Besides, it was a long time ago, and I was hardly even a beginner in the field of photography.

Next to the pavilion.

And now, here’s a bit of ice in a more natural environment. That day was most wonderfully sunny, and there was a great variety of icicles around.

This wonder of nature was located on somebody else’s private property. I stamped around at a reasonable distance for a while. My presence must have attracted some attention from the owners of this artful piece of ice. A woman came out of the house and wondered what I was up to. I immediately confessed everything, and she laughed and let me take as many photos as I wanted. I wanted to take very many indeed. Here’s a selection of what I found to be the most successful shots.

Each lightning condition lets us capture ice in a unique way.
I enjoy seeing things a little differently with  all the books about photography that I have been reading recently.