Tuesday, December 29, 2009

have an ice day

icicles

[i realize this post is about two weeks late, but better late than never, i guess…]

snow-coveredPine
the snow was awesome…

icedBranches_01
…but the cocoon of ice that encapsulated all of the branches of our towering trees was even better. when the sun broke through the thick, broiling blanket of clouds, there was a point at which the treetops looked as though they were littered with a million tiny, glittering diamonds.

of course, i failed to capture that spectacle, what with me on the ground and possessing the distinct disadvantage of not being 40 ft. tall. so i had to shoot everything at 500mm from what felt like a worm's-eye view, leaving the glistening ice on the other side of the branches (i.e., the top) while the view through the lens revealed a less appealing scene (i.e., the not-frozen, non-glistening underside of the branches).

icedBranches-flicker_02
i was blessed to have a northern flicker alight for a bit on one of the frozen treetops, giving me a nice shot of the eye-catching gold underneath his wings.

icedBranches-flicker_01
silver and gold…what a perfect combination for this special time of the year.