A series of images collected in 2010, captured during travels in North America and Europe.

2010 New Years greetings to everyone. I’m posting some photos taken during the recent days of crystal clear but cold weather (-15C to -26C, 5F to -15F). Its a time when everything seems to come to a frozen standstill, everything except the last remaining moisture in the air which condenses as crystallized ice on all the surfaces. Much of it crystallizes directly in the air causing an endless flow of glittery sparks as it refracts in the golden beams of sunlight in the mid afternoon.

There will not be much to report for a few weeks but I’ll be posting some material from my archives.

Gathering inspiration from the metal fence highlighted in the previous post, I spent a few hours wandering Tampere to search for other metal fences and railings with similar resonant qualities. There were many, each with their own characteristics. The two I highlight here stood out. But there was also a practical reason for not recording more, it was windy and the temperature was just below freezing. In these conditions your fingers and equipment starts to go out fairly quickly. I’ve ruined numerous rechargeable batteries, nearly given myself frostbite and I suspect caused some dead pixels on my digital camera sensor because of working in below freezing weather (as a warning to others who might find themselves working in the cold).

metal railing beside highway (played lightly with a mallet): mp3 file

metal railing under highway bridge (untouched): mp3 file

Just under these railings was the kind of dirty roadside snow that usually indicates the beginning of the muddy spring thaw time when the white crystalline image of winter starts to fade. Rather than see this as a mildly depressive image I found it to be a fertile environment for investigating macro landscapes.

And as I was taking the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn we past through the final remains of the frozen Baltic sea, a large field of ice pieces broken into a tapestry of cracks that were seemingly held together by subtle magnetic forces. For some reason my camera enhanced the cyan spectrum, casting a blue light over the sea-scape.

These are some images I captured yesterday after a fairly cold evening (-10c) left ice crytal formations around our yard. Reading up on the process of crystallization gave some insight into these amazing forms. The “growth” of crystals is built on a complex layering of structures embedded within structures implying fractal-like behaviors that begin at the molecular level (although there still some mystery surrounding this). The knowledge of artificial crystal production is quite vast yet difficulties in producing the perfect conditions is often cited. This puts a different perspective on my tolerance of the cold weather knowing that it is also the ideal conditions for the delicate process of ice crystallization, a sublime expression of nature formed from one of the most commonly available substances.

With the recent temperatures falling far below zero, the lakes and rivers have finally frozen over. Its a special moment because there has not been any snow to cover the ice. The ice on the pond next to our house was clear enough to see fully through. There were bubbles and leaves frozen still and preserved just below the surface.