Tag Archives: ice

Glare From the Noon Light

by John Thurston

Yes, this is the noon light, not the moon light. Early in January, the sun doesn’t get very high in our sky. It rakes in very low, and there are often shadows mid-day caused by the sun being obscured by some mountains. In earlier folios, you have seen where the ice meets the land. This is where the ice meets the lake.

Catching the dawn light on the glacier is a tricky business. By definition, it involves starting the mile and quarter trek across the lake (either by skate or by ski) before dawn. It requires a bit of nerve to lace up my skates and set out across the lake in the dark with a pack loaded with camera gear. Once there, in the pre-dawn light, the challenge is to find the image that will be there when the sun arrives.

In this case, I caught the light on the extreme face of the glacier.  There is nothing for scale, but the hummock to the right is probably only four feet high. That makes the face about 30 feet high. The lake ice in front of it (as well as where I’m standing) is a mass of re-frozen crumble. At any time, the glacier may slide forward and wrinkled the ice for many yards. The lake is also littered with bergs which have fallen off the face. If that should happen, the resulting waves will leave broken ice for half a mile. I have never been there when it happens, but the evidence that it does happen is recorded in the ice at my feet.

This was shot with my TL120-55 on a tripod in January, 2010.

Linda Nygren

by John Thurston

All of these images were taken with my Sputnik which was tuned/rebuilt by Ted Baskin. All taken with tripod. The exposure is unrecorded but most likely using f/32 (or whatever is all the way past f/22 on my Spud) and 1/25 second on Provia 100.

  • Beach “Cottage”, Naples Florida
    The public beach at Naples Florida gives views of many such humble abodes. Note the Sea Grapes and Sea Oats in the foreground. A little dark, but I still like it.
  • Cypress Trees
    Near the Kirby Storter boardwalk in the Big Cypress Swamp area of south Florida
  • Shoreline at Solbakken Resort, Lutsen MN
    The Lake Superior shoreline is one of my favorite places, with special charm in winter. I try to visit every Jan or Feb, as well as once or twice yearly during other seasons.
  • Lake Superior Ice Breakup
    Unlike smaller MN lakes, the big lake does not freeze over completely in the winter. But during periods of calm more sheltered areas will freeze, then will break up periodically due to wave and wind action and the sheets of broken ice pile up along the shore. The sound when it is breaking up is also awesome (in the original sense).

Re-seeding Images

by John Thurston

My contributions for re-seeding our folio are all from the Mendenhall Glacier area of Juneau. These are near-duplicates of some work I offered in FolioA-Loop 23 (Raining Under Ice, Path To The Underworld, and others). As the folio-box fills and we need the space, I’ll have these images pulled and returned to me to make room for others’ work.

  • Pulled Out TL120-55, tripod, ProviaPulledOut
    Two kayaks are pulled out of the Mendenhall Lake on a scrap of gravel which, two years ago, didn’t exist. As the glacier melts, the rock face on which I’m standing was been exposed to the light of day and the creek (in the foreground) which used to tunnel under the ice falls freely into the lake. I walked in over the peninsula behind me. These two folks were able to take the easier route and paddle around.
  • Freshly Exposed Rock TL120-1, tripod, Kodak EGFreshlyExposed
    As that ice melts, new rock appears. This is rock which has never before been exposed to the light of day. The bit of ice on the right is actually the edge of the glacier. Two weeks ago, the rock in front of my camera would have been under the edge of the ice. It has been ground and polished by the weight of the ice being pressed up it. When I walk the peninsula, I have the opportunity to be the first to tread on a patch of ground.
  • On The Edge TL120-1, tripod, ProviaOnTheEdge
    This is a bit farther down the rock face. In another week (or maybe two), this face will be free from the press of ice and out in the light. If you were to crawl and down, you would probably reach the lake. I, however, feel too mortal to attempt the journey.
  • Under The Blue Dome TL120-55, tripod, ProviaBlueDome
    This is rock which has not yet been exposed to the light of day. It has spent centuries under the ice and will likely be exposed next year. Until then, it is lit only by the filtered blue light that makes it through the ice. Photographing here is a bit of a challenge. The light is dim, it is always raining melt water, and the roof is going to collapse; it’s just a question of when.

Raining Under The Ice

by John Thurston

Scan001098

This image is made much farther under the ice than Path To The Underworld. It felt, however, much less dangerous and I spent almost half an hour enjoying the space and composing images. A cavern like this this has required months to open and is fairly stable and mature, while the sliver revealed in Path is probably only weeks old and still changing rapidly.

If you have a wide-angle viewer, this would be an excellent time to bring it out. In any case, you will need a bright viewer to reveal the details in the wet floor, but this is my favorite from the set of images I made that day.

This was shot with my TL120-55 on a tripod.

Path To the Underworld

by John Thurston

Scan001099Another image shows what’s going on above the ice, but here we’re down under the edge of the ice. We’ve gone back in time far enough that this section of rock has never seen the light of day. The wear-grooves are visible in the rock as are the gravel and sand which the ice used to make the the grooves. Next August, I may be walking on this section of stone, though I doubt I’ll be able to locate it exactly.

Walking around the cliffs above the glacier can make you feel small. But screwing up the nerve to climb down and place a tripod under the glacier makes me feel mortal (and upsets my wife).

Tripod mounted TL120-1