Fire & Ice / Octopus's Garden / Rainbow Waterfall

My husband brought in some ice on this day that was an absolute hall of famer. It was just spectacular, and by that I mean several things:

1) It was perfectly clean and clear.
2) It was mostly but only partially frozen, with water glurping inside it, so that meant that when I dumped out the water, there were crystals to be had; I always think of these as ice bridges, as in the shot above.
3) It was replete with those bubble escape tunnels such that the ice was full of light and very reflective.

My photography tools were these: a block of ice in a square clear Pyrex bowl, a string of colorful plastic beads to put under my ice, a white headlamp to light it from below, and a piece of clear plastic to nestle the headlamp under. Assemble items. Dump out water. Flip ice chunk over so its fresh crystals are on TOP. Turn off lights. Take photos!

I can't believe how many photos I took of the ice on this day, and I'm not going to reveal any numbers, as you would mock me for my ridiculosity. Somehow I can't help sharing my obsessions, though, so here we are with THREE ice abstract shots for this day.

I started with the crystals, which are ephemeral. They eventually melt and crumble into dust. So above is a representative shot of that part of the process. I almost thought those golden yellow things on the top left looked like sunflowers!

The bubble escape tubes were so much fun to work with, and they glistened and shone and put on quite a show. There is a shot in the extras that has some pink tones in it. It was born with a name: Octopus's Garden, like the song.

I made some photos from the sides of the ice, with my colorful plastic beads at the bottom. You can see a shot of my Rainbow Waterfall in the extras. Yes, all of that color is the beads reflecting and refracting through those clear, beautiful bubble escape tubes.

My ice lasted most of the day. In the afternoon, I placed it in the tub drain, hoping for another chance at nubby ice, but it melted so fast, my head spun. I came back into the bathroom and looked: gone, gone gone! "My ice has melted," I said sadly to my husband. I could have cried. It was so beautiful, so wonderful. What glorious ice.

I have several songs floating around in my head. First is Pat Benatar, with Fire and Ice. Second is the Beatles with Octopus's Garden. And third, for my escape tube bubbles, a song from the Journey Album Escape: here is Open Arms.

Bonus link: more ice abstracts from this set on Instagram.