Other interpretations welcomed.
These were tricky to capture. I like to be directly above these as subjects to more easily capture all the detail in a flat plane. But the ice had melted and refrozen with an air layer between the two, or three, levels and that made for a very thin upper crust. I had to have the tripod straddle just right or it would have broken the ice which did happen accidentally after I was finished.
I really liked the way these fit together. It would have been so fascinating to see them develop.
I am not sure about all those fine lines at the bottom. They weren’t cracks made by me but might have happened and refroze as for the time I shot these nothing changed until I was done when I tried for another composition.
We are much warmer for the rest of the week but a few nights at the end will be fairly cold. More ice to come, I hope. If it stays warm than more ice will become a morass.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Or they could be the ghosts of long, jungly leaf-fronds. I think these are my favourites of your ice photos. Will you be sad to see the ice go?
LikeLiked by 3 people
My favourites too Ann, outstanding photos 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Liz! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I m glad that you enjoyed these, Ann. I will be sad if there is a prolonged period before flowers start to show up. Having naught but bare trees for subjects isn’t quite as exciting as ice or flowers. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know what you mean there…here’s wishing us lots of flowers soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very nice ice pattern images Steve!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Reed.
LikeLike
Wow. These patterns are so cool and so unusual–I don’t think I have ever seen ice patterns like that in real life or in photos.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Mike. I am always happy when someone says that I have shown them something new. I don’t see them in a sweeping or swirling pattern like these often but similar does happen when there are freeze/thaw days and nights. The ice with these white patterns is usually raised over some other ice with air in between.
LikeLike
The swirls in both pictures are great, and in the first one they even complement each other.
The sound of the word “morass” makes us hope you end up with less than you did on February 22nd.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Steve. I wondered about using that word since it could have connotations. Thankfully I did not end up on mine again.
LikeLike
These are really elegant and wonderful, Steve!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jackson. I appreciate those words.
LikeLike
Absolutely bleeping spectacular! Wall material.
LikeLiked by 3 people
They certainly are!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Mike. That’s some nice praise. I have several ice abstracts from over the years that will be put together for an exhibit one of these days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’ll be a great exhibit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The accolades are rolling in Steve and I add my own. These images are real beauties!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Liz. I am glad that folks are enjoying these. I was excited when finding them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this shot! And I like Ann Mackay’s description.
They also look like a freeze-frame of someone fanning open the pages of books.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Robert. Funny about the fanning pages. Where I work someone used to display books that way only with the pages curled down like ribbons on a present. I work in a furniture store, probably have mentioned that before, and we set up rooms to look like a home rather than a lineup of twenty sofas etc. So there are accessories on tables and it drove me nuts to see the books turned into rosettes or whatever that might be called.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Neat, and well captured. I agree it would have been fascinating to see these patterns develop.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Ellen. I’d like to capture that someday, but not sure if I’d want to leave a camera trap so far from home.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very cool formations, Steve, looking like plant fronds to me. Of course. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I would think they would appear to you that way. 🙂 Thanks, Eliza.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t see dusters, but I certainly saw feathers — they remind me of the elegant tail feathers of peacocks, or pheasant. I’ve never seen anything quite like them; I tried imagining how they could form, and I didn’t get very far. I’m glad you were there to capture the result, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Linda. Feathers was where I started but the doubled pattern made me think of dusters.
I am guessing that the underlying water or maybe wind must have something to do with the shaping but I haven’t found a lot of information on ice patterning. I guess it falls into the category of Nature’s chaos.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The good news is we don’t have to understand it all to admire it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not worried. If it’s cold we get more incredible images from the Ice King, if it warms you will soon be showing us spring flowers. If they had to be a chunk of time in between I have no doubt that you will have other gems up your sleeves.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Mud patterns might be something. 🙂 I’ll be hoping for a few days with some nice spring fog. It is Nature after all. Beauty everywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like to suggest that the fine lines at the bottom may have been made by faerie ice skaters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like those whose skates would leave trails of frost in Fantasia? I like that idea.
LikeLike
You even have fans in nature!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s nice to have fans wherever they may be. Thanks, Dave.
LikeLiked by 1 person