Our neighbors on Mill Hollow Rd. have an awesome tradition of creating an ice sculpture every winter. They run a hose during the coldest part of winter and let it freeze into a unique shape. They set up a light box inside, so it glows at night. I have been having fun photographing it at sunrise and moonrise the past few weeks. It takes on different shapes as it melts, and a unique hole developed about a month ago. It was fun to try and position the moon through the hole. It is getting much smaller each day and soon it will be gone, but I was able to capture some light paintings of it a few nights ago using a flashlight. Here’s to you, Bart and Joanne! Thanks for brightening up our neighborhood!
Thanks for stopping by for my weekly blog post. I would love to hear which are your favorites, so feel free to leave me a comment. Enjoy the last few days of winter!
I am digging these pictures, especially the ones with the colorful light reflecting on the snow with the view of the city. I wish I could have photographed these.
Thanks, AJ! Every time the light has been good, I try to grab my tripod and run up the street to capture a new view. A few days ago, I noticed it is almost melted, so I tried a few light paintings just after sunset. It was interesting to see the different light temperatures between the city lights, the light inside the ice sculpture and my LED flashlight. It was quite the combination!
I CANT HANDLE THE MONEY!!!!!! These are amazing! “Dark Moon” and “Yellow moon” are my top fans!!! Your lighting is superb and the colours in the horizon are stellar!. I’m afraid you’ve nailed it, yet again!
It is great to hear from you, Tim! It was nice to have something fun to shoot, so close to my house this past month. 🙂
I’ve watched this every day as I drive by. It’s so fun! The light they have inside it is great. What a fun quick easy place to just run to from your home. I love it in the morning with the bright sun and so very pretty in the dark with the moon. The light painting was a great idea!
Thanks, Rebecca! It is great to hear from you and I am happy you have been able to enjoy this ice structure. You must be on the way to the junior high.. haha.
Very fun! What I like about all these photos is how you got all the color in there! It really adds to the photos and makes me think that the cold winter snow isn’t so bad after all. 🙂
Thanks for sharing the inspiration!
Thanks, Dustin! It has definitely been a fun little self-assignment for the past few weeks. And winter is a fun, colorful time… Haha! A bit milder in Boise though?
Oh my goodness these are so beautiful. I love the different times of day, especially the sunburst shot. I also love the rich cool winter sky colors. I love how you captured the different phases of the ice sculpture. Most of all how did you catch the moon to look so stunning? Just gorgeous. Great work as always!
Thanks, Katie! I used a ND gradient filter on the Nikon 16-35 lens I used to bring out the sky color. Whenever possible, I like to do my “editing” in camera to save time in post production. As for the moon, the key is to take several bracketed exposures, then use either Photomatix or layer masks to bring out the best exposures for each area of the image. I did this manually, rather than using Photomatix. If you don’t get a good exposure to show moon detail when you try bracketing the shot… Then just take a separate manual capture of the moon to exposure perfectly to see the crater detail. Of course, you need to zoom way in, and shoot the moon just after it comes up. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for sharing. Who knew Rexburg has some creative sculpting.
You are welcome, Jason! Do you know of some other places in the area who also do creative ice sculptures? I have heard of some up by Driggs, but have not seen them. Thanks for the comment!