Brrrrrrrrrrr!
The temperatures have been below freezing for more than a week. Although we have found plenty of indoor photo projects during the frigid winter days, we have also discovered opportunities for unique images only available during frosty, freezing, winter days.
So bundle up, put on your photo gloves with the fold-back finger-tips, take a thermos of a hot beverage and get out there!
Frozen Soap Bubbles
This is hard to do, but a lot of fun if you succeed. First, you need a really cold day, best if less than 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and little or no wind, so that usually limits opportunity to just a few days a year in our neck of the woods in Pennsylvania.
The recipe that worked for us is:
- 35 ml dish soap
- 35 ml corn syrup
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 200 ml warm water
Stir the mixture and use a plastic drinking straw to form the bubbles. It helps if you can do this early or late in the day to get some backlit sun on the bubble. Then, keep practicing until you get it! It is amazing to watch how quickly the clear bubble forms crystals and converts into an opaque, crystal-covered dome!
Ice Patterns
When streams and creeks first freeze, they create some wonderful graphic designs. So pull on your warm, water-proof boots, and get out there on the first few really cold days. Look at the edges between the deeper water and the shoreline for the most interesting patterns. And you can create a truly unique image – one that no one else will ever get – nor will you ever get the same image again. 
Window Frost
Not sure everyone has the same opportunity we do. Our windows are old and not completely weatherproof, and maybe that’s why we attract frost. During extremely cold days, amazing patterns appear on the outside of the storm window. When they appear, we quickly jump at the opportunity to get out the macro lens and tripod and do our best to capture these amazing patterns. They look like exquisite lace, or feathers. But you need to be quick – later in the day if the sun hits the window, or the temperatures rise, they will disappear.
Nature’s beauty is fleeting. Here is a gallery of some of our favorite frosty photos – enjoy!
For best viewing, click on first photo below to enlarge, then click right arrow on keyboard to scroll through the gallery.
