I am inviting you to join me for the Artist's Reception on Friday, September 29th at 6pm. Come see my photographic storytelling images in person. I would love to see you there!
This is not your ordinary artist’s reception, either! It will be a catered event with gourmet appetizers and a no host bar. And of course, the exhibit itself!
Out of My MindOut of my mind...
Cost of the reception is $10. Includes wonderful gourmet appetizers, the full exhibit and a no host bar. Call the center at 800.988.4253 for tickets to the reception.
I am honored to be one of the artists invited to share their unique approaches to photography. I am exhibiting 11 of my photographic storytelling images. Photography Expanded: Distinct Approaches is a group exhibit of 11 photographers that were personally invited by the art center to share their unique style of photography in their upcoming exhibit.
If you have not been to the California Center for the Arts Escondido you are missing out. It is beautiful, it is large, and it is filled with light! It is a full-on museum of art. I would love to see you at the reception on September 29th, but if you can’t make it to the reception, please go during the show to see this unique presentation and to enjoy this beautiful and impressive facility.
The exhibit will run September 30-November 12, 2017.
Canadian Rockies Winter 2013Ice Bubble of Abraham Lake
Before you start getting the impression that I am some kind of wild adventure woman, I need to confess that I am not! Well, that's not completely true. I do love adventure and I am willing to go to adventurous and unusual places, especially if it is different than where most people (especially other photographers) are going. Sometimes I get roped into doing things I wouldn't have normally done on my own. Walking out into the middle of a frozen lake with cracks everywhere at the break of dawn in the coldest of winters is definitely one of those things. Like most other adventures that I have been on, I am so very glad I did!
Let me set the stage for you. It is February in the Canadian Rockies. It is before dawn. That means it is dark out and it is extremely cold, snowy, and very windy. So we head over to Abraham Lake, in hopes of photographing the elusive ice bubbles. Abraham Lake is located in the Kootenay Plain, a less traveled and unpopulated area of the Canadian Rockies. There are no ski slopes or touristy shops and definitely no crowds here in the Plains. The Plains do not receive as much precipitation as the rest of the Canadian Rockies, so the ice that forms on the lake is polished and clear because of the powerful winds.
If all the conditions are just right, you might be fortunate enough to see the amazing and fantastic ice bubbles that form on Abraham Lake. The formation of these bubbles is due to the methane gas rising from the bottom of the lake and then attaching to the underside of iced lake. As the ice on the lake thickens, each subsequent bubble gets trapped into stacks like a suspended group of jelly fish in the ocean.
Dressed for a blizzard and camera gear and tripod in tow, we strapped on our crampons, so we can walk onto the lake without making fools of ourselves. I even had to put spikes on the ends of my tripod legs so the wind wouldn't send my equipment dancing across the frozen lake. It is very freaky walking on frozen ice, especially this particular ice. There are frozen cracks everywhere you step. Getting to the bubbles can be very dangerous and it is extremely important to go out on the lake with someone that knows what they are doing. The first several minutes my heart was beating wildly as I feared falling through the ice and freezing to death instantly. As I got further out onto the lake, I looked down and I was completely amazed by the sight before me; huge ice bubbles clumped together in groups, looking more like unusual jelly fish trapped under the surface than frozen bubbles!
With my nose dripping everywhere due to the cold air, frozen fingers despite the hand warmers inside my insulated gloves, I got low to the ground with my tripod and camera, so as not to be blown over, and set everything up as quickly as possible. Then we waited for the first light of the morning sun to come over the mountain.
Photographing the ice bubbles was a profoundly unique and moving experience. The resulting image is a compilation of 5 photos, in order to capture the full range of color and light that my eyes took in. What a glorious sight to behold! Yes, it was all worth it.
One of the most exciting and terrifying experiences I have
ever had was exploring an ice cave with a mountain guide in a remote area of
Folljokull, Iceland this past January.
A few things that our mountain guide taught us is that ice caves are temporary structures that appear at the edge of
glaciers. The ice is centuries old and is highly pressurized and contains almost no air. The
lack of air allows the ice to absorb almost all visible light. This is why the ice appears so blue.
The ice caves are formed as the result of
rain, snow and ice melting on the glacier surface. Streams form and
enter the glacier through the crevices. The sediment in the
surrounding soil causes the water to take on a muddy color while the top
of the cave retains a blue tint. Some
glaciers move quite rapidly, up to 1 meter per day. This causes the ice
to
crack forming the cave.
After donning helmets, our guide instructed us where to walk and where
to stand, so as not to be in the path of any ice walls that may break
off. He pointed out one area in the cave where we could not stand, as
he had heard it cracking just the day before! Once I began
photographing, I lost all fear of dying and was focused upon the task at hand .
The
resulting photo shown is a combined series of 5 images ranging in exposure from very dark to capture the detail of the sky, to very bright so that I could capture the detail of the interior of the cave. I then merged the 5 together to increase the range of tones. This makes it possible
to see all the detail inside the cave at the same time as the stormy sky
that is outside the opening of the cave.
