Last New Moon of WInter

If I'm honest about how I was able to do this, it will be less magical. Maybe this will just have to be one of those times when I keep some details to myself.

I'll say this much... for many months I was really looking forward to making a sculpture of the March New Moon. I had been aiming towards this all winter because usually the weather and timing is good for working this one. Can I help it if the snow in the meadows vanished weeks ago?

What surprised me completely was all the black that showed up in the ice. These are the tiny bubbles that all ice usually has in it. All my previous times of working with and shooting ice, I've had white ground to work with which meant the bubbles would reflect shades of blue from the sky and snow. But here, all around, the ground was bare and reflected nothing of the sky, only the blackness... so the bubbles are black, and it makes the piece far more textured than I had anticipated.
As the sun went lower, there were a few moments when the top rim of the sculpture lit up like it was on fire! The photo here in blogspot does not do it justice... it was brilliant orange, but only for about 20-30 seconds.

Also of note is how the interior of the piece is changing... there was a very warm wind blowing up the hill and this thing was melting by the second. I wasn't sure there would be enough left by the time we could see the moon..




But there was just the thinnest layer left by the time the sky was dark enough to capture the moon well. My other camera, with the telephoto lens locked up on me so I couldn't get the shot I really wanted which was with a bigger moon, but this works very nicely. I was also pleased to see Venus made it into the bowl of the sculpture just in time! Then I waited a wee bit longer. It was quite dark by this time... these are long exposures.... I heard a small crash and I knew the top had fallen off. I waited a little more for it to get just a bit darker and for the moon to really settle into the bowl of the ice crescent... and then, without being able to see it all to frame it, I took 5 more shots... ONE was great... this one.
I had been dressed for the warm winds and by now I was freezing but I'm soooo glad I stayed till the end to get this "crescent in a crescent" shot... this was what I had in mind for the last several months and I'm really pleased with the results.

Now I have to get back to the computer and do more editing work for the DVD... not sure when I'll have more new images to share, but we may have a surprising blast of cold middle of next week.. it may be cold enough for one more piece !!!

The DVD editing is going really well. Ed is being really patient with me as we go thru this slide by slide... but he's got a real feel for this process and I'm sure it is going to be a really wonderful program when he's all done with it.
Happy New Moon Everyone !!