Eliza Waters

On New Year’s day, because snow was forecast, I went out for an hour and shot 122 pictures of ice on our stream from the waterfall to about two hundred feet downstream. A bit extreme do you think? (Probably not, if you are a photographer.) Once the snow fell, the opportunity would be past. Wrapped in down, I endure frozen fingers and feet because ice captures my imagination and it is ephemeral. It changes constantly, growing or shrinking with the fluctuation in temperature. A warm rainy weekend before Christmas cleared the stream of previous ice, so with the drop in temperatures a few days prior to New Year’s, new formations were growing steadily. Suddenly frigid temperatures produce ice quickly, clear as glass, with edges fluted like crystal and these I love the most. All sorts of exquisite patterns form in and under clear glazing. There are chandeliers, mounds, tiers, feathers, scalloped edges, sharp daggers, fingers, bubbles suspended in time, geometric patterns and swirling waves in frosted white. It is a challenge to capture what I see because the eye makes adjustments better than a camera, so I shoot many times until I am satisfied. Even then, I can feel frustrated because truly nothing can replace the real thing. But I am driven to create the best image that I can of these crystalline and fleeting gifts of winter.