A preternaturally svelte and icy en pointe
A preternaturally svelte and icy en pointe.
Great Hills Park; January 17, 2018.
© 2019 Steven Schwartzman
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Your caption took me a minute, since I’m not really a fan of ballet, but this does look very much like a toe shoe!
Robert Parker
March 4, 2019 at 12:00 PM
And I needed your comment, Robert, to understand! Thanks! 🙂
Pit
March 4, 2019 at 12:51 PM
Maybe I should have mentioned a toe shoe in my text.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 1:01 PM
😀
Pit
March 4, 2019 at 1:07 PM
The truth is I’m usually more inclined to think of tofu than a toe shoe.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 4:53 PM
I’m inclined to neither. 😉
Pit
March 5, 2019 at 9:38 AM
Chacun à son goût.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 10:10 AM
Exactement!
Pit
March 5, 2019 at 10:21 AM
I got it instantly! What a find! What a great artist’s eye you have!
Anita Westervelt
March 4, 2019 at 3:13 PM
It seems you got it much sooner than I did. Occasionally when I photograph something I’m aware that it looks like something else, but in this case the resemblance dawned on me only today as I looked through my archive from 14 months ago.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 4:52 PM
I don’t remember noticing the resemblance last year, but when I looked at my archive today the likeness was ineluctable.
You and Steve Gingold and Tom Whelan have posted so many crystalline pictures recently that I figured I had to do contribute something. While Austin dropped slightly below freezing this morning, I checked the frostweed and found no activity, so last year’s archive filled in for the lack of anything current.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 12:55 PM
It’s quite cold again, isn’t it? brrrrrrrrrrrr 😉
Pit
March 4, 2019 at 12:52 PM
According to the local television news, noticeably colder in Fredericksburg than here. Have you seen any frozen water there? None here so far. The forecast for tomorrow’s early morning is 28°, which still isn’t cold enough and won’t last long enough for ice. That’s why I reviewed my ice pictures from a cold spell we had last year.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 1:00 PM
Well, it’s definitely not as cold as my preferred weather service [Weather Underground] says for the station closest to our place, and it’s not freezing just now, but the night was very cold, especially with a strong Northerner. The water in our bird bath is still frozen solid, and there’s a good layer of ice in the water trough for the deer.
Pit
March 4, 2019 at 1:07 PM
Then if you’re so inclined you might get some good pictures of ice formations. I wish I had that opportunity.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 1:35 PM
Well, I’ll have to see. Yesterday it was too overcast, and today it’s getting warmer. So I don’t know how long. What I do know, though, is that I’m terribly lazy. 😀
Pit
March 5, 2019 at 10:12 AM
There’s certainly the pull of staying inside where it’s comfortable and cozy.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 10:18 AM
Exactly! 😀
Pit
March 5, 2019 at 10:20 AM
Truly does look like an ice sculpture of a ballet slipper. So much color in one icicle.
Jet Eliot
March 4, 2019 at 1:32 PM
I think there was no intrinsic color in the ice but it picked up colors from the limestone overhang nearby. You’ve made wonder whether an ice sculptor has ever made something like what nature provided here.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 1:39 PM
I took some macro pictures of icicles last year and it was amazing to see partially melted snowflakes in them.
floresphotographic
March 4, 2019 at 2:10 PM
Can you point us to any pictures of that that you posted?
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 4:35 PM
I didn’t post them on here. I will have to search for them and upload as a new post, then I will notify you.
floresphotographic
March 5, 2019 at 12:15 AM
Okay. Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 7:17 AM
I have posted a pic of the icicle with snowflakes in it on my page.
floresphotographic
March 8, 2019 at 3:10 PM
Thanks.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2019 at 5:21 PM
It’s the heel that makes this resemble a toe shoe. Lovely light and glistening appearance to the ice.
tomwhelan
March 4, 2019 at 7:37 PM
So you’re saying this is a well heeled ice formation.
Last winter’s brief cold spell provided a rare chance to do ice pictures like you northern photographers.
Steve Schwartzman
March 4, 2019 at 9:13 PM
Thanks, this is delightful.. I recognised the ballet term in your title and was stunned to see your photo.. perfect match!
Ms. Liz
March 5, 2019 at 2:39 AM
You’re welcome. I wonder how often icicles end up looking like this. I don’t recall ever seeing another one.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 7:39 AM
Perfectly poised for the role of the Snow Queen.
Gallivanta
March 5, 2019 at 4:20 AM
You prompted me to look up the Snow Queen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snow_Queen
Somehow that story by Hans Christian Andersen seems to have escaped me all these years.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 7:47 AM
I don’t remember it being a big part of my childhood.
Gallivanta
March 5, 2019 at 9:39 PM
I learned other fairy tales, but apparently just by chance not that one.
Steve Schwartzman
March 6, 2019 at 6:29 AM
I knew what to look for because of your title, but I was surprised to see how perfectly the ice resembled a dancer en pointe. It might have been sculpted. On the other hand, the internal structure of the ice resembles the muscles and tendons of an extended leg, and I don’t think a sculptor could have created that. It’s a wonderful photo.
shoreacres
March 5, 2019 at 8:26 AM
It was the seeming musculature beyond just overall shape that clinched it for me. I believe you’re right that a sculptor wouldn’t have thought to create that. My one wish is that I could have had a background without that dark diagonal, but icicles form where they form and I couldn’t do anything about it.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 10:09 AM
And I was just hung up on the idea of ice in Texas. Rumor has it we are going to have spring after all, up here. Birds are arriving! Maybe we’ll even make it into the teens today….
melissabluefineart
March 5, 2019 at 10:04 AM
We got the cold weather but no ice or snow to make two overnight freezes in a row worthwhile artistically. That’s why I had to dig back into last year’s archive for this icicle. I’m sorry to hear that up in your neck of the woods today even the teens are iffy. Still, I think the rumor you’ve heard is true.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 10:14 AM
Have you ever been to Mississippi? I have found a charming little town there that has sweet cottages for very affordable prices. I shall have to drive down there in August to see whether I can handle the other extreme, of heat. Texas is beautiful but I need more water.
melissabluefineart
March 6, 2019 at 9:13 AM
I’ve driven across the Mississippi Gulf Coast several times but haven’t spent much time there. I didn’t know you were interested in it. Texas also has a long coastline and of course that means plenty of water. You might look up the Padre Island National Seashore. Linda can tell you much more about the Texas coast.
Steve Schwartzman
March 6, 2019 at 5:02 PM
Good suggestion~thanks.
melissabluefineart
March 8, 2019 at 8:48 AM
Sho’ ‘nuf, suga’.
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2019 at 9:10 AM
Nice!! The photo and the caption 🙂
M.B. Henry
March 5, 2019 at 5:01 PM
Thanks. The world of words found me before photography did, and I’ve kept up with both.
Steve Schwartzman
March 5, 2019 at 7:31 PM
When will the other toe-shoe drop? That’s an awfully nice Texan icicle.
Steve Gingold
March 8, 2019 at 6:45 PM
Actually I could’ve dropped in—even thought of dropping in—another icicle picture because I had several that I liked from that session last year. None of them resembled toe-shoes, but even though they looked different I didn’t want steal any attention from this one. I did show a couple of icicle pictures from this outing last year when they were current:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2018/01/20/another-way-in-which-our-water-still-remembers-how-to-freeze/
Steve Schwartzman
March 8, 2019 at 6:59 PM