On a cold December night I went out to this pond on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona.
Just a few hours earlier, the daytime high reached 59 degrees Fahrenheit. A warm winter’s day at this high of altitude.
I envisioned myself photographing the movement of the stars reflected in the waters at the Kachina Wetlands.
And so at about 11:30pm, I headed out. When I approached the pond, the air temperature was 28 degrees, and I saw a rind of half-inch thick ice around the edge of the pond.
After I set up the tripod, I looked through the camera’s electronic viewfinder. The reflections on the pond sure did look strange. I wondered why I couldn’t see points of stars in the water.
I shrugged and set camera to do an hour’s worth of long exposures. To keep myself warm and awake, I queued up my “Atmospheric” playlist, popped in my earbuds, and paced the edge of the pond while enjoying the night sky.
As I approached the far edge of the pond and turned around to face the moon, my jaw-dropped. I realized what was so odd about the pond. It appeared as if the entire surface was coated with ice!
But in the dim moonlight, I wasn’t 100% sure — and I sure as hell wanted to know.
So I searched the ground for a rock. It surprisingly took a couple minutes walking the path to find a good sized one.
Finally I picked up a stone about the size of my fist. I chucked it out into the middle of the pond, waiting for a splash.
A couple seconds later a distinctive sound reverberated through the night air.
“Pa-TUNGGGGGGGG!”
I smirked.
Welp, the settled it. The pond was definitely frozen over.
But I let my camera keep running. I didn’t get the effect I’d planned, but did create a pretty unique image of star trails over a frozen Kachina Wetlands.
That’s it for today’s Daily Dose! Hope you enjoyed.
-Jake
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