Ice castles over in Midway

Arnie, a friend from our camera club, called and asked if I wanted to join him on a photo trip over to the ice castles in Midway.  I've seen them on the news and read about them in the paper.  It is an annual winter event.  I have never been to it and hadn't thought about it as a photo opportunity.

What they do is build giant ice structures.  You walk through them and around them.  That by itself would be a bit boring.  The cool part is that they put colored lights inside the structures and do a poor man's light show.

This is what we saw as we first got there.  The sun was setting and there was still a fair amount of light.

As it got darker, the lights began to have their effect.

I liked this one because there was just enough light in the evening sky to show the clouds on a long exposure.

All sorts of different shapes of ice.

I am not sure what the process was for making everything.  It has to be some fairly slow drip to get all the icicles and not just a giant ice blob.

No color in this one, but it was looking straight up into the sky from the ground.  I thought it was a cool perspective.  The biggest challenge was trying to find the right focus when the camera was on a tripod with the back aimed straight at the ground and the focus points all centered on space.

There were little caverns and pathways.  The challenge was trying to find a shot without a mass of people.

Some of the shapes left me wondering how they were created.

One our way out, we stopped to look at a little fountain they had.  Clearly this volume of water was too much to create the interesting shapes but perhaps it could build a base for something.

But the lighting and long exposures made the fountain look pretty cool.

So, glad I went, but it is one of those things that you check off and don't go back for another few years, or decades. While you don't see it in the pictures, there were hordes of people there on a Thursday night, all paying $10 each. Seems like an interesting business to be in, as long as winter stays fairly cold.

Skiers jumping at Park City

I went over to shoot an event in the half pipe, but it was a bust.  Right next to the pipe are some big jumps and it is always entertaining to watch the local youth throw their bodies into the air.

Bobsledding at the Utah Olympic Park

Julie and I went to a world cup bobsled and skeleton competition last weekend. The only part we saw was the four man bobsled.  I tried getting some good photos, but it is poorly lit, extremely fast, and was snowing pretty hard.














When the teams cross the finish line, they hit the brakes.  They aren't supposed to slam into the walls, but I guess that slows you down.


One cool thing is how close you get to be to the sleds as they goes by. That's Julie watching as a sled goes by.







And my favorite little spectator of the evening.  I love the bundle of jacket, but the AC/DC hat is awesome!

A trip to Heber

The other morning I didn't feel like fighting the tourist ski crowds so I was pondering what to do.  When I took the dog out into the balmy -10 degree weather, we noticed a fair amount of frost on the trees.  When it is that cold in Park City, it is often even colder down in Heber because they sit in a little bowl, which traps the coldest, sinking air.

So, off to Heber to take some pictures.

Before we got to the river where I expected the ice, I saw these cows in the field.  I sympathize with them for having to be out on such a cold day, but how many cows get this kind of scenery?


When I got to the Provo River, the ice wasn't nearly what I had hoped for.  Apparently there was a breeze overnight.  This prevents the best hoar frost from occurring.


It was still scenic though.  You can see the steam rising from the river, which is why this area tends to be great for ice.


These bushes had the right spirit, but they aren't particularly interesting.


One last branch by the river.


Now I started wandering along, throwing Jasper snowballs and looking for anything else interesting.


The seed pods on this plant were really interesting.  Much prettier than their thorny stalk.



And another.


Down in the river, the hoar frost forms on the river ice.


And I found a section with just all sorts of different water-based forms.



Nothing special and not what I went looking for, but pretty just the same.