Heart Rocks and Ice

This balance was created as somewhat of a final extension to my recent “Garden Chronicles”. It grew out of the same process. This initial photo is before a wave of freezing temperatures… Then the rest of the photos in this post are a visual record of its 4-day lifespan through the freeze :)

 

 

Day 2

Today was mostly frozen as temperatures remained below zero Celsius throughout the day.. The excitement and anticipation of visiting the creek this morning kept me from a full night of sleep.. I was awake at about 5:30 am waiting impatiently for light to rise.  My initial hope was that parts of the base of my balance would accumulate ice because it seemed to be the only part receiving constant water.. But much to my surprise and enjoyment, the entire balance was encrusted in a thin coat of hard ice upon my arrival. I shot photos briefly during sunrise but the cold was more than I could handle for extended periods of time.. not to mention that a metal tripod grows ice very quickly around creek water..   So, knowing it would be freezing all day, I left the balance alone to evolve with the weather…

I found even more awe as i returned for sunset light (on the right).. Not only was the light softer, but the ice had GROWN AND become translucent when before it was semi opaque.. I imagine the translucence happened because of the steady freeze..? not sure… but it was damn beautiful!! I felt incredibly privileged to witness such magic and proud of myself for having a part in its existence.. :D

 

 

Day 3

Day 3 was a crucial turning point in the strength of the ice as temperatures rose back above zero by late morning.  I knew that as soon as the air warmed, the ice would break down relatively quickly.  The more interesting new element today with open sky and sunlight was observing the how the direct sunlight interacted with the ice.  The balance became extremely brilliant later in the day as the sun began shining on it from behind. The rocks literally sat within a glowing ice cocoon.. :)

 

 

Day 4

Day 4 required very close observation as I KNEW temperatures would either melt the ice significantly and either leave the rocks in balance, or cause collapse through small shifts to the rocks.. So I sat. and waited. and watched.. and relaxed… snapping constant photos. :)

There was a crucial point where I realized that the rocks had in fact been nudged out of balance somehow by the ice.  The reason they did not fall is because the ice hugged the rocks completely and therefore did not need much strength to hold the top rock in a near-balance position. I noticed it was off balance by zooming in to take photos and realizing the balance point looked mysteriously smaller, as if touching on a single point (instead of 3) while resting into the receding ice.

At this point i was able to very carefully adjust the top rock so it was once again in balance.. However, I was unsure if the ice had twisted anything else out of balance lower down… The balance remained for now…

In the last photo, you can see how the rock is not resting in the ice anymore. At this point I had rebalanced it, the adjusted balance stood for at least an hour before the ice buckled enough, and nudged the increasingly unstable rocks out of equilibrium.  The collapse aligned almost perfectly with the disappearing sun.. :)

I find it interesting that this balance came into and out of being at the sunset moment of different days.. This was the first sunset. The balance would finally come to collapse at the precise minute of it’s fourth sunset.. :)