Water Wonders

Day 84: In her description of hoar frost in the 1914 edition of "Water Wonders Every Child Should Know," Jean M. Thompson says of a very similar image, "The butterflies have settled to rest." Mrs. Thompson couldn't have known that her book would be one of my life-long treasures, or that it would inspire my future photography. William Bentley's exquisite microphotography was well ahead of its time, and Mrs. Thompson's delicious explanations of the various phenomena fascinated me as a small child. I spent many a winter day capturing snowflakes on a glass microscope slide following her instructions rather too casually, only to have them melt before I could view them through the eyepiece. Oh, how I longed to see water in its myriad crystalline forms!

As a mountaineer, I witnessed ice in many bizarre forms and shapes; whittled by wind, brittle in decay, sharply angular deep in the protection of crevasses. I always thought of "Water Wonders" when I stumbled across some new geometry, but in pursuit of a summit conquest, I acknowledged its beauty only with a nod as I hurried through its dangers. Lingering was not an option, nor was carrying the additional weight of close-up lenses and gear.

A year or so ago, I invested in a set of macro filters (not lenses!) for my bridge camera. I had difficulty with them at first, not realizing that I could zoom in closer if I stepped farther back from my subject. Once I made that conceptual breakthrough, I seldom went out without at least the 4x magnification in my kit. Now that winter is upon us (with a vengeance, if I may say so...9° last night!), I am able to create water-wonder photos which I hope would make Mrs. Thompson proud.