I've been playing around with the birefringent property of ice the past couple winters (we have cold here, I may as well use it!). In a nutshell, "birefringent" means it does wacky things when placed between crossed-polarizers - when backlit with polarized light (I use an LCD screen displaying white) and with a polarizer on camera, funky colours pop out. The results are mostly abstract, but I find the colours compelling and have spent hours searching through small pieces of ice for interesting scenes or shapes (I also have free time in the winter).

I spent the past couple weeks preparing some prints for a little gallery space in the back of a local camera store, so I've been going through my past season's efforts. This first one is a panorama of 5 images stitched together, it looked like a mini-stadium (to me at least!). I didn't end up printing this one because I'm pretty cheap and kept everything the same size & ratio (you can click it for a wider view on Flickr):





This next one was a piece of ice found on the top of a slow moving river (you know, that razor thin easy-to-crack layer that forms first). Few people I've shown it to dispute that it looks like a mini-hummingbird. Maybe a mini-hummingbird during a bad acid trip, but still a mini-hummingbird. This one did get printed on epson glossy metallic. The metallic does a good job bringing out the colours, but it's never with the vibrance of seeing the thing in person while I was photographing it:





Thanks for looking!

[clackers]

"Photo Location: A Very Cold Porch"

Love 'em!

[Unregistered User 8]

Great images Brian, I hope they do well at the gallery for you buddy.

[BigMackCam]

Very creative, and very beautiful, Brian. These would make fantastic wall art

[SJM]

The more I look at them the more I like them. Indeed, "Very Creative"

[photomax7]

Would make amazing background on computer screen....good work BrianR.

[BrianR]

Thanks everyone! If anyone is interested, I do have more on my website as well as a few details on how they're made and a few pretty sad forays into the world of timelapses... Birefringence – Brian Robin

"Photo Location: A Very Cold Porch"

One tries to be accurate

Great images Brian, I hope they do well at the gallery for you buddy.

Cheers! I've no expectations to sell anything in these small spaces, but the odd one does go. In any case, the experience of printing, mounting and framing is always great

Very creative, and very beautiful, Brian. These would make fantastic wall art

Thank you Mike! They definitely brightened up my working space while I was getting things ready!

The more I look at them the more I like them. Indeed, "Very Creative"

Thanks so much

Would make amazing background on computer screen....good work BrianR.

This I have done