Ice Spy

Good Things Always Come In Freeze

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Beautiful warm afternoon. Back yard bathed in mellow sunshine. Pour some ice into a glass. Hang on a second, mate. Grab the camera. How about a macro shot or two? Yep, for sure.

Get the 300mm Sigma lens off the camera. Put the new macro lens on, the SMC Pentax-DA 1:2.8mm Macro Limited. Fire off three or four random frames. Like I said, random frames.

Much later, check the shots on the computer screen. Aaaaaaargh, can I kick myself. Why? Let me explain. Like I said, they were random shots to show the ice glinting in the sunlight like crystal shards.

Look closer at the ice block on the left. Look at the edge of the ice block. See the miniature crystal fence forming along the edge? No, you can't really see it here, because these are scaled-down, low-resolution versions of the original shot. So let me give you a closer look ....

Now you can see why I wanted to kick myself. Even though the "crystal fence" on the top edge of the ice block was too small to spot with the naked eye, I should have taken some close-in shots like I normally do. The rare sight was more priceless than a Swarovski beard on a crystal figure of Santa Claus.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to spend the next 24 hours wearing a hand-printed sign that says "Kick Me".

Which is a bit like Roberta Flack's big hit, "Kicking me softly with your song, kicking me softly ....."

(The Odd Shots concept came from Katney. Say "G'day" to her.)