My Award Goes To...

There were prizes awarded late in the day for the best ice sculptures. We didn't hang around that long but I had my own pick for best in show. It is hard for me to imagine the precision and skill it took to make the top part of this one. The meaning isn't completely clear but my best guess is that it is someone doing a handstand on a surfboard while something fishy watches from the bottom of the wave.

I took this picture soon after we arrived. It was a mild afternoon and by the time we we were ready to leave the arms of the top part had melted, the body falling onto the pavement. Another lesson in impermanence.  

Daniel Boone Asks For A Handout

Americans, or at least those my age, all know of the legendary frontiersman, Daniel Boone. He opened trails from Virginia and North Carolina to Kentucky and Tennessee, leading to significant migration. After major losses in land deals in Kentucky, he ended up in what is now St. Charles County, Missouri, just across the Missouri River from St. Louis County. It was Spanish territory when he arrived, then French, and became part of the United States in the massive 1804 Louisiana Purchase.

So now St. Charles makes a buck off him any way it can. The statue above was down the street from the ice carving festival. It was designed by local sculptor Harry Weber, who seems to get all of these kinds of jobs around here. He did the statue of Chuck Berry seen here earlier in the month. Boone looks like he is entreating passers-by for a little help with his Kentucky debts.        

Photo Bomb

Maybe it's happened to you. You set up a shot in a public place and, just as you are about to press the shutter, an adolescent male jumps into the picture. It's called photo bombing, a little bit of image-making vandalism. I usally give the person a "you idiot" glower and they move on. Pretty annoying but not a disaster. I'm not shooting film.

It appears that the practice has spread to four year old girls.  I was trying to take a shot of one of the better ice sculptures when Ellie decided that she should be in the frame. That's more tolerable. The ice sculpture behind her is remarkable. Notice the seams - it's made out of three slabs. No idea how you do this without the sculpture shattering.      

Icy Blast

That phrase is a weather reporter's staple here in the Midwest when bitter cold winds from the Canadian plains sweep across us. The context here is the annual ice carving festival in suburban St. Charles. We took Ellie out on Saturday for a different experience. She sat on the pavement fascinated by the work but kept her ears covered the whole time. 

Counter Culture

I don't know about your country, but in this one it is common to see a variation of this in the back window of large SUVs and mini vans. They are stick figures of a man (always the first one on the left), a woman, children of various sizes and genders, and often pets. There is so much of this around that there is a web site devoted to selling these things.  I think it's really dorky.

Someone else does, too. Found yesterday on Old Main Street in St. Charles on our way to the ice carving festival.            

Objects d'Art

These are some examples of the ice carvers' efforts. They are a bit strange. A wolf and a mountain lion in a face-off? Three Little Pigs, one of whom seems to be standing on a portable oven and holding a fork? Mr. Clean after swallowing a wheel and tire? A local TV station affiliated with an abominable news network (although this station does carry The Simpsons)? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Sorry no comments yesterday. Got home from work way late.    

Peace Out

 

More ice carving. I was talking to someone today about how on earth the sculptor could make a perfect circle out of a block, not using a mold. He suggested that it could have been as simple as two nails and a piece of string to trace the shape. But how to keep the sides straight, how to make the interior angles so perfect? If anyone know how it's done please inform us.    

Artist At Work

The ice carvers I saw on Saturday had amazing skill. They used all sorts of power tools freehand. The web site for the event said that each of the sculptors was given big frozen blocks to work from but I don't see how they could have done some of this without molds. Their efforts ended in gleaming works of fine art, like the surfing chimp below.      

Poke In The Eye

There was an ice carving festival in the outer suburb of St. Charles yesterday. Not an ice festival like last week's in University City, where some small and simpler ice sculptures pulled people into restaurants and bars on a winter day. This was the real deal, expert craftsmen making big frozen treats. The sculptor here is drilling a pupil into a figure's eye. Ouch!

And speaking of which. while reviewing these pictures I noticed that none of the artists wore eye  protection. Bad example for the kids.

   

The Sculptors

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A little bit about the process of making the ice sculptures. Look at the concentration of the man above. He was using an electric drill with a conical abrasive bit .Shards of frozen debris were flying everywhere. Below, someone uses a rotary sander on a block that glows with light, much like Monday's angel.

I was surprised to see only one of the artists wearing eye protection. It seemed foolhardy.

What's That?

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At first glance it's a little hard to catch the figure-ground difference in the top image. Once you've got that, the question of interpreting what you see remains. It's a very close up shot of the face (for want of a better word) of a semi-abstract ancient Greek warrior. The bottom picture give you the bigger view. Pretty clever design and, once again, an awful lot of work.

Ice Angel

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A cold heart, perhaps, but throbbing with light. Wow, this must have taken a lot of work. The sculpture, not the picture.

This was taken on my iPhone. Thanks again to Kim for motivating the iShots. This was edited on the phone with the Photogene app, also suggested by her.

Ice Carving

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I drove across the wide Missouri River yesterday to the the city of St. Charles. That's starting to get into the outer suburbs (ours go one endlessly), an area I rarely visit. There was an ice carving festival in the old riverside district, something different to shoot. This is an amazing craft: big power tools, all freehand, no do-overs. I liked the power with which the chain saws ripped into the big cold blocks. Got some good stuff that should last a few days.

On a different topic, thanks to my friend Kim of Seattle Daily Photo for pushing me into taking more iPhone photos. It's true: you can get very interesting, Holga-esque images so I tried some yesterday. I started a set for these and a few older ones on Flickr here. Also, I found a wonderful little book of iPhone photography on Amazon, The Best Camera Is The One That's With You. Worth checking out if you are interested in this sort of thing.