I’ve always liked this image, or to be more specific, the series of images that I have of this particular scene – I took several, because the sunlight and reflections were an integral part and I was trying for the best effect, so I have multiple angles. Just glancing at it without paying too much attention to the details, it would be easy to believe this was the wake of a boat on a lake, seen from a significant rise above the water, but a longer examination soon disproves that. This is solid ice, during one of several winter storms from the 2013/2014 winter season, but when it was created it wasn’t quite as solid. As the temperatures dropped and the water began turning to slush, some variety of waterfowl (I’m guessing a duck from the curve, since heavier geese usually go straight) performed a typical running takeoff from the water. What would normally have been a fast-disappearing wake instead retained its shape due to the slush, and soon froze completely over to preserve the action, as it were.
As we know from last year, the birds will still swim a bit as the water starts to coagulate, but at some point in time will abandon the water and stick to the land, so this occurred in that period before it solidified too far. Seen from other angles, the surface was fluid enough to smooth back down followed the bird’s passage and present a nice sheet, but the evidence remained in the different colors/densities within the ice – what I imagine to be a fairly narrow time frame. I considered it a neat little find.
As for the rainbow band in there, I’m not quite sure what caused that. I’m fairly certain it’s an artifact of shooting towards the sun, because of that blue ghost above it, but this kind of refraction isn’t common – I suspect it comes from getting just the right light angle on the edge of the lens. It’s a nice accent, though.