The age of ice
Winter now clenches the Korean peninsula with all its strength. Cold has halted lives and pushed them inside artificial or natural living spaces. Humans put on layers over layers of ever thicker clothes, animals take shelter the way they have always known, and trees stand strong and proud behind their bark, waiting for warmer days. The water turned solid, smothering the roaring that characterized it only months ago.
Nothing escapes the cold. Even an impressively-sized city like Seoul, which creates so much artificial heat, sees its river freeze every year. While we take shelter in the warmth of our apartments or cars, grimacing at the mere thought of stepping outside, we forget that little by little, winter brings a transparent and glistening argument: ice.
These days, winter being less rigorous in parts of the world, it is possible that waters don’t freeze much or at all where you live anymore. So, allow me to show you this almighty winter. Allow me to convince you that it bears a beauty worth being passionate about. Allow me to reintroduce you to ice.
Many aren’t aware of this, but Korean winter is cold. Very cold. That cold gets into cities as well. Before escaping the artificial and urban world that surrounds me (Seoul, that is), I want to make a little detour to the Han River.
Winter is getting closer. In front of the national assembly and the Yeouido - 여의도 towers, the river is feeling the temperatures drop. In the foreground, splashes of river water on these willow's branches have started to freeze. They aren't crying, these are tears of joy; the sun is finally rising and will soon melt these new transparent members.
Winter is getting closer. The river waters will soon come to a stop, at the surface at least. Very soon, blocks of ice will crash on the banks and play symphonies of cracking sounds under the pressure of the river flow and the midday sun.
In the meantime, rocks that stick out of the still liquid water wear a short-lived hat. Both hard and delicate, this layer of ice is an omen of the unstoppable cold to come.
Winter is getting closer. It even has a foot in the door, it freezes the wavelets on the banks.
Both hard and delicate, this layer of ice is an omen of the unstoppable cold to come. That ice will climb above the rock…
Winter is here. The sun has set, the cold has done its work, and the river's surface is now immobile.
In the mountains as well, the thunder of waterfalls has stopped, and is replaced by a subtle trickling.
This waterfall's pool is showing its scars. The freezing process did not happen peacefully. First, blocks formed and crashed into one another to create an atoll within which water hardened to a transparent layer, trapping bubbles that tried their best to escape.
For the ice to be transparent and smooth, conditions must be perfect. Those never happened at the bottom of waterfalls that still run in the winter. Instead, nature offers a symphony of irreproducible textures and shapes.
From time to time, ruins of another season find themselves trapped in this immobile world. Only touch of color and past life, these vestiges are the last remnant of an extinguished warmth… For a time.
However, since everything is halted, we may be tempted to think that nature does not create in winter at all. We, humans, have this (rather poetical, maybe) stereotype of a paused world during the cold season.
It couldn't be more wrong, though. You only need to look for wonder in details rather than grand views. Dive with me into the artistic world of ice.
Drop by drop, crystals will quickly cover a world under their ice. Here, the sharp edges on the left are on their way to join this round petrified drop on the right.
Impressive details in these frozen pillars remind me of science fiction visual masterpieces.
But ice is not made of only those salient lines. Water and cold's ingenuity have an infinity of outcomes.
Here, high seems frosted above a crowd of bubbles. But that is simply not the case! Everything is perfectly smooth and transparent. The frosted aspect is due to minuscule bubbles trapped near the surface and the specific angle that confuses our gaze. I find this render rather fascinating.
Ice plays with our eyes and creates minute structures that inspire our most colossal constructions but that is not all. Ice is also an artist.
What do you see in this creation? I see a several-century-old tree on the summit of a mountain. Were you imagining a bonsai, maybe? Something else?
This piece of art is the work of the waterfall splashes. Drops freeze on top of one another, and in the end, they will create a cocoon around the falls. At the moment this picture was captured, the waterfall was fighting against ice as it was trying to enshrine it. In other words, it is, with its own means, nature enjoying the pleasures of ephemeral sculpture.
Thank you ever so much for traveling to the heart of Korea's frozen winter and contemplating nature's art with me. I am sure that, if winter is cold where you are, you are likely to find little marvels that will enlighten your walks too. As for me, I will see you next month for another winter blog inspired by snow and frost.
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I made a video on how I shot the ice close-ups, here it is
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À bientôt! (and happy Lunar New Year!)