textures and sculptures that winter plays

Here are textures and sculptures that winter plays upon a small Catskill Mtn stream. I trudged up the mountain in late January, my recording gear and food hitched behind on a sled. Photographs are only a side hobby to my prime goal of recording forest sounds. By the time I get to the Yurt, my beard is a solid frozen mass. Thermometer says 4 degrees. After cranking the woodstove up. I head for a face washing at the stream and bring back a bucket of cooking water. I've never heard water crackle like that. The bucket was freezing over as I watched. Twelve inches of snow later I went out and took these pictures; a documentary of running water, gurgling bubbles and immobilized splashes. Here and there are seeds or pine needles that belie the impression of b&w, or drips escaping the freeze. It's not too far from looking at clouds, as many associations and images come to mind. Amazing are the myriad forms of ice.


My profession of using the creative arts with hospitalized children to improve their physical, mental, and emotional state keeps me bound to NYC. However, for my own wellbeing I head out to the mountains as often as I can. Initially I brought recording gear with me to capture the sounds of nature for use in compositions. Then a pocket sized 3MP camera was added to the gear and I began to collect unique visual impressions of the environment. A week before this year’s winter camping excursion I upgraded to 8MP at the encouragement of all who saw my smaller prints. These pictures are the first results of that technological advancement. They are homage to the details and variety of what happens to water in winter. Interestingly, they are also much greener this year, a testament to the warm January in the Catskills. The images play an important part in showing city people the beauty of the woods and of ice, and I hope that they do not become an archive of what winter used to look like.