Holy Macro!

Look what I found in the snow under super magnification!

I've just started my very first attempt at Macro photography (without a macro lense!) and I am so addicted! Not only are the photos themselves fascinating because it provides a peek at the secret world of teeny tiny miracles and beauty, but the photos are also working as a springboard to inspire paintings!

This ice crystal seahorse painting (in progress) was inspired by a macro photo of some slushy melting snow!

From this hum-drum melting snow on the railing of our deck... 














...came the subject matter of this photo that looked to me like sparkling whimsical little ice creatures caught mid-conversation. 

I've been calling them my slush puppies!

These slush puppies served as the inspiration for my Ice Seahorse painting (in progress).










My hope was to catch a classic hexagonal snowflake from the big 2015 Blizzard Juno, but there didn't seem to be any 6 sided flakes to be found. It was all tiny hair-like crystals of fluffy light and blowing blizzard snow!

Below is the closest I got to capturing a snowflake - taken the day before the big blizzard in the smaller snowfall I like to call the pre-show. 

Can you see the geometric snowflake crystal forming that thinks it is a tiny iphone? This is under super magnification and it just excites me to no end to see that there are amazing and beautiful things like this around us that we are not even aware of!

Below are a few more shots of regular 'ole slush. It's was quite fascinating because this captures the fluctuations in state changes as the snow was rapidly melting and re-freezing at the same time, forming fluid rounded shapes while it tried to decide if it was solid or liquid. 

Though it is not the greatest of photos, I am appreciating the subject matter - I love how kinetic it is! (Yes,I pretty much just said I enjoy watching ice melt - I may just be the most boring person alive!)

Though I am not looking forward to being snowed in again, I am looking forward to more opportunities to attempt to capture that ever elusive classic 6 sided snowflake photo!

Ice Seahorse Painting In Progress by Jennifer Hickey