Photo Of The Day By Craig Bill

Photo By Craig Bill

Today’s Photo Of The Day is “Sublucent” by Craig Bill. Location: Alaska.

“Being on a glacier is a very tactile experience even though you’re completely wrapped, layered and zipped up with protective clothing,” explains Bill. Just walking on the changing character of frozen water—from super dry powdery snow, then another step onto wavy slick ice and then onto mega-ton compressed blue ice blocks—the feel and sound is magnificent.

“But ice environments such as glaciers can be very dangerous. After fighting a quick-forming blizzard with all my gear, I scraped the snowpack off my body that formed during my hike into Byron Glacier in Alaska. Faintly, I was able to sight the edge of some ice caves through the windy snow. Not only was I of course delighted to explore the icy glacier underbelly for photography but also to take refuge inside and away from the tormenting snowfall. And this should have been relatively easy; however, a meandering network of icy streams had to be traversed. These shallow waterways remained liquid only because of its constant motion—and crossing them was ominously discouraging as the snowstorm attacked.

“By the time I reached the weather-carved ice caves, I was exhausted, but its silent protective beauty was divine. Of course, I remained alert and attentive as these ice caves collapse without warning. And since Ice landscapes aren’t my usual or indigenous environment, I was relentlessly apprehensive.”

See more of Craig Bill’s photography at CraigBill.com.

Photo of the Day is chosen from various OP galleries, including Assignments, Galleries and the OP Contests. Assignments have weekly winners that are featured on the OP website homepage, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To get your photos in the running, all you have to do is submit them.

Originally Published September 9, 2020