Snow Prints
December 21, 2008 6:08 PM   Subscribe

Snow Prints

Welcome to winter.
posted by gwint (18 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Also: Solstice at Newgrange
posted by gwint at 6:10 PM on December 21, 2008


Crap, second link is a double. Ah well.
posted by gwint at 6:16 PM on December 21, 2008


I cry Photoshop! Mostly because I want to be the first one to say that.

I also say their snow images in July suck.

Seriously though, I was trying to figure out how they did this. I'm not 100% certain it's not faked, but am giving it the benefit of the doubt.

I made a snow angel once.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:16 PM on December 21, 2008


I imagine they gently heat some kind of a positive and lower it (carefully, carefully) into fresh snow of the right consistency. The work is pretty fantastic. What's especially impressive to me is how the snow around the reliefs appears to be completely undisturbed.
posted by goldfinches at 6:27 PM on December 21, 2008


I love intricate pieces using the most fleeting of media. Sandcastles, ice sculptures, sand paintings and now this. Thanks!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:47 PM on December 21, 2008


Sometimes the old ways are the best.

Seriously, though, that's pretty impressive.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:01 PM on December 21, 2008


Nope, not Photoshop here... (mildly NSFW or small children looking over your shoulder.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:12 PM on December 21, 2008


Is it snow or white carbonite?
posted by o0dano0o at 7:34 PM on December 21, 2008


Hollow-Face Illusion. Follow the links for examples.
posted by niles at 7:46 PM on December 21, 2008


I can't wait til it snows enough to try this.
posted by acorncup at 8:05 PM on December 21, 2008


Cat Pie Hurts: if you haven't already, check out Andy Goldsworthy's work... amazing, achingly beautiful stuff.

On topic - I'm not sure I buy these images; the detail produced by the knit hat, for example, is pretty surprising. I'd expect more of the snow to stick to the hat and muddy the impression. But, maybe if it were cold enough, and the snow dry enough, it could work.
posted by sriracha at 8:06 PM on December 21, 2008 [1 favorite]


sriracha - I absolutely adore Andy Goldsworthy's work.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:50 PM on December 21, 2008


I suspect that if these are real, it's as much as anything else a function of the type of snow. It takes a very specific level of moisture in snow to get it to both form and hold detail.

I'm guessing that same snow would make the awesomemest snowballs evar.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:22 PM on December 21, 2008


I'm calling fake. The one where they have their hands raised over their heads seems impossible. I can't believe you could get that level of detail between the fingers of a hand pressed into the snow at that angle.
posted by diogenes at 4:31 AM on December 22, 2008


And thirding Andy Goldsworthy and the Rivers and Tides movie. Every time I finish that movie I feel like I just woke from a trance.
posted by diogenes at 4:33 AM on December 22, 2008


I want to believe, really I do - but I'm having trouble with it.

How did they get press themselves into the snow, and then pull back - absolutely parallel - without any sideways smudges or places where they had to push for leverage? The images just look too perfect in places - not everywhere, some parts of every image are entirely credible - but other parts, like diogenes pointed out, just seem to strain the ol' credulity a little too far.
posted by kcds at 12:08 PM on December 22, 2008


diogenes, I had the same reaction, but upon a second look, I think you're reading the angle of his hand backwards. His pinky finger is the deepest one. He's not slicing into the snow thumb-first (which I agree would be impossible)-- he's patting the surface of the snow at an angle with his thumb almost at the surface, and the pinky side of his hand slanting in an inch or so.
The shadows are what make it look backwards- they optically reverse the depth.

I do not think these images are faked, although possibly I have snow on the brain as my city is absolutely buried in it right now. Yesterday my burly boyfriend shovelled his narrow, 2-car driveway for TWO SOLID HOURS. The resultant snow pile was about 7 feet in diameter and almost 6 feet tall. I am not exaggerating when I say it was bigger than the car itself. He smelled like a troll and had to nap for an hour when it was all done, bless his burly heart.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 3:02 PM on December 22, 2008


Hey, I tried it last night. TOTALLY WORKS. Also, totally awesome. And strangely refreshing!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 11:31 AM on December 24, 2008


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