Aliens!

The cove in Maine rarely freezes deeply, being all stubborn, salty and ocean-y in the way of many Mainers.

It is more likely to wear a film of ice… as if Mother Nature was feeling plucky and practical and decided to preserve it by covering it in Glad Wrap.

You can still see all the comings and goings beneath the thin layer, but the surface is still… and such a deep shade of grey it is nearly black.

If you get sprinkle-y snow on a morning where this has happened, you can watch… okay, this is a super secret I’m sharing with you here but… you can watch aliens form.

Fine.

They are really there all the time, but when the snow hits their form, it sticks to them… which is good. Kind of like that movie where Kevin Bacon is a psycho invisible guy and you have to throw stuff on him or inject him with painful funky serum to see him.  Only less blood and way more interesting shapes.

Here is a huge one with a funky eye that I stood way back from, because of all the danger.

I remember the first time I saw the shapes appear, I thought they looked fake, like someone used some sort of strange solarized filter or something on the ice, but if you zoom in (go ahead, do it!), you can see that the margins are just snowflakes having not piled up enough to create the solid white that comes later. I think this is because the middle of an Alien is way colder than its edges.

Just a theory.

Recently, though, I managed to capture one of those National Geographic shots – something so rare that scientists will probably contact me and also I might win their Photo of the Year contest (you know, if they have one).

So I think, in addition to ‘Wicked Professional Photographer’, I will also begin to call myself “Wicked Professional Nature Photographer” now.

Because look!

I know.

Babies!

I don’t think anyone has really captured alien ice babies before… aren’t they so cute? Dontcha just wanna pick ’em up and snuggle ’em?

Even the ice is happy.

If you look real close, sort of in the middle of the photo and a little up and to the right?

A heart.

Sigh.

Love.

Alien style.

Thanks for readin’.

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