P#19: An Out of the Ordinary Image of a Sassafras Leaf in Ice

Putting it Together

Jim Zuckerman: Getting this picture of the sassafras leaf in ice wasn't exactly a walk in the park. I don't live in New England, and in Tennessee it doesn't get cold enough for the streams to freeze. Last year, I was thinking to myself that I don't have any really beautiful pictures of autumn leaves frozen in ice because this is not a real common thing where I live. You have to be there at the right time, and it has to be cold enough.

I decided to take some leaves during the autumn here in Tennessee and I put them in Tupperware. I froze them in my freezer, and then I took them out and I photographed them. Now this looks like it was captured in a stream, but it wasn't. The composition was created. (click the image for a larger version)

Audri Lanford: Wow. Where was this photographed? Was this inside or outside? What did you do?

Jim Zuckerman: I just took it out on my patio in the back and used natural daylight. Another thing that you can do with this type of photograph is backlight it.

This is something that you really couldn't get very easily in nature because now you have this slab of ice that's maybe an inch or an inch and a half depending on the thickness of your Tupperware and how much water you put in there.

You could put a light behind that and have the light come right through the ice and through the leaf. That would be another fun thing to experiment with.

To Sum Up

Photographs can tell tales, it would seem. While first glance may make you think this leaf was photographed in a frozen stream, Jim Zuckerman's history of the shot tells an entirely different story. Creativity and imagination can go a long way in creating amazing fall photos, as was the case with this beautiful sassafras leaf image.