Steve Geer: River Ice

"Deep in the winter, after the water has lost its summer heat, the surface of the river in Chicago freezes. Sunlight and city lights are reflected from the ice and, when it’s newly washed and wet, the frozen water also reflects the cityscape. It’s magical." ~ Steve Geer

Each year Steve Geer looks forward to the wintery transformation of the Chicago River. It does not freeze often, nor does it remain frozen for long. Usually, it lasts just a few days before the water warms by one or two degrees and the ice melts. While it lasts, the floating ice is always in motion and the compositions formed by its broken sheets and irregular polygons are forever changing. The appearance of the textured surface also changes with the light, as clouds come and go and, as the day progresses, the color palette varies from fiery-heat to frigid-cold. Geer began the project, River Ice, in January 2017. Each year the ice-cover, its appearance and extent, has been different. The resulting series of images is, for him, a celebration of the phenomena of winter. According to Geer, his series is "a celebration of the natural world reaching into the center of the human world and of things that are novel because they are forever changing and brief."

Image: Steve Geer