I love it when a plan comes together

This morning I came across a quote by photographer Diane Arbus: "I never have taken a picture I've intended. They're always better or worse." Today, I definitely experienced the "better" half of that equation.

At lunchtime I went to the heart of downtown, parked at a convenience store/gas station, and then walked down the sidewalk a few yards to stand on one of the bridges spanning the Battenkill. I'd intended to just take a few shots of the river as a whole, but wasn't really blown away by what I was seeing—it was nice, but nothing to write home about. Instead, some ice formations at the edges of the water caught my eye. I knew I'd basically be zooming in as much as my lens would allow while keeping my metaphorical fingers crossed that I'd be able to keep the camera steady enough to get even one shot that was in focus, but decided since I was there I'd give it a try.

So I cleared off a section of guardrail to rest my forearms on, crouched so I wouldn't be bent over and showing my rear to incoming traffic on all three major routes into town, and hoped for the best.

After I got back to the office I decided I couldn't wait until I got home to see how they turned out, so I downloaded them onto my work computer. When I saw the results... well, how about I just let the photos speak for themselves now?

The first ice formation:

And two close-up shots of the sides:

The second ice formation:

Another close-up:

And one last ice formation:

Needless to say, I all but did a jig right there at my desk. As it was I burbled at Yoshi a bit, but he doesn't really do the enthusiasm thing. At least there's always this blog. ;-)