Winter in Minnesota has been really warm this year. We’ve broken a few records and have actually tied a record that was set 123 years ago, in 1889. This was for the latest (in the year) below-zero reading in the Twin Cities. We missed breaking the record by about one hour.
This didn’t discourage me from wanting to get over to Rice Park in St. Paul, Minnesota for the annual St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Carving Competition. I don’t really consider myself to be a “photo-journalist”, but I thought I’d go take a peek at this event in any regard. Unfortunately, I learned a valuable lesson… 35-40 degree weather is not very conducive for ice carving.
Here’s the only Ice Carver I saw at work. He was very early in the process, and most of his ice blocks were being kept in the shade, and under cover. The competition started at 9am and it was already 35 degrees when I got there at 11am. I think most ice carvers were delaying their start until later in the day, when most of the park would be shaded.
There was also supposed to be a Snow Carving competition this year, but they called it off because of the lack of snow. There was one snow carver working though, maybe on a commissioned piece? I’m not sure, but the chunks of snow that he was working on looked like they were getting pretty soft, and losing detail.
Due to the lack of activity at the Ice Carving competition, I decided to take a stroll around the Rice Park area a bit.
I came across this funny little scene that caught my interest. These were Penguins wrapped up in plastic bags. One of the penguins had already escaped. I later learned that they were actually lanterns that were being placed for the evening activities.
One of my favorite shots of the day was taken about a block away. This setting had an additional feature that brightened my day. See if you can spot it…
