As we enter the first snowfalls of the season, photographers find themselves captivated by the transformation of the world around them. Canadian photographer Don Komarechka is best known for his macro photographs of snowflakes, the subject of his book Sky Crystals: Unraveling the Mysteries of Snowflakes. While his still images are stunningly intricate, Komarechka’s fascination by the formation of ice crystals inspired his two-and-a-half-minute video in which soap bubbles freeze in real-time. Although he titled his film Winter’s Magic, he writes, “Any perceived magic or wizardry here is just science.”
The bubbles themselves are a special formula of six parts water, two parts dish soap, and one part white corn syrup that allows the bubble to thicken on the bottom and prevents it from popping upon impact with the snow.
Komarechka made over 400 attempts before achieving the footage in the film which was originally licensed by BBC for its Forces of Nature documentary series and scored by Howard Lopez. To illuminate the ice crystals as they spread over the bubble’s surface in intricate and mesmerizing patterns, Komarechka used a bright flashlight as backlighting, filming with a Cannon 1D X DSLR in 1080p. Other technical challenges included the razor-thin depth of field required to focus on the small subjects. “Freezing bubbles are a challenging subject to shoot, even more so with video…Not only does the bubble need to be placed in exactly the right spot, but if the diameter of the bubble is too small or too large, the front will not pass through the focal plane and everything will be out of focus.”