It’s become a tradition for me to share my annual New Year’s Day slideshow and this year’s 10-minute show received an incredible welcome.  Another part of the day’s tradition is going out to shoot.

I’ve captured some incredible sunrises on New Year’s Day in the past few years but couldn’t motivate for the early morning awakening this year.  Instead, I drove around as sunset approached searching for a new composition.

With the recent cold temperatures, I thought I might find some frozen waters but struck out along the shore.  I then stopped at Black Joe’s and Redd’s ponds and found that the water had indeed frozen (though was still too thin for ice skating.

The frozen water at Redd’s Pond was nearly mirror-like with a very smooth surface – so much so that the moon could be seen reflecting on the frozen surface.  As the sun set and the golden hour began, I captured this vertical composition including the cracks in the ice, the beautiful red house and the clouds above with the moon visible in the sky and on the ice.