Sickle of Boreas is a powerful tribute to the raw elegance of winter, captured during Oklahoma’s historic 2021 ice storm. Inspired by Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind and winter, this image embodies the beauty and brutality of nature’s coldest force. While stranded at home, ice-covered roads had paralyzed the city, I ventured into the backyard and discovered his smoker encased in a crown of crystalline icicles. One stood out: a sharply curved spike of ice gleaming like a mythological blade. With frozen fingers in 20°F air and using a shallow depth of field, I isolated that single icicle while letting the others fade into soft, glistening bokeh. The result is one of my most emotionally resonant and technically refined macro photographs of 2021.
Sickle of Boreas fuses extreme weather photography with mythology-inspired visual storytelling. The icicle becomes a symbolic “sickle,” the cold weapon of Boreas himself, frozen in midair yet alive with movement and narrative. It is an ode to winter’s power, not just its chaos but artistry. This piece speaks to the hidden beauty within harsh conditions, revealing that even in the heart of destruction, nature creates sculpture.
Ideal for collectors of macro winter photography, mythological fine art, or nature-inspired abstract prints, Sickle of Boreas is a striking reminder that the most breathtaking moments often come when we least expect them.
