There is a profound, unsettling stillness in the image of a mallard drake suspended in a block of Norwegian ice. The photograph, titled Mallard in Ice, captures a moment where nature has become its own sarcophagus, turning a slight lake in Follo into a transparent vault. The image serves as a visceral meditation on the boundary between existence and absence, presenting ice acting as a window into death that preserves the bird in a state of haunting, crystalline perfection.
Captured by photographer Pål Hermansen, the perform recently earned a finalist position in the “Death & Decay” challenge of the Close Up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) competition. The composition is a study in contrast: the bird’s body is submerged beneath the lake’s frozen skin, yet its beak remains just above the surface, a final, lingering connection to the world of the living.
Credit: © Pål Hermansen / CUPOTY
The Art of Preservation and Perspective
The power of the image lies not only in its subject but in the deliberate process of its creation. Hermansen did not simply photograph the bird where it lay; he intervened to change the perspective. Upon discovering the mallard in a lake that had recently frozen over, he realized the potential for a more intimate portrait.
To achieve this, Hermansen cut a section of ice containing the bird and transported it to the bank. By positioning the ice block to be viewed from below, he transformed the frozen water into a lens. “There I could make a portrait of the duck, seen from below – the ice acting as a window into death, preserving every feather in perfect detail,” Hermansen explained.
This shift in perspective allows the viewer to see the duck not as a carcass on a landscape, but as a specimen in a gallery of nature’s making. Trapped bubbles within the ice add a layer of kinetic memory, suggesting the movement and breath that once defined the bird’s life, now locked in a permanent, static state.
Technical Precision via Analog Film
In an era of digital ubiquity, the choice of equipment was central to the image’s emotional weight. Hermansen utilized a Hasselblad 203 FE medium format camera paired with a 50mm lens. The use of analog film, specifically Fujifilm Fujichrome Velvia 50, provided a color depth and saturation that digital sensors often struggle to replicate with the same organic quality.
Velvia 50 is renowned among film photographers for its vivid reproduction and high contrast. In Mallard in Ice, this translates to a stark, evocative color palette. The dominating cold blue tones of the frozen water emphasize the frigid environment, while the warm yellow of the duck’s beak creates a piercing focal point, drawing the eye toward the only hint of “warmth” in an otherwise frozen scene.
The Fujifilm Fujichrome Velvia 50 (120) film is a film photographer’s favorite due to its brilliant and vivid color reproduction and ability to achieve high saturation | Credit: Fujifilm
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Camera | Hasselblad 203 FE |
| Lens | 50mm |
| Film Stock | Fujifilm Fujichrome Velvia 50 (120) |
| Exposure | 1/125sec, f/16 |
| Post-Processing | Drum scan (no digital processing) |
The Philosophy of ‘Death & Decay’
The image was entered into the “Death & Decay” themed challenge of the CUPOTY competition, a category that seeks to find aesthetic or narrative value in the inevitable breakdown of organic matter. While many entries in such challenges focus on the skeletal or the withered, Hermansen’s work explores the concept of stasis.
By utilizing the ice as a preservative, the photograph removes the “decay” from the equation, leaving only the “death.” This creates a tension for the viewer: the mallard looks almost alive, yet the surrounding ice confirms its expiration. This juxtaposition forces a confrontation with the fragility of life and the indifference of the natural world, where a sudden freeze can turn a living creature into a permanent installation.
The CUPOTY competition is designed to highlight the intersection of art and science, inviting photographers to use everything from high-end medium format cameras to microscopes and smartphones to capture the world in extreme detail. In this instance, the analog approach—specifically the drum scan of the original film—ensures that the fine textures of the feathers and the crystalline structure of the ice are rendered with absolute fidelity.
As the competition progresses, the finalists’ works serve as a broader commentary on the cyclical nature of life. The mallard, though frozen, remains a part of the ecosystem, awaiting the eventual thaw that will return its remains to the earth, completing the cycle of decay that the ice briefly paused.
For those following the competition, the final results and further winning images can be viewed on the official CUPOTY website, where the intersection of macro photography and thematic storytelling continues to be explored.
We invite you to share your thoughts on the intersection of nature and analog photography in the comments below.
