Only in Canada. . .
A Calgarian photographer has found his 15 minutes of fame with a video he took of an ice bubble freezing. Chris Ratzlaff spent a freezing-cold boxing day outdoors blowing soap bubbles and taking videos as they froze, slowly covering over with ice crystals.
More freezing of bubbles. Now, better lighting and corn syrup has been added to my mixture of dish soap and salt (had to wait for Sobeys to open 😉)@PrairieChasers @PhotoEdCANADA pic.twitter.com/batEJwiXWW
— Chris Ratzlaff 🇨🇦🌾🗻💫 (@ratzlaff) December 26, 2017
It turns out, Ratzlaff wasn’t the only person with an interest in watching the bubbles freeze. One of his videos has actually gone viral, racking up more than 400,000 views.
“People really like bubbles,” Ratzlaff told CTV News. “It’s quite fascinating when it starts to catch on and it goes a little bit nuts.”
In order to get the perfect video, Ratzlaff had to come up with the perfect bubble recipe, which he found by combining dish soap, salt, and corn syrup. While there are plenty of freezing-bubble videos online, Ratzlaff’s video is unusually clear, giving viewers a great up-close look at the transformation.
The photographer took the video as part of a photography challenge he set for himself. “When it gets really cold out and you are stuck inside and have nothing to do, you might as well go out and do something,” he said. “It’s a fun thing to do. It’s a challenge when you get this cold to come up with something new and different to photograph.”
Calgary has been experiencing extreme low temperatures, even by comparison to the rest of Canada. The city had to cancel its outdoor New Year’s Eve celebrations due to extreme cold. But while the cold weather may get many people down, it does create its own opportunities, says Ratzlaff.
“People don’t like the cold weather, but they like to see what you can do.”
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