One side of each tree seems to be wearing a white feather boa. Jan Bainar’s photographs from the Beskydy Mountains make an ordinary forest feel wonderfully unfamiliar, especially where pale ice stands out against dark bark.
A clue in the direction
The one-sided coating is consistent with wind-driven rime: supercooled droplets freeze when they meet an exposed surface. The photograph is a useful clue, although it cannot supply a complete weather record. Our Javornik rime feature explains the process in more detail.
Bainar’s wider winter collection changes the mood again. Sunlight catches the branches in one frame, while a reflected pink sky replaces the cold forest palette in another. Keeping those scenes together reveals the photographer’s interest in light as well as unusual ice.
Look for the ordinary structure beneath the surprise
The trunks remain easy to recognise, which makes the coating more striking. For another surface transformed by a similar-looking pattern, compare ice-covered fences and branches. Small differences in exposure can create a very different photograph.
A forest study built around direction
Jan Bainar’s Beskydy photographs show a particularly strong contrast between the coated and exposed sides of the trunks. Following that contrast from one tree to the next gives the series a rhythm: the white forms repeat while the underlying bark remains recognisable.
The wider selection then moves beyond the unusual coating into other Czech winter landscapes. Those photographs are part of Bainar’s portfolio rather than proof that every scene was recorded in the same weather episode. Keeping the whole set makes his interest in changing light visible alongside the striking ice. The surviving photographer credit is essential because the feather-like appearance alone cannot identify where the pictures were made or who observed the scene.
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