(soft, melodic music)
- [Commentator] There is a world all around us
that we simply can't see.
But what if we could explore
beyond the limits of our senses?
(camera clicking)
Let's slow down time.
Fix your gaze.
Reveal the unseen
and don't blink!
(gentle, symphonic music)
(water rushing)
(water rumbling)
- The familiar three states of water
are vapor, liquid and ice.
(water gently gurgling)
The water vapor in the air,
which is individual water molecules in the air,
are moving around.
And when they encounter an ice surface
they wander around on that ice surface
and then they stick somewhere
and that causes a crystallize to grow.
(swooshing)
Fractal light patterns are found all over the place.
So they look very complex and structured
but they're really very simple.
Each little branch of a fern resembles the whole fern.
You zoom into the perfect fractal.
You can zoom in forever
and you will see exactly the same thing over and over again.
(water slowly dripping)
An icicle is that very delicate balance
between melting and freezing.
If you see the icicle actually dripping
then you're seeing it as it's growing.
This is the icicle growing machine.
It's a giant refrigerated box.
We built it ourselves.
It circulates antifreeze.
At the moment
it's running at about minus 18 degrees Celsius,
which is a good temperature for growing icicles.
We can turn the lights on briefly and peek in here.
I've taken over 230 thousand images of a growing icicle.
This is more images of icicles
than have ever been made in history, I'm sure.
Icicle images actually are the data.
So we collect the images
with the purpose of extracting the shape.
So in a sense we're able now to come to grips
with the complexity of the real world,
the one that we see every day,
because we have the tools,
the digital cameras and the computers.
(gentle blowing)
(camera clicking)
- Is it the symmetry?
Is it the balance?
Is it the repetition of patterns?
Soon as you realize that you can start exploring this
on a very, very small scale
and never see the same thing twice, I was hooked.
(cameral clicking rapidly)
Oftentimes the bubble is it's best right before it pops,
when the crystals are their biggest within the structure.
(camera ticking)
You don't know exactly when it's gonna pop,
(cameral clicking rapidly)
so when I'm shooting at such a rapid fire pace
I'm doing that in order to kinda hedge my bets.
And then that final one is usually the best shot.
(cameral clicking rapidly) (popping)
(melodic symphonic music)
(popping)
(swooshing)
(popping)
(dramatic sting)