[OBSCURA] Dumping Leftover Tea at -40c

[rfmcdonald]

The CBC North report "Nunavut tea toss photo at -40 C proves internet gold" alerted me to a remarkable photo from Nunavut. In the community of Pangnirtung, photographer Michael H. Davies photographed local resident Markus Siivola throwing hot tea into the freezing air. The original photo is on Davies' Flickr page, here.

Photographer Michael H. Davies said the whole photo shoot was planned after he saw a similar photo elsewhere and decided he could top it.

"I went through the science of it," he said. "I figured, 'OK, I need 40 below, I need calm winds, I need the sunset in the background so it lights up my fog when I film it.'"

Davies and Siivola travelled by snowmobile into the mountains about 45 minutes out of town.

It was a race against time to catch the setting sun. The community, which is only a few kilometres below the Arctic Circle, gets about 2½ hours of sun this time of year.

They were carrying five or six thermoses of hot water, each with different amounts so they could experiment to get the right shot.