Blowing bubbles is fun in the summer, but it gets really interesting when the mercury plummets in winter. When the temperature gets cold enough, bubbles will freeze faster than they can pop. You can watch freezing bubbles in action in a new video from Warsaw-based photographer Pablo Zaluska.


Zaluska was inspired to take pictures of frozen bubbles one blistering cold day, after trying to explain to his three-year-old daughter why she needed to wear a warm coat before heading outside. As he told Bored Panda:

I had to figure out an interesting answer which would satisfy a preschooler’s curiosity, so I told her: “It is so cold that even soap bubbles freeze and it looks really beautiful, you know?”

I saw a sparkle in her eyes so I promised to make a film to show her that. She was so excited about this idea that of course she forgot that she didn’t want to put her jacket on. It wasn’t easy to capture those bubbles because only around 5-10% of them didn’t break instantly and as you can imagine it was a challenge to be patient at -15 Celsius. But it was worth it because now that my daughter has seen it, winter is magic for her.

There seem to be lots of photographers of late fascinated with capturing these ephemeral objects. It’s actually pretty easy to make your own instantly freezing bubbles with standard children’s bubble-making liquid. The bubbles should freeze pretty quickly and and can last up to 20 minutes. If you need them to last a wee bit longer, try adding some glycerin into the mix. (Photographer Chris Ratzlaff fine-tuned his own recipe for bubble-making liquid two get more durable bubbles, using warm water, corn syrip, a bit of sugar, and dish soap.)

Turning those short-lived frozen beauties into an artful photograph — well, that’s where the creativity and skill come in, not to mention the patience to endure sub-freezing temperatures to get that perfect shot.


[Via Laughing Squid and Bored Panda]

Image and video: Pablo Zaluska.