These amazing abstracts are taken by photographer Daniel Kordan, who travelled to Lake Baikal in Siberia especially to capture it at its most incredible: fully frozen over in the midst of winter. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in the world, the deepest, among the clearest in the world (hence these amazing ice patterns and the incredible pictures of it in the summer, where it rivals the shores of Greece), as well as the oldest. It also has a huge variety of flora and fauna, with over 60% of the species being unique to the area. Kordan crossed parts of the lake on skates and by bike, but you can also drive across it when the ice is at its thickest - in some places it is shiny, frozen solid; elsewhere there are cracks metres deep shearing through the ice; parts are covered in snow, hiding chunks of ice thrown up where the lake slowly moves underneath. It's an otherworldly landscape captured very well by Kordan, showing the candid parts of his expedition, the wonder of camping on solid ice below an unfettered night sky, the odd ice formations, and the sheer size of the lake itself, surrounded by jutting cliffs. However, some of my favourite shots are these, showing the patterns in cracked ice.
You can see more of Kordan's photographs from the visit on his gallery, and read more about the trip here (you'll need to use a translator if you don't read Russian!). There's also an amazing 360 panorama of the frozen lake which you can see here.
