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I suppose I vaguely knew that every snowflake was unique but really thought nothing of it until yesterday when I read that a couple of pioneering photographs of snowflakes are up for sale in New York.
Captured by a US farmer, Wilson Alwyn ‘Snowflake’ Bentley, they are among the first images of single snowflakes. From 1885, he produced over 5,000 photographs of them and proved that each was unique. ‘Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost,’ he said.
The images were so good that no-one else bothered to photograph a snowflake for over 100 years. Sadly, Bentley caught pneumonia in 1931 when out in a blizzard and died as a result.
In an idle moment, I googled the word ‘snowflake’ and was surprised to find that there are over 5,000,000 entries on it. The idle moment turned into an extremely interesting and relaxing hour and a half as I explored the world of the snowflake and the beauty of them.
There are websites devoted to snowflakes in their various forms, thousands of essays on the subject, dozens of books about them, photos and sketches of them, discussions about the merits or otherwise of the various types of them ... the variety of sites is seemingly endless.
Scrolling through some of these websites, what captured my imagination more than anything were the photographs of snowflakes. For one thing it seems amazing that anyone could actually capture a snowflake long enough to take a photograph before it melted.
For another, it is the sheer inexpressible beauty and wonderment of the multiplicity of snowflakes, starting with the very first ones taken by ‘Snowflake’ Bentley all those years ago.
And, if you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself. But be prepared to be enchanted as well as trapped for a while.
.
I suppose I vaguely knew that every snowflake was unique but really thought nothing of it until yesterday when I read that a couple of pioneering photographs of snowflakes are up for sale in New York.
Captured by a US farmer, Wilson Alwyn ‘Snowflake’ Bentley, they are among the first images of single snowflakes. From 1885, he produced over 5,000 photographs of them and proved that each was unique. ‘Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost,’ he said.
The images were so good that no-one else bothered to photograph a snowflake for over 100 years. Sadly, Bentley caught pneumonia in 1931 when out in a blizzard and died as a result.
In an idle moment, I googled the word ‘snowflake’ and was surprised to find that there are over 5,000,000 entries on it. The idle moment turned into an extremely interesting and relaxing hour and a half as I explored the world of the snowflake and the beauty of them.
There are websites devoted to snowflakes in their various forms, thousands of essays on the subject, dozens of books about them, photos and sketches of them, discussions about the merits or otherwise of the various types of them ... the variety of sites is seemingly endless.
Scrolling through some of these websites, what captured my imagination more than anything were the photographs of snowflakes. For one thing it seems amazing that anyone could actually capture a snowflake long enough to take a photograph before it melted.
For another, it is the sheer inexpressible beauty and wonderment of the multiplicity of snowflakes, starting with the very first ones taken by ‘Snowflake’ Bentley all those years ago.
And, if you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself. But be prepared to be enchanted as well as trapped for a while.
.
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