The Snowflake Man

As heavy snow falls across large parts of Britain today (we've hardly seen any here in Bath – boo), I'm celebrating the work of Wilson 'Snowflake' Bentley!

Born in Vermont in 1865, he's the first known photographer of snowflakes, catching flakes on black velvet so that images could be captured before they melted. Here's a sample of his amazing snowflake images:



As he put it: "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind."

Enjoy the miracles of beauty, and be careful out there.
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