Capturing Snowflakes

Harder than it looks

Wilson A. Bentley (1865–1931) is famous for pioneering snowflake photography. He was a Vermont dairy farmer who took over 5,000 photographs of snowflakes. Now that I've tried my hand at it, I can sincerely admire the patience, skill, and cold this man must have endured in order to capture such stunning beauty.

Why is it so difficult?

Capturing images of snowflakes is extremely difficult for several reasons:

1. They melt. If you even slightly warm these tiny crystals they turn into a sad little water droplet.
2. They are very small. Even in perfect snowfall conditions, the ice crystals of snowflakes are tiny and capturing them can be extremely difficult.
3. Hard to find. Snowflakes often fall as clumps, or as ice, or are blown around. You need gently falling snow to happen upon a photo-worthy specimen.

Wilson Bentley spent years perfecting his setup in order to capture the stunning images we have all seen. It was with some hubris that I set out to capture snowflakes, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that I was met with unexpected challenges.

The results

I spent an afternoon trying to capture snowflakes. More to follow as the season progresses.