Notebook Snowflakes

In 1885, at the age of 20, the American Wilson Alwyn Bentley produced the world’s first photograph of a snowflake. Until his death, he captured more than 5,000 crystals. Combining a camera with a microscope, he followed a meticulous and unchanging protocol, which involved, for example, a broom splint, a turkey feather, and a focusing system of ropes and pulleys. Celebrated in the magazines, jewelry workshops, and textile industries of his time, and also a pioneer in photographing raindrops, Bentley wrote: “Every snow crystal is a masterpiece, and no design is ever repeated. When a snowflake melts, that design is lost forever.”