Snow Flake

Wilson Alwyn Bentley, a farmer-scientist who lived his entire life in a farmhouse just outside Jericho, Vermont, holds the distinction of being the first photographer to record snow crystals. Bentley had a passion for the subject, stating once: “I can’t remember the time I didn’t love the snow more than anything in the world—except my mother.” During his lifetime, Bentley recorded more than 5,300 photomicrographs of snowflakes in an effort to deduce facts regarding their creation, form and variety. Though never taken very seriously by the scientific community, Bentley’s work belongs to a distinguished lineage within the medium’s history: that of the photographer-naturalist.