http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_B...Wilson Alwyn "Snowflake" Bentley (February 9, 1865 - December 23, 1931), born at Jericho in the U.S. state of Vermont, is the first known photographer of snowflakes. He perfected a process of catching flakes on black velvet in such a way that their images could be captured before they either melted or sublimated.http://snowflakebentley.com/From the earliest memories of our childhood, many of us can remember hearing the phrase "no two snowflakes are alike". This discovery was made in the small rural town of Jericho, Vermont by Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931).Biography from The Buffalo Museum of Sciencehttp://www.bentley.sciencebuff.org/Bi...Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born February 9th, 1865, on a farm in Jericho, Vermont. His mother was a former teacher, and home schooled his brother and him. His father taught him how to farm. A farm boy's life is close to nature, which well-suited Bentley because he loved nature and the weather. He was very curious, especially about snow. For his 15th birthday, his mother gave him a microscope. Looking at snow crystals through his microscope, Bentley was amazed at their beauty, complexity, and variety. He tried to make detailed drawings of magnified snow crystals, but the snow melted before he could finish. Frustrated but determined to capture the exquisite geometrical intricacies of snow crystals, he decided to try photography. During the late 19th Century the camera was an expensive new technology. Bentley's father considered a camera an unnecessary luxury and would not buy him one--he did not understand why Bentley wanted such an expensive "toy". Fortunately, Bentley's mother helped change his father's mind, and when Bentley was seventeen he got a camera and new microscope.It took Bentley two years of painstaking trial and error, but on January 15, 1885, at the age of 19 years, he made the world's first photomicrograph of a snow crystal. The process he developed was unique and innovative, and when he first shared his images with others many people, especially scientists and professional photographers, "doubted Bentley's ability and his images" authenticity. However, over time Bentley was recognized for what he had achieved. His boyhood interest in the snow's microscopic beauty expanded to include a scientific curiosity of snow crystals structure and development, and he devoted himself to his photography and study of snow and other atmospheric phenomenon. To the villagers of Jericho, Vermont, Bentley was considered odd, and was known to many of them as the "Snowflake Man" because of his quiet nature and unusual preoccupation with his snow photography. But Bentley was a sensitive, thoughtful man; a gifted and intuitive scientist who was also a talented musician. Though during his lifetime the scientific community largely ignored his innovative work, he was elected, in 1920, a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Since his death in 1933, he has achieved a reputation as a pioneering weather scientist and photographer. He lived to see Snow Crystals, a book of his snow crystals images, published in 1931, but died of pneumonia that same year, after walking home through a blizzard. The photography processhttp://www.bentley.sciencebuff.org/Ph...The apparatus used in this work consists of the ordinary combination of camera and microscope, called a photomicroscopic camera, the lenses used being microscope objectives of ½-inch, ¾-inch and 3 inch, giving magnifications of from 8 to 60 diameters (64 to 3600 timesIt is indeed a delicate task to "catch" one's snowflake and get it in position to be photographed. Mr. Bentley has a tray consisting of a board painted black with wire handles on either end, on which he collects the flakes: this he carries carefully by the handles with mittened hands, in order to keep off all animal heat: and to keep his hands warm too, no doubt: into his cold, unheated workroom. With a splint of wood, he painstakingly picks up the snowflake and places it on the slide of his microscope, being particularly careful that it is unbroken and perfectly flat so that all parts reflect the light equally."It takes me quite awhile sometimes," Mr. Bentley explained, "and I have to breathe occasionally, but I turn my face away, take a quick breath and get to work again before the flake melts," illustrating with a quick birdlike movement of the head."It must take a steady hand and infinite patience to manipulate those snowflakes," I (Loveland) remarked.Crystal Collection:http://www.bentley.sciencebuff.org/co...http://snowflakebentley.com/snowflake...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAnb4o...-----------------------Music -- "Finn" by Tori Amoshttp://everythingtori.com/go/homeSupport the artist, buy her music as I didhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/...