Crystal Architecture: Frost and Snowflake Bentley

Was ever life history written
in more dainty or fairy-like hieroglyphics?

How charming the task of trying to decipher them.

-Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley

I know this is a theme I bring up time and again, but it is truly incredible, the detail of the world invisible. I crunch the frosty leaves underfoot thoughtlessly, without regard for the individual beauty, the crystal architecture of each one.

There are only so many hours in a day, after all, and so many wonders to admire.

I neglected to mention yesterday, what one decoration I put up in celebration of the season, and what book I read to the kids. The decoration was fairly low-key; holiday hand towels were hung as needed, penguins and snowflakes to spread some cheer.

The book was Snow Crystals , a collection of the photographs of snowflakes taken by W.A. Bentley.
Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley took the first photomicrograph of a snow crystal and went on to take more than 5000 throughout his life. He believed snowflakes

“come to us not only to reveal the wondrous beauty of the minute in Creation but to teach us that all earthly beauty is transient and must soon fade away.”

When Bentley died, his local paper ran this testimony:

“John Ruskin declared that genius is only a superior power of seeing. Wilson Bentley was a living example of this type of genius. He saw something in the snowflakes which other men failed to see, not because they could not see, but because they had not the patience and the understanding to look.”

Really, I don’t think it’s possible for anyone- adult or child alike-to page through this book and not be swept away by the delicate individuality of each crystal (by the way, it is thanks to Snowflake Bentley vast catalogue that we say that “no two snowflakes are alike”).

Or not to be struck with admiration for the man who loved the wonder of Nature so much, that he stood in the freezing cold, snowstorm after snowstorm, so that he could share and we could appreciate the beauty of our world.

(Family & friends: I got this book out of the library. Sure wish I had my own copy… wink, wink; nudge, nudge.)

You can learn more about Snowflake Bentley and access his public domain photographs here.

Bentley quotes originally found in Exuberance: The Passion for Life.

There is also a very pretty Caldecott medal biography; named, simply, Snowflake Bentley , which I sometimes read to my kids.

His is such an inspiring story, I think, about embracing life and wonder, of forging past limitation, and following your passion.

What’s inspiring you today?