Posted on 01/21/2010 8:35:27 PM PST by bruinbirdman
Photographs by Wilson A. Bentley, the first person to capture the image of a single snowflake with a camera in 1885, are to be auctioned in New York.
The farmer from Vermont became known as Snowman Bentley and The Snowflake Man for his pioneering 19th century images of thousands of jewel-like snowflakes.
A four-day sale of his work begins on Thursday, with 26 of his images to be auctioned at the American Antiques Show.
Ten of the images are of snowflakes, which he called snow crystals, and are priced at $4,800 (£3,000) each. The others show winter scenes.
They are being offered by Carl Hammer, whose Chicago art gallery is showing 20 other Bentley photographs.
"They're remarkably beautiful," said Mr Hammer. "There are imperfections on the outer edges of the image itself and on the paper, but the images themselves are quite spectacular."
The technology Bentley used became known as photomicrography.
By rigging a microscope with a bellows camera, Bentley was able to capture for the first time the exquisite delicacy of a snowflake. His groundbreaking 1931 book, Snow Crystals, recorded for posterity the beauty, fragility and lacy designs of 2,500 snowflakes.
"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others," Bentley said in 1925. "Every crystal was a masterpiece of design, and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost."
Weeks after the book's publication, Bentley, walking through a blizzard, caught pneumonia and died.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Bentley was known as 'The Snowflake Man' or 'Snowman Bentley' for his pioneering photography of more than 5,000 illusive jewel-like snow crystals
yitbos
I remember snowfalls in winter in Minnesota where the snowflakes were so big you could actually see the pattern of each one. Like a kalidiscope.
Photography Ping...
Some folks may call BS on that, but where I grew up in the bush of BC, I have seen the same thing.
Okay, now THAT is what you call "irony."
I remember those winters in Minnesota and I always looked for the snowflakes twin....I thought there was no way that no two snow flakes were alike....
We don’t get much snow in north TX.....but we had a dusting on Christmas Eve....snow flake hunting was pretty sparse.....
Yeah, I’ve seen individual snowflakes that big, too. At least 1/8” across. You couldn’t see this level of detail with the naked eye, of course, but I could clearly make out the structure. Would have been awesome if I’d had a strong magnifying glass handy.
Each is distinctly different.
Bump for the beauty of nature.
Many can testify to it.
Interior Alaska, Ft. Greely, -20 or -30 degrees, still night. The precipitation in that neck of the woods is actually sparce. 15 inches of dry snow night yield one inch of precipitation. Problem is, it is so cold for so long, all the snow accumulates for 6 to 8 months.
On extremely cold and still nights snowflakes, few and far between, may reach 3 to 4 inches in size.
yitbos
God even details the snowflake fancy. He shows Himself everywhere.
I wonder how many of these beauties are in one shovelfull?
~~~ Nature PING ~~~
GGG potential
I think all snow flakes are six-faceted.
Hmmm. Looks like an intelligent design?
yitbos
Well, yeah! Counting to six shows you’re not dumber than a stump.
The snowflake, an elusive prey,
Blending in
Then melting away.
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