Honoring "Snowflake" Bentley...

Last night at the Massasoit Art Guild meeting (Photography branch), our chair Dayle brought a cool DVD for us to watch.  (Thanks, Dayle!)  I say “cool” for a couple of reason.  The DVD was about Wilson Bentley or “Snowflake”Bentley as he became to be known.  He is the reason we know that no two snowflakes are alike.  Around the turn of the 20^th Century, he began photographing individual snowflakes, a difficult and painstaking task that he stuck to like a tongue on a frozen pole.  His photography alone is amazing but his tenacity is even more amazing.  He loved snow and he wanted to share his love of snow.

 

I have mixed feelings toward snow myself.  I mostly love it.  I love the way it muffles the sound and brightens up a dull winter landscape.  I think it is beautiful on bright winter days.  But as I get older, I do fear the treachery of ice, which, of course, can be a byproduct of snow.  I don’t want to slip and fall.  I don’t want to skid my car into a tree.  Still, I think ice has its place in nature’s warehouse of beauty.  And I like looking at it.  It's like the art glass of nature.  I’m no Snowflake Bentley when it comes to photography.  The kind of work he did is beyond my wildest abilities.  But I am going to share a few photos I’ve taken of ice in the last few years. 

While today our weather is in the deep freeze, it really is the first winter snap we’ve had (not counting our freak Halloween snowstorm) so I don’t have too many current ice pictures.  I’m sure they’ll come though.  We do live in New England after all.