Wilson Bentley

Siddhi Desai uncovers the relentlessness and fanatic vigour for discovery behind the visionary Wilson ‘Snowflake’ Bentley.

- ​​​​​​​Siddhi Desai

Author Charles Bukowski had once said, “Find what you love and let it kill you.” For Wilson Bentley, his passion didn’t just take his life, it became the purpose of his life. In the small town of Jericho, USA, Bentley discovered the world of ice crystals and found out that no two snowflakes are alike. His work in photomicrography contributed not just to science and meteorology, but it was also a work of art that made the world realise that the wonders of nature are boundless.

A Curious Mind

Bentley began documenting snowflakes at the age of 15, when he would look at them through an old microscope and then draw them by hand. This was not easy, as the snowflakes would melt or sublimate before he could finish his documentation. A year later, he read in an encyclopaedia that a bellows camera could be used with a microscope, which piqued his interest in the subject even more. After his parents begrudgingly gave him a camera, he began his experiments.

He knew nothing about photography, but he never gave up the pursuit. Four long years later, he successfully photographed a snowflake on 15 January 1885. He devised a method to work swiftly before the snowflakes changed shape and captured the detail on each snowflake through sheer trial and error. He used that same camera to make 5000 images of snowflakes over his lifetime.