Pixiq

When I was very young my maternal grandmother - 'Nana’ - lived with us. She was a gentle old lady in her eighties with whispy hair, slightly frail in body but sharp of mind with a fund of stories, rhymes and poems. She had a set of ancient encyclopaedias (12 of them) called the Children’s treasure House that became my bedtime (and daytime) reading and I still have them.Time and again I turned to a page with woodcuts of snowflakes.

I have always loved patterns whether in shapes, words or numbers and so it was inevitable that I was captivated then and I still think snowflakes are some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen – boy, it is amazing what nature does with hexagonal symmetry and fractals…without even trying!

Setting up to photograph snowflakes has always been one of those projects I 'meant' to carry out but, wherever I have lived, weather conditions, until recently, were never right. As a kid with a small microscope out in the cold in Wales I only ever witnessed the wet, lumpy white stuff. However, just a week ago, on a very dry, bitterly cold night, I saw the crystals themselves. The snow flurry lasted just minutes and so I was forced to do what any 'dedicated' photographer would do and went inside where it was warm...with a glass of home-made peach grappa in front of a log fire - all strictly for 'medicinal' purposes.

In an internet search some time ago, I discovered an incredible resource on snowflakes not just with superb photographs but with considerable detail on how to find them, photograph them and even how to construct a snowflake microscope…experimenters will discover how they can grow their own snow crystals in a deep freeze!

The site has been constructed by Professor Kenneth  G. Libbrecht, professor of physics at Caltech, who has generously allowed me to use some of his photographs in this post: I have assembled some of them into an array (above) in Lightroom 3

I love clear, accessible science writing and this fits site that bill perfectly - here is everything and more you might want to know about snowflakes. I particularly like the  Myths and Nonsense section where Ken Libbrecht debunks some mistaken ideas about water, both liquid and solid. Here I quote: "As we liked to say back on the farm in North Dakota - it's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out!"  

When I read that I knew that here was a man after my own heart with an aversion to pseudoscience and quackery. It seems to be a great Caltech tradition: one of life's true genii and a lifelong hero of mine is the late Prof. Richard P. Feynman, supreme rationalist, humorist, visionary, safecracker... and bongo player.

The best thing I can do is to recommend you visit the site – by the way the books are genuinely beautiful, exquisitely photographed and make great presents.

Inspired and wanting more ? Then check out excellent snowflake shots on these sites, too: first are fellow Pixiq bloggers George and Mary Lepp who have a gallery dedicated to these crystals. Then Solvin Zankl , a photographer whose work I love and whom  I have mentioned before in my posts.

Who knows - maybe next year I can add a link of my own...we shall see if some trips into the high Apennines work?

For more information and the practicalities of photographing small things see my earlier 'macro' posts on Pixiq including:

• Larger than Life-the Real Macro realm
• Larger than Life-Doin it in reverse
• Larger than Life-Those not-so "Good Vibrations"