Catch a Falling Snowflake

Snow fell most of the day, and I walked most of the day in it. At first I worried about slipping on ice, but as the snow deepened, slipping seemed less likely and landings appeared softer. Unlike yesterday’s snow, the flakes came big, sometimes huge, landing as intricate crystals. I discovered that if I photograph directly into them and use flash, I can catch the floating flakes midair. They collect on every twig and blade of grass, forming delicate structures with their interlocking limbs, like coral reefs or swarms of bees, almost alive in gregarious communities. I wish that my close-ups turned out better; most of them are blurry. Any suggestions?





Across Rainy River in Canada, the flakes are just as big, but that’s the kind of assumption I came on this venture to investigate.









Nature, where it creeps and winds
Among her lovely works with secure
And unambitious course, —William Cowper






Woods full of crystalline white
emptiness of my apartment
back in South Pasadena








Doubts swirling away
as light snowflakes
winter has come