Arts Design

IMPOSSIBLY BEAUTIFUL BUT REAL SNOW JEWELS NOW

Frozen Echo from the Edge Collection by Mikko Lagerstedt.

by Mikko Lagerstedt. Frozen Echo from the Edge Collection.

Today, we are featuring 3 incredibly talented photographers who each manage to take the beauty of snow to a whole new level of extraordinary. Check them out below.

MIKKO LAGERSTEDT

Mikko Lagerstedt, a self-taught photographer from Finland, creates images of snowy landscapes that are otherworldly in feel. Soaked in mood, deep in spirit, the Finnish countryside beckons us as we gaze upon Lagerstedt’s spectacular prints.

Working with fog and light, focusing on the horizon line, Lagerstedt’s images are layered in textures and hundreds of shades of blue.

The coastlines and rural ranges, featured in his photos, take on an atmospheric air, evoking fleeting moments and ephemeral ideas.

Lagerstedt has won numerous awards for his Beautiful Snow photography, some of which has been featured around the world in book covers, magazines and in advertisements.

“I have just recently realised, that one of the reasons I create atmospheric photographs, comes from my past,” Lagerstedt shares, “ - losing my best friend when I turned 20, has definitely influenced my work and how I see things surrounding us.”

Check out our post Beautifully Dark Photos Happening Now and Lagerstedt’s site for more of his Beautiful Snow images. They are available for purchase in limited editions.

DOUGLAS LEVERE

Photographer Douglas Levere rocks the snowflake using a DIY rig.

He has deconstructed and reconfigured a homemade camera and microscope, combining them to form a rig than can take exceptionally beautiful photographs of snowflakes as they fall near his home in Buffalo, New York.

Levere captures each snowflake and positions it onto a microscope slide, using a paintbrush. He must work quickly to photograph his subject before it melts.

Stacking multiple photos, as Kljatov has done, Levere achieves the depth of field he needs to celebrate each nook and cranny of each flake.

Levere’s prints are available here for purchase online.

ALEXEY KLJATOV

Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov has a special way of making snowflakes even more beautiful than they are already.

Using a DIY rig and a unique processing technique, Kljatov, a self-taught photographer, shoots with a Canon PowerShot, a plastic bag, some tape, and a piece of wood. He sets his shots up on an overturned stool, covered with a piece of black fabric. Sounds simple, right?

But Kljatov manages to turn these simple tools and techniques into sheer magnificence. He takes a series of identical shots of each crystal and stacks them to lower the background noise and showcase the intricate details in each flake.

Sometimes Kljatov uses more than 60 shots to create a single image. His postprocessing work is pure genius.

Kljatov’s snowflakes look like carved jewels -- each unique in its design. They are so beautiful, you pray they never melt. Of course, in this artist’s photos, they never do.

See more of Kljatov’s Beautiful Snow photos in our post: Geometry – Source of All Beauty? and on his site.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Snow in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 02.8.15. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!