Images taken from the world of very small things are always a source of endless fascination, capable of turning the everyday into the extraordinary through new perspective. The art of capturing these snapshots is called “Macro Photography”, and is often thought to be the exclusive domain of professionals with expensive training and even more expensive equipment. But Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov’s stunning snowflake photos prove that while talent may be a necessity in this field, expensive equipment isn’t.Alexey cobbled together his rig from an ordinary Canon A650, cheap LED flashlight, plastic bottle and bag, a piece of wood, and copious tape. It’s about as Do-It-Yourself as it is possible to get, as these pictures show:
His results, however, are nothing short of remarkable. The beauty and uniqueness of snowflakes are proverbial, but proverbs don’t come out of nowhere. Kljatov’s Flickr is full of these astonishing crystalline images.
Hopefully this work will server as an inspiration to Do-It-Yourself types all over the globe, and serve as a remind that ingenuity often trumps expensive and complicated equipment. After all, how many terrible photos have you seen taken by people with extremely expensive cameras? You can’t buy your way in to amazing results, but often you can think you way in.
