Sam Droege is the head of the
USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Program
in Maryland, an organization that monitors the health and habitat of
bees in the U.S. as well as creating archival reference catalogs that
aid researchers in the identification of bee species in North America.
The project is no small task as there are literally thousands of bee
species in the U.S., some of which vary in only the most minute ways
that may not even be distinguishable to the naked eye.
To aid in the identification process the USGS Bee Inventory relies on
extremely high resolution photography, an initiative led by Droege that
has been ongoing since 2010. Droege’s macro photos of bees are so clear
and well executed that they practically pass as works of art in their
own right. He shares with
Flickr:
“When we started looking at these pictures, I just wanted
to gaze at these shots for long periods of time,” Sam says. “I had seen
these insects for many years, but the level of detail was incredible.
The fact that everything was focused, the beauty and the arrangement of
the insects themselves — the ratios of the eyes, the golden means, the
french curves of the body, and the colors that would slide very
naturally from one shade to another were just beautiful! It was the kind
of thing that we could not achieve at the highest level of art.”
You can see many more of these bee portraits (as well as photos of other insects and even animals) over on
Flickr. (via
Daring Fireball,
Flickr)
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
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| Courtesy Sam Droege / USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab |
