The Way To Bee with Frederick Dunn - Interview with Honey Bee Photographer Rhiannon Maddox regarding her First Place Wins at the 2024 North American Honey Bee Expo

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

This is the audio track from today's YouTube video:  https://youtu.be/bZIRbQyRoWc Visit Rhiannon's Website for more information about her work:  https://www.madhoneyphoto.com/for-the-bees

So hello and welcome to another episode of interviews with experts. Today, I'm very happy to introduce Riannon Maddox. The topic is Honeybee Photography. Riannon received two first place awards for her photographic submissions at the North American Honeybee Expo, which was held in Louisville, Kentucky in January of 2024. During this interview, we'll see some award-winning photos and learn more about her process and equipment. I'm Frederick Dunn, and this is the way to be. And here's Riannon. Hi, I'm Riannon Maddox. I live in West Georgia, and I've been a beekeeper for about 15 years. I've been a wedding photographer

about two and a half, almost three. And last summer, I decided that bees may be more fun to photograph than people. And I have since developed a love for all things bee photography. I competed at the North American Honeybee Expo this year and won two blue ribbons in the photography category. And of course, had to get my picture with Fred done afterward. Oh, I like the end on that. So anyway, I want to thank you for joining me for this interview today, Riannon. And I can appreciate that you're into photography. And I'm really glad that I ran into you, as you just mentioned,

at the North American Honeybee Expo, where, as you also just mentioned, you won two Blue Ribbons. And I'm interested to know, oh, and you just happen to have them right there. That's great. And for those who don't know that are watching, tonight's topic is going to be photography, so get settled in. If you don't like photography, then you probably don't belong on this channel at all because it is our window into everything we appreciate. And so I invited Rayan to talk because she won blue ribbons at the North American

Honeybee Expo, and unless you are completely unfamiliar, it is a huge gathering of beekeepers, and it is also a place to exhibit a lot of talent. And that includes. includes whether they're doing things with bees, wax, and even exhibiting their own honey and things like that, but it also has a big collection of submissions for photography. So the field is not shallow, right? There were a lot of photographic entries there. There were. And one thing that's going to frustrate people right off the bat, how long have you been doing photography, you just mentioned? Especially two and a half, almost three years, but I've always loved taking pictures of things. My mom had a camera when I was a young kid that I was not allowed to touch

because I would break it. I touched it anyway and I broke it taking photos. We should have known then what I was going to do for a career. So you took your mother's camera and you're broken. I want to hear that story for starters. She kept it up on a shelf. I was not supposed to touch it. I had to get a step stool to get it down and it was just an old cannon camera. This was circa night or 2010. So a while ago. And I just. was taking random pictures one day without my mother's permission and I dropped the camera, said, uh-oh, put it back in the case and stuck it on the shelves. And she did later find out that I had broke it. So I'm going to guess that was a digital camera. It wasn't film.

It was 2010. It was digital. So your mom, is she like an advanced amateur photographer? Not since I broke her camera. Not since you broke. Do you remember the model and make of that camera that you broke? I could pick it out of the lineup. It was about this big and it was like it was a very old canon camera. I think it was old back then. Okay. So did she, how'd she get back at you?

What was your punishment? Oh, I don't even remember. Oh, you blocked it out. It was that bad. Oh, my gosh. Did she put it like on the kitchen table and make you walk past it every day so you would know that she could no longer take pictures because of Rianna? I wouldn't have put it past her. Okay.

So that's, so you were so inspired to. take pictures that you're willing to risk getting into trouble to do it. And so is there any formal education in your background in photography or is it just kind of hands on and going for it? How do you describe your path to becoming a professional photographer now? Well, I attended YouTube University. I taught myself with YouTube and books from the library, everything I know. learning to shoot manual was just a lot of hands-owned trial and error out in the front yard, just taking pictures of random things. That's pretty much it.

I love still reading camera books just to further my knowledge because you can always learn something new. Oh, name a camera book that had a good influence on you, that you found really useful. Good with faces, not with names. It's in my living room on my coffee table. The same book that you liked? Now, so says you like to go hands on, a lot of photographers, a lot of artists today. I mean, thank it is for YouTube and other online resources because I think it really has helped a lot of people that are visual learners and people that want to really get into things fast. And so you kind of circumvented formal education and image making based on what you just said.

So then what gives you the confidence to enter photographic competition? And what's behind that? Why do you even want to compete photographically? Because for some people, it's too much stress, and the concept that they might fail is overwhelming. Oh, no, I'm a put your best foot forward type of gal. When I was in high school, I was homeschooled, and I was in 4-H. There was a contest called District Project Achievement,

and basically you had to come up with a 7-10-minute project. You're in certain categories, and I obviously was in the entomology category, because bees. And so I talked to people about bees and I competed every year when I was in high school, went to state a couple of times. And then my senior year, I actually won at state. So graduating high school and then just not doing any competitions of any sort and I'm a very competitive person, I needed an outlet. And so last year, 2023, I entered just a photo. I had taken my cell phone that wasn't the best into the Hive Live Conference Honey Show. And I didn't know then the type of of judging standards that they used and how prestigious it was.

And so I just, you know, I didn't win anything, which was fine. You still learning experience. But I knew coming into 2024 that I wanted to go out with a bang. And so that's where the whole getting a macro lens and taking photos in a beehive really, really started. That's really interesting. So the Hive Life Conference, another huge gathering of people and a lot of talent there in the photo competitions. When you're walking through, did you, were you surprised by the other entries?

the other images that you saw there and did some of them like did you look at that and go wow I need to do better than I'm doing or I'm going to follow this photographer's method or concept or approach to photography how did that influence you I think I thought I need to keep doing what I'm obviously since I did win some ribbons but I really enjoyed looking at other people's takes on bee photography and I was quite blown away by a bunch of the other entries it was only the best for the North American Nine AP Expo. So when it comes to Why macro? Why not just normal focal length photography? And for those who may not understand, what is macro?

Really, really, really up close things. I love getting up close to the bees and really seeing the detail because that's something, yeah, everybody sees a bee outside, but not a lot of people say something that up close, especially for people that, you know, don't like stinging insects. So then when you're looking online for resources and you saw pictures, or maybe photographic methods that you found helpful in your own journey as a photographer. Can you name some channels or some photographers that you've looked at their work and felt inspired by the way they approached honeybees or other entomological subject? I didn't actually do a whole bunch of bee-specific research. Obviously, I've seen Fred Dunn's work and was blown away by that. And that was kind of, I think, one of my note cards for the descriptions for the photos

at the North American Honeybee Expo actually said that I was channeling my interoper. Fred Dunn. Really? I did not know that. I kind of regret not having you sign that. That would have been cool. Oh, okay. When I was looking for what macro lens to use, because I had never messed with that,

I literally Googled what macro lens be photography. And so at that point, it was just scrolling through people's really professional, national geographic level photography and the lens they used. And I was like, I like that. So that was the inspiration for the lens I picked. and some of the photos I took. Now let's talk about the process that you go through when you're taking pictures.

Now, you're not new to the subject matter because I think you said, you've been keeping bees for 15 years? Close to it. Okay, so how old does that make you when you started keeping bees? Nine. So you're nine years old.

So you're just a little older than my grandson who helps me out right now, and he has a camera, but I don't pay any attention to his abilities. But you were beekeeping then. You weren't taking pictures. then that was pre-camera damage. That was pre-camera damage.

Okay. But at the age of nine, you're getting into beekeeping. So where was that? Who was the beekeeper that helped you get started? That would be my father. He had a close friend growing up that was a beekeeper. And so my dad learned a lot from Charles. And Charles taught my dad a lot about beekeeping.

And then my dad was like, I think I just want to get bees. So we got bees. And the rest of my family just kind of looked at him like, you're crazy. But I naturally did it one time. and was like, oh, I'm hooked. Got to have, you know, stinging insects in my backyard, because why not? And it was just downhill from there. Do you have brothers and sisters?

I have a younger sister who's not affiliated with the beekeeping bug. Not interested. Do you want her to be? I think everybody could learn a lot from it. Some people, you know, when they pick something in a family, you know, especially when it comes to siblings and stuff, one kind of picks an area of expertise or interest, and then they kind of hope the others don't get involved so it's left to them? Or would you rather have your sister involved if she were interested? Or you just like the fact that you're kind of the one?

I do enjoy it being me and my dad's thing, but I will never discourage anybody from being interested in bees because it's something that's just been so fantastic for the past 15 years. Okay. And we talked about this before, so I'm going to bring it up again. But because for me, it's a broader interest than just bees, although how do you mean is the focus? Once you realize you can keep them in your own yard, you have a hive, you have that availability, and they're adjacent to where you live. So opportunity to take pictures and see what's going on at any time of year is really convenient. But so I brought up things like, why not spiders and hornets and snakes and maybe little worms and who knows what else? Do you have any other interest on a macro level in photography as a subject?

I think ladybugs would be cool, the rest of them. What about that invasive ladybug species? Yeah, I could take photos of that one too. That'd be pretty cool. Oh, so you're indiscriminate. You don't care if they belong here. If they have a W on their plates or not. Yeah.

Okay, so let's talk about it. What did you do to find out what the requirements we're going to be to submit a photo? So somebody that's listening and watching right now is thinking, hey, they have a pretty good picture of B, and I'd like to enter that. year's North American Honeybee Expo. What's the process and how do you whittle down what kind of picture you want to use for this mission?

The North American Honeybee Expo website has a rulebook for the Honey Show. It's a very extensive rule book and I read it from like cover to cover five or six times. I entered a lot of other categories as well. And every time I read it, I picked out something that I missed the time before. So definitely read the rule book ahead of time. And then as far as picking the photo, whichever one speaks to you. I went through a whole bunch of narrowing down what I wanted to enter. There were some that I didn't enter that I really kind of am sad that I didn't get to enter.

But you can only enter one in each category. And if you're a good be photographer, you'll have more than the categories listed. So it's just a matter of paper. Does it cost you money to enter in the photo competition? It does not. Just the money for the ticket to get in the door. Okay. So do you also, you have to frame math?

amount do you have to what's required to submit an image it has to be properly framed and matted and if it doesn't stand up on its own you have to provide a stand for it okay and then besides that I for the hive life conference I just went and bought a photo put the picture in it went with it but I on my card afterward that they give you feedback on there was issues with the framing and so to avoid that this year I went to Hobby Lobby and they actually wore the price of the mat in the frame, we'll assemble it for you.

Okay. So if Hobby Lobby helped you out, okay. Michaels is insanely expensive if you have one of those near you, but Hobby Lobby is fair. Well, learning to frame your own stuff is really good skills, you know, matting, framing,

trimounding. What is the largest submission you could have made? I think the requirement was that it must be at least a five by seven. I don't think there was a, there's no upper limits. So you could have done a 20 by 30?

I probably could have. What? Okay. Because my thing is, I like to be a little, what's that? I was traveling all the way from Georgia to Kentucky, so it all had to fit in the car. And I had 17 categories that I entered, so I had a bunch more stuff to carry.

You entered 17 categories. How many categories are there? There were 76 this year. Holy cow, 76 photographic categories? Just category. as in general. I entered every photo. There was black and white, macro essay, and open. So just four photo. So how did you whittle down what category you wanted to enter? And did somebody come and look at your portfolio for you at home? Or do you have somebody you collaborate with

that says, hey, Rianne, and this one right here is looking really good. Was there, or is it just 100% you alone looking at your stuff going, I like this one, I'm feeling this one. I'm going to use this one. I kind of narrowed it down to what I thought would be award winning and then I asked friends, family, co-workers and I made them all pick and then I kind of took votes and I did have the final say, but I did take their suggestions into account. Which are your friends do you trust the most and why to give an opinion about your work? Probably my mother because she always has my best interested heart. She'll tell me if it doesn't look good and she'll tell me if it does look good, which I appreciate the honesty. I'd rather be her, be honest with me about it and hurt my feelings if

that happens than me go and enter a photo that doesn't look as good as I think it does. I like that story. Your mom is spot on. And you're right. We need somebody. Everybody's got the friend that, oh, everything you take is just wonderful. Oh, that's just the best. Everything you do is just perfect. That is not helpful. My husband doesn't be that friend, but his face gives it away. What's that? My husband tries to be that friend, but his face gives it away. It's like, that looks good. Oh, no. So you're reading between the lines what people. we'll call a subtext. Okay. So that's good. So now we get to the North American Honeybee Expo. You enter your stuff. And this is where I ran into you after the fact. I didn't even get to

walk through and see the photographic entries. I didn't even get to see the honey entries or all of that. I got bogged down. But when I first saw you, you came over and you had your ribbons with you. And I was really excited that you won that, by the way. And I'm also glad that we got to meet in person and got a selfie, got pictures taken together. But at what point do you learn that you've won? And then how excited were you when you saw that you got some first place spots there? So there were 76 categories like we've mentioned. And that was what was the last day?

Was it Saturday? Saturday morning they had an awards ceremony. Where at the Hive Life Conference last year, they didn't have anywhere near as many categories. so they read out first, second, and third place. This year, they only read out first. And so 17 entries in the room next door, and I just, I want to know.

I was very excited to know. And so they read out all the first place, and they went with the open photography first, which I thought that one was the one that I was definitely going to win based on the photo I entered. And so when they- Pause there.

What is the open photography category? Open photography category, there weren't requirements for it. There was black and white, which was required to be black and white, obviously. There was macro that had to be macro and then there was an essay that had to be essay. The open was just a free for all. And I had my favorite photo into that category. And so when Mr. English started down the list and he read open photo and it was not me, I was kind of sad. And at that point, I was like, oh my gosh, I'm not going to win anything at all.

And he keeps going down the list and I've won two. And I was just shocked. And so they finished reading out the rest of the winners. And then I'm thinking, oh my gosh, they didn't read second and third and fourth and fifth and six, what else is in there? And so I took off into the room next door. I went around and found all my entries. And I had won a second in the bread's made with honey and a third in the rolled candle category as well. Oh, so you did. These aren't photographs. These are, you made rolled candle. Is that what you just said? I made rolled these wax candles. You got second in that? Third in that one. And then second banana bread that I made with honey. you actually baked banana bread and you are a multi-talented photographer most photographers aren't willing to make things but they are willing to take a picture of it when you're through and sample it if you need them to i'll do both well that's really good so now i want to ask about your competition in photography so the other people that won first class first class first place they got blue ribbons what was the average experience level of those people like if you had to pin it down

Are they professionals? Are these hobbyists? Are the people that have been taking pictures for 20 years? What's the average entry coming from? Their photo would not give them away. I think most of the ones that entered were amateurs. I'll claim the amateur status myself. But they were phenomenal.

Like I was in a room with a bunch of other photographers. Pagerie. Did just take out their cell phone and take the photo. They did a very good job. What? Are you saying that someone with cell phone photos? I'm not sure if somebody did, but there were photos. Amazing.

So what's the age range of people entering photography? I'm not sure. I know I'm, you know, so I'm sure there's people that were both younger and older than me. No kidding. That's really interesting. Now I'll burn it. I'm going to have to pay more attention.

I wouldn't have paid attention to it at all had you not come over with your ribbons. So that's why we're here right now talking about it. And for those that are watching and listening, there will be information down in the video description. And we, of course, are going to link stuff so you can go and find out more about Riannon Maddox's photography and you're going to see it online. You're not just going to see it here.

So I've also asked you to bring some pictures. We're going to pull them up on the screen and we're going to talk about your process, why you took it, what you think the merit of each image is, and you're going to walk us through it, if you would. So I want you to go ahead and share your screen. I'll do my favorite one first. Okay. So this is your favorite one. Now, do you have to give a creative title to these entries?

You do. When you enter in the Honey to Be Expo, you have to have a note card with the description, and so that you just have to have titles for it. Okay. So for those who are listening, by the way, because this is also a podcast, we're looking at Draw and Com, it's got a worker honeybee with its head buried in the cell, and there are no other bees on the frame. So if you would, Rianna, go ahead and explain why you chose the picture, how you executed it. Well, this is one of those things where you can hardly ever see one singular solitary bee in a space. And I had to have a photo of the bee. There were a couple of photos that I had seen on a website prior to taking the pictures where the bee was like completely in the honeycomb with only its abdomen out. And I thought that was just the cutest thing. So this one, I was like, well, we're getting close to that ideal.

So I took this photo. Obviously, the bee didn't stay like that for very long. So it was one of these. You got to get it while you can type of shots. But if you zoom in real close, you can even count the hair on the bee's body. And I think that was the most fascinating thing is to get a photo and realize, oh, my gosh, I was that close. Now, can we talk a little bit about the lighting that she used? This was all natural.

Okay. So for those who are wondering, photographically speaking, we have options, which is. is available light, which could be artificial or natural. And there's also natural light, which can come from the sun or the moon, which is still the sun, right? And the other would be, of course, controlled lighting, which would be flashes, strobes, things like that. So this is natural light. So time of day. This was about noon. It was the heat of the day. It was back last summer, I think August or September. And is this one of your beads? It was not. It was one of my mentor Lonnie's bees. I needed

that to hold these frames so I could focus on taking the photos rather than trying to handle the frames and take the photos. And good on Lonnie for being willing to hold that there for you. Now, is this one of the winners or this is just an entry? That was my favorite photo that I entered in the open

category and didn't place in, but is still very near and dear to my heart. Okay. So let's move on to the next one. We'll go with that same theme with this one. Okay. Now I'm just going to save right out of the gate. I really like this one. And I understand you did not enter it. I did not. I like it. That little bee, what we're looking at, again, for those who are listening,

instead of seeing, the bee has its head in the cell. These look like nectar cells. So these are honey cells. And it's got its right rear leg stuck out. And its little tarsal is flipped up as if it's saying, hold on a second. I'm busy. It's waving out to you. So, yeah, so run us down on this one. This one, yet again, the bee butt stuck in the air for whatever reason, that's got to be my favorite thing to photograph. I love how the light comes through the honeycomb on this one. There again, this is all natural sunlight. I know how to use flash, especially in the wedding industry.

I just, I don't enjoy using flash. So I kind of branded myself as a natural light. Oh, you froze. It's a little hand waving. Okay, you froze for just a second there. So please just repeat. your last 10 seconds of what you said. I was going to say that I know how to use flash.

I just don't enjoy it. So I've branded myself more as a natural light photographer, and I took that out to the B yard with me. So I love seeing the light coming through the honeycomb, and then I think my favorite part about this photo is the little B waving at me. Now let me ask you, I'm going to tech out on you a minute. Do you use any light meters of any kind or gray cards or anything like that?

Do you just trust the meter in the camera, or are you looking through a mirrorless camera and seeing what the exposure is going to be on the screen? It's a mirrorless camera so I can look through and see what it's going to be. I do want to learn more about the whole lighting process and get more in depth with it, but I was trusted the camera on this one. Okay, thanks.

Okay, so let's, and this was not an entry. This is just one that I love the colors on it. I really like the contrast, the texture, again, that it's showing on the beeswax, that translucent nature. it's got like a T color to it. And let me ask this too. These are not color toned or filtered or are they? These are very lightly edited.

I only touched the exposure and the brightness and the contrast. Okay, so you haven't, like this isn't some kind of preset or something that brings out that color. Yep. Okay. Okay. Very, very close to what they looked like in camera. Okay, great. Let's move on to the next one.

All right. So there she is. And give us the right. No, no. Now this was an entry also, or no? Yes, this one I actually did in black and white for the black and white category where I won a ribbon. I just thought it was cool to show in color because you can look close and tell that the dot on the queen's back is fresh. We marked her just before this photograph was taken. And that was something I never marked queens growing up.

We just had a queen and that was that. But Lonnie marks his queens and so I got to experience that, which was fairly cool. This one I called a portrait of a queen. and it was after we marked her and she was running across the honeycomb. I think I got maybe three shots where she was actually crisp because of how fast she was moving

and it was one of those you got to get this photo while you can and another that not everybody's going to see I mean you can walk up to anybody on the street and they're going to be like that's just a bee but you can take this photo and explain that that's a queen bee and it's marked for no such and such reason

and it's really a teaching moment. So but this is not the image that won the award So let's look at your monochromatic version. Okay, so why the decision to submit this as a black and white? I love black and white photos. So I generally take every photo that I take and I turn it into black and white just to see what it looks like. And out of the selections that I was not going to enter in other categories, this one was my favorite in black and white. And so there again, the title that you put on this was?

This was Portrait of a Queen. Portrait of the Queen. So nothing about the Queen's retinue or anything like that. And when you were submitting all of your entries, how did you feel personally that this one ranked among your submissions? Did you have a top three that you thought were kind of shoe-ins or how'd that go? If I had to rank them in order, it was probably the one we looked at before that was in the open category with the B having her head in the cone. Then this one. And then the third place was Lyre the third.

and the list was life in limbo, which we'll look at in a minute, I'll be holding on for dear lives. And then I think fourth would probably be the essay photos, but hindsight's 2020 on that one. Those are really starting to grow on me. Okay. So, all right, we can move on. Okay, so run this one down.

That day in the B yard, I also, in addition to the macro lens, had my 50 millimeter. So I did get some shots that weren't up close and just life in the B yard. And this was one of my favorites with the smoker. I actually have a smoker tattooed on my arm. I love them. I think they're so cool. And we don't smoke our bees very much because they're just so docile that there's no need.

But Lonnie smokes his bees. And so getting to see and experience somebody smoking the bees and taking photos of them, it was pretty cool. Now, if you personally, did you submit this image? I did not. You did not. So if you personally had to critique this image, what would you change, if anything? Like you pointed out earlier, the lack of smoke coming out of the smoker. Anything else?

The little B down toward the bottom of the image in the middle, photo bombing it was unintentional. Okay, that's kind of fun too. So the thing that you're not asking for a critique, so we're just showing kind of what you did. But for those who are shutterbugs are looking at this, I see some highlight areas that are kind of blown out, right? So part of that, too, though,

is the fact that there are white frames in there. So we have kind of a high key light situation going on, right? It was a handle. Yeah, do you shoot in raw or JPEG? This was raw. This is raw. So you do have a lot of control. Okay.

I didn't want to alter it too terribly much from the original because just looking at the photo like that reminds me of being there that day. And I didn't want to take away from that. Okay. So it's kind of a journalistic shot then. Yes. Okay, great. Let's move on. Okay, I like this one.

This has a time-life feeling to it, like a moment captured. Now, by the way, are you just displaying it in a vertical format? Or is this some kind of vertical entry? What are we looking at? It was actually horizontal, but it just didn't feel right like that. So I turned it vertically, and I think it looks pretty intriguing that way. Okay. It really does change the feel of the image rather than seeing it as a horizontal plane.

So describe it a little bit. What's going on here? I like to think that the bee with its mouth open and embossing the other bees around and telling them what to do. This was just outside the entrance of a hive, so they were all running in and out. And it was one of those.

I was just there taking photos, and this is one that I ended up capturing. Now, I know this is probably a shot in the dark, but what are the chances you know what your settings are like to get this image? Do you remember what your preferred ISO is, what kind of shutter speeds you look for? What kind of S-stop you're after?

I don't. I'm sure I could go dig up that information. It was just whatever felt right that day, having never worked with the macro lens before. Oh, and let me ask this question, too. Sometimes when you submit in photographic competition, you have to fill out metadata. So you would almost have to list the lens, the aperture, everything that you used. Is that at all a requirement in the photo submissions at North American Hattabee v. Expo? It's not, but they do tell you to be as descriptive as possible.

possible in your card and to tell a story with it and make them feel like they were there. And I think if I had added that, that would have just been a little bit more on the card for the judges to enjoy. So I did for next year. Okay. Interesting. All right. And this was not an award winner. It was not. It was not an entry. Oh, okay. This one I say for myself. In fact, I looked at these photos I went through and kind of cold out the ones I liked and the ones I didn't like. And then I went back through again and found even more. So that was one of the ones I probably didn't even have in the group when I was

going through to select for entries. But keeping with the bee with its mouth open, here's another one for you. Yeah. I like that too, the little guard beads. Guard bees are fun to photograph because they're there and then they're running across and then bees are coming in and there's a YouTube video that I saw a couple years ago of how klutzy bees really are when they fly back down toward the landing. And I think this bee right after this photo got wiped out by another B flying in. Oh, no. Was that a slow motion video that you're talking about?

I wish. As far as me taking a video of it, I wish I could have gotten a slow mo. But the video on the internet I saw was very slow motion with some clown music attached to it actually. Clown music. They found it very comical, but they'd be very fragile and each other. Yeah, okay, that makes sense. And so why did you take this image? The Guard B was just, it's so cute standing there.

I said, I've got to get a picture of you, so I did. And it looks like it has one antenna. That's just because the other one is aiming straight at the camera and probably went out of your focal depth, right? It did. It was pointing straight out. Interesting. Great. And make sure to let us know when it's one that was a winner or was an entry that you submitted.

Okay. I will do it. This one was almost an entry because the bee just silhouetted there with the blurry background in the in focus frame and in focus B was just, it was like a wow factor. This one was a very, very close runner up to the list of photos I did enter. And so what else is going on in the frame here? People that are looking at this, what's going on in the cells?

I think that was a frame of brute. They had just laid, you did the queen, it just laid eggs in it and the other bees were around capping things. You can't see it because it's further down on the frame, but there were these adding cappings to the brood. Okay. All right. All right.

And this next one was the one that I entered in the, was this the macro category, the open category? I don't remember. It was one of the two. It was one of the two. It's been two months. I just can't remember. But I called this one Life in Limbo because that little bee down at the bottom

hanging on for Dear Life. It's on my bucket list of B shots to get the chain of bees going from one frame to the next or one side of the, the hive to the next. And I felt like that was as close as I was going to get that day. This was a top bar friend that Lani pulled out and was just holding there and the bees just to struggling. Now, when your friend Lani is going through his top bar hive, are you just standing there with your camera? Then when you see something that kind of gets your attention, you go, whoa, hold it right there. Let me look at that one. So you do. So you just kind of, you're just there as an

observer or you're not helping him with his top bar hib. Well, he's giving me context. and talking all about it as we go. And so I was learning things about the top bar hive and his bees. And it's more of an experience than just taking the photos. Now, does he have an interest in any of the pictures that you took of his piece? Like, is he hitting you up to get some frame for his walls or what's going on there? He loved the photos I took. I did send in pictures after I won at the conference.

And I, that day, actually took some pictures for him. And one of my photos of him and his beekeeping is his profile photo on Facebook. which as a photographer is a very high compliment. Okay. I like that story. Okay, so let's keep going. All right. Here's more of the top bar.

And this entry or not an entry? Not an entry. Okay, so what did you like about this? What drew you in to get pictures of her? I thought the shape of the honeycomb was just so cool from a person who's only worked with the Langstroth hives in that rectangle of honeycomb. This was pretty intriguing to see. It was almost like I call a swarm out of a little. somewhere that had been there for years and years and was building their own comb.

But nope, it was in a B-Hive. That's why the top wall is so fascinating to me. I'll get there one. Oh, do you have plans to do top-bar hives? I want to do a top-bar hives. And we're going to work with two Langstroth hives this year. I'm doing the whole Natalie Summers bit with a hive and then a resource hives. I'm pretty excited to go down that path.

Natalie Summers, who just got her driver's license. Look out world. She makes me feel. Are you friends? You and Natalie? I have not met Natalie. Oh, you're kidding. I missed her talk at the conference,

but came and just gave us access to all those videos. So I'm definitely watching her. Okay. Oh, he did. So the North American Honeybee Expo videos are available now? They are. You should have received an email about a month ago. I forgot about it until this week and went back in log minutes.

I don't get any emails from it. Okay. So, all right. I guess that's all we can say about this one right here. we can keep go and this is all natural this is natural light too right this was like later in the day or something

it is that the top bar photos were done at the very end of the day it was about two or three o'clock okay and then this one this is Lonnie Queen spotting okay is the queen in the shot

she is not she was on the other side in that frame yeah but it was still a cool photo so I kept it Now, is it a submission? It was not. Do you give thought to composition? Like, do you get bogged down with the rule of thirds?

And do you think about classic composition? It occasionally crosses my mind. Okay. And let me ask another question about when you're submitting entries, is there a requirement? Because you said you do minimal post-processing, right? So is there a requirement that you not do post-processing on some entries? Or does it matter as far as the competition?

goes, could it have been edited? I don't think they really care with the honey show, but I still try to keep it as real as possible with the edits because it's got to look almost like it would if you were there looking at it. It was my goal or the black thing, whichever path I'm going to go down. All right. However, I am a big fan of putting everything in black and white. I look at every photo in black and white just to see, and this one kind of stuck out to me in the black and white format. Yeah, because you ditch all the color influx.

and we're left with composition and texture and light play. So light and dark, I think it's great. Yeah, I'm a huge fan of black and white. When I deliver wedding galleries, I deliver every image in color and every image in black and white. Okay. Is that more than 20 images then on a wedding? Oh, it's a whole lot more than 20. It makes a whole lot longer to go through all of those.

All right. So the last set I have are the ones that I entered for the S. say category. So this was four to seven photos telling a story and the story I chose was the birth of apis malifera and so these are a collection of photos of bees coming out of the

comb for the first time. Oh, can we zoom in on that for a second? Can I zoom on my end? I don't know. I'm not sure if I, it's not even letting me see it and... Oh, darn. Oh, okay then. Because what's cool about this too is it still has a little

bit of the cocoon around its head. It hasn't peeled completely off. So I really, I like that that's there. Okay, so in this category, you had to submit a group of photos that would tell a story. You did. And when I started taking these photos, I said, oh my gosh, that's going to be my photo essay entry. That was the only category that I knew from the start what I was going to enter. And so it was just a matter of picking the ones that really told the story.

And so I ended up with seven photos, I think. I haven't looked at that. I've got them all, I put them on a big black canvas. And then I put, I matted them all and put them on the canvas. It was pretty cool. And there again, what's really great about this is that bee is exposed and there are no nurse bees all traips and over the top of it. Huge frustration to try to photograph an emerging worker bee and you've just got all these nurse bees is constantly in the way. So you had a sweet spot here where this was exposed and there weren't a bunch of bees in the way.

I have to ask, did you do anything to try to get the other bees out of the way or did you just sit there as a witness? I just sat there as a witness. I think Lonnie might have gotten one or two out of the way by going at them. Okay. Just kind of moved them. And I actually stand corrected. That was the second photo in the series. This was the first.

Oh, okay. So it's chewing out. I like that. missing. And these are fairly unedited because I wanted to keep the comb color cohesive. So they looked like it was the same experience here. Let's see. The third one was this one right here where it's really starting to come out. Oh yeah. That's great. And when you present them as a group, do they have to be on the same panel or how does that go? I saw one entry. I think it was at the conference last year that she had individual frames with the photos in it. So I think they leave it up

to your discretion on how you want to display them. But I loved how they looked all on one canvas. And it was a black canvas too and the mats were black. So they really stood out. Do you know what storyboarding is? I do. Do you present? Do you think of presenting them kind of as a storyboard? Yes, that's a very good way to put it actually. Okay. I said that's a very good description.

I like this picture a lot. Yeah. Favorites. And then the B is getting ready to say hello. Here's the fourth one. By that point, she's got her head out completely, and her thorax is starting to emerge. If you look closely at these,

you can see that her hair on her back is still damp from coming out of the... And then this is the next one. She's almost out here. What's the amount of time that passes from the beginning shot to your last shot. About between five and ten minutes. We stood there for Lonnie.

Probably getting tired holding that frame up, but he was a trooper. Okay, pretty good. Then I think the last one is her completely out. There you go. Now, do you have to title each image within the group or just a collective description? I think just a collective description. And that was all that I put them. Okay.

I'm sure you could. Pardon? I'm sure you probably could do each photo, which that would be pretty cool depending on the story. Now, if you were shooting it over again, even though you won, this was a blue rivet collection, right? Yes, it was. What would you do different, if anything? There were a couple where part of the B was in focus and part of the B wasn't in focus. I would have definitely dialed in those settings a little more.

I was just excited to be, you know, clicking the shutter button. So you are doing manual focus? Yes, this was all manual. Okay. And if you would. The automatic settings for a while, but then I was like, that's not going to get me anywhere in the photography world. So I learned manual.

That was a chore, but. So manual settings and manual focus. And as you mentioned before, you wanted to maintain continuity throughout the series of shots. So if you're doing manual exposures and all manual settings, then it doesn't change image by image because if we're on automatic or aperture priority or something like that, if you happen to scan over a darker point

on the comb or something, then of course would auto adjust its exposure for that and it would mess you up. So if you would please, while we're staring at this photo, just run down what's your preferred camera kit involves what you carry with you and what you're using. Typically, it's just my Sony 873,

and then I use a 50-millimeter majority of the time. I am a prime lens girly. I do want to experience with the zoom lenses. I think I'm going to attempt to play around with the 24 to 70 millimeter this summer. And then I always love a 35 millimeter and an 85 millimeter. Now, these are prime lenses. And for those that don't know what that means is it has a fixed focal link.

So are these also Sony lenses or are using any aftermarket lenses? I'm a big Sigma fan. The Sigma R lenses. Sigma lenses. Are they F2.8s or what's the widest aperture on those? I think this one is my 50 millimeter, I think, is a 1.4 or 1.2. Okay. So really wide open.

That's a very thin slice when you're photographing that. Okay, which by the way is sometimes you can only get that in a prime. You get these wide open apertures like 1.4, they're almost always prime lens. So you're not going to get that into Zoom. Usually your best Zoom is going to be about an F2.8 rate. So your bucket list is a Zoom lens, and would it be a Sony or would it be also a Sigma? I do want to try the Sony Gmaster lenses,

but I love the color profile of the Sigma. So spending that much money on a lens, I don't know if I want to experiment with something new or stick with what I know and love. So it'll be a side. So you're actually preferring the results of your Sigma's over the Sony prime lenses. Yes.

Okay. Now, did you do that on your own? Because I think you mentioned that you, for those that are listening, sometimes that is true. These lenses are very expensive unless you're earning a bunch of money from your photographic practice. It's hard to justify spending that kind of money. So one of the things that Rihanna was telling me earlier is that you rent lenses to try

them out. And that's a really good option. Do you want to describe kind of how you go about renting equipment to test it? Ready with me. You hung up there for a second. Okay, you hung up too. Okay, go ahead. Did you hear what I said? I said you sometimes rent lenses so that you can evaluate them before, you know, deeping deep and spinning the big bucks on it. What is your process for deciding how and where to rent equipment and what does that involve? There are a couple of big lens rental companies that are based across the country. There's one. one that's in Atlanta, which is local to me. I have rented from the ones that mail you the lenses, and I have rented from the one where I had to drive to Atlanta and pick it up and take it back and drop it off. It's just kind of personal preference. Read your reviews before you do. There was one company that was unable to get me the lenses that I had to order months in advance for a wedding.

So I happened to scramble the day before was a little tricky, but we got there. As far as picking the lenses to try out, I have watched so many YouTube videos and looked at people's wedding galleries where they do tell you what lenses or what. And it's just kind of, okay, I like the composition there. I like the boca in the background. I want to try that. Now, every lens is not for every photographer. And so that's why I stuff with the 50.

I did try out the 35 and the 85 as a primary. And I felt like the 50 was where I needed to stay. So that's the one that I used majority of the time. Okay, cool. Let's move on. I think this is the last one in the set that I've got. Let me ask another question about the previous image. You don't have to go back.

Are you cropping them down or are these the full frame shots? I did crop those. Okay. All right. So tell us what we're looking at now. This is your mentor again. This is Lonnie out working his bees and I thought that photo was just so beekeeper. It was just perfect.

It was a perfect descriptor of what it's like to be a beekeeper and watching the bees and just observing. I like just to sit and watch my bees. I have a chair out in my backyard that I just sit there and I watch them. when I inspect them, I just stand there with a lid off and watch them. And so this one was pretty cool to get a picture of him watching the bees. Now, I think I have a question about his hive configuration. That almost looks like a medium box, and he's holding a deep frame. That isn't.

And then it looks like there's some kind of spacer under it. What is that hive configuration? If you know, if you just don't know, that's fine. That's a good question. That frame that you're looking at is a deep frame and that is a medium box. So I'm not sure where we pulled that out of. That might have actually been out of the box behind him. And he's just temporarily stacking there on that support stand or something.

Yes. That's some curious stuff. Okay. Was that the last photo? That was the last photo. Okay. So let's ask about your dream show. shot with equipment. If you could sit down right now and spec out the camera you want,

the lenses you want, give me what your dream setup would be, barring, the price is no object. What do you want in photography gear wise? Well, the A73 was my dream camera when I bought it a couple of years ago. I really haven't focused on what else they've come out with because the A73 has done everything that I've asked it to do and everything that I've needed to do with it. But as far as lenses, I do want to try out 100 millimeter macro. So we'll say that was my lens. And then as far as my dream shot, I want to get the chain of bees going from one side of the hive or one frame to the next. That's tuning bees.

Yes. Actually. Very national geographic-ish. National geographic, are they really all they're cracked up to be? Oh, that's a good question. Their photography is pretty spot on. They are. They absolutely are.

I'm not even pretending. So if you guys are National Geographic, I am not criticizing. I think you're all great. Okay. That was on my first card for one of the photos as well, that maybe one day you'll see me on the pages of National Geographic. Oh, do you really want that? Have you seen?

Okay. All right. I might want a B photo published more than I want a wedding photo published, but don't so much. Well, there's a lot more wedding photographers out there than there are. You've got an inside track with B's. So I think it has a niche. I think that's a really good area. I think you need to, I need to, you need to take a look at the Goro spiders and start to document their spread across their head in your way.

Do you have Goro spiders yet? Not that I know of, but being in Georgia, last summer or fall, we did have that hornet that's coming over from Asia. Oh, the yellow leg hornet? Yes. Yeah. We did have that down in Savannah. Now whether or not they got them all, we'll find out this spring. Are you going to photograph some of those?

I will photograph them and then I will kill them. Because those are terrible. I think everybody's going to, because they practice hockey. They get right in front of your hive and start murdering your bees. Or Richard Mill, very good talk at the comments. Yeah, I didn't see that. So you went to that presentation? It was yours and that one that I had to go to, bar none.

You were at my presentation? I was in the very, very much. I knew one person would show up. Okay. So now how can people see your work? Do you have online galleries? Where can they go and where can they see what you've posted? I do have a website at the moment. It only has my wedding photography on there, but I will definitely add my bee gallery so people can see that as well. Okay. Now will your bee gallery remain on your main website? Are you going to have just a separate page dedicated to it? What's the title of your website? It's madhoneyphoto.com. madhoneyphoto.com and that's going to be down in the video description also so I'm glad you named

it that instead of something like Riannon's wedding photography right it was Riannon Maddox photography when I first started but that was too common and very very long okay and so but this will be eclectic you'll eventually branch out and have other galleries on there yes and I suppose you'll have a word winning photography added to your description Because it suits. Let me ask another thing that somebody may be wondering, is what's the price that you get, other than the notoriety of getting a blue ribbon? Is there a cash reward?

What do you get when you win at the North American Honeybee Expo? If you win the sweepstakes, which is like every entry that you're ever ribbon that you win has a point system attached to it, the first place represents are six points, second place is five points and so on, all the way down to sixth place. and they keep tally of those points. And if you win the sweepstakes by having the most points out of everybody that competed, you get a free ride

to the next North American Honeybee Expo. That's it? Free tickets? Free ticket? They pay transportation and everything? Oh, that would be nice. We rented a car and that wasn't cheap. Wait, so it's just a ticket?

It's a ticket. Giant ribbon. It's huge. A giant ribbon and a free ticket to the North American B. Angispo. Works for. I'll take it. I'll take it. I don't know. I think they need to up the award for that. Now, I didn't make a name for myself with the banana bread I entered. I won second. And they're very prestigious with their judging. And I think it's fantastic because you not only compete against other people, you're trying to compare yourself to their standard. So if you win, you know, whatever it is, you did it right. And so the banana bread that I entered, I had a second place ribbon sitting next to. it and there was a note for exhibitor, please see judge. And I was thinking, I don't know what I'm

more intrigued by the fact that I want a ribbon for this or the fact that there's a note to see a judge about it. And whatever, you know, whatever it was was not bad enough if it was something incorrect for me not to win a ribbon. So I was really intrigued. But turns out they just wanted to apologize for eating half of the loaf instead of just taste testing it. And so it had been two first places I would have won as well. That is a huge conflict. By the way, I think a friend of mine won first in the banana bread competition. Who was the first place winner?

I don't even remember. I was too intrigued by mine to look at the rest of what was on the table. It's both to me because I didn't know what first place was. I think. I think I know that that was. So now, so does this mean you can sell banana bread and call it, you know,

a word winning banana bread? I could. I've actually not. shared the recipe with anybody. I've sat on it. So I'm going to, you know, pass it down to my children as an airloom recipe. Oh, yeah. So the recipe will be posted down in the video description also. Thank you. The only way you'll ever find that recipe is if Kamen Reynolds takes somebody up on actually putting together a cookbook of all of the winning entries in the food categories, then you'll find it. That is a good idea. Has somebody's spoken with him about that? Arthur English, who's the head honey show judge and Cape Walds, did a Q&A months ahead of the show

answering everybody's show questions. And that was something that somebody had brought up. And I thought it was a really good idea. That is a great idea. Do you think they would all go for it, though? I think some of these people that get these champion ingredients together and these constant wins, I think they try to repeat that when at other expos and other conferences. Yeah.

So if they publish it, then, I don't know a lot of honey shows. I'm in Georgia, obviously, and so I'm, I was supposed to enter the Georgia Beekeepers Association show a few weeks ago, but I was sick and unable to go. But their rules, if you enter something once, you can't enter it again. So that banana bread, I could enter it once, and then I couldn't enter it again. The North American Honeybee Expo does not have that rule. So it would be more beneficial for the Georgia Beekeepers Association or clubs with that rule. rule to make the cookbook. That way they avoid the

people taking it and entering it and winning because of it. So what did you see at the expo that you're thinking now after you've seen it? Hey, I can do that. I'm going to enter one of those next year. Did you identify something? Or some homemade observation hives, just like the one framers that they do, they expoed the full frame comb honey in. And if you go on the internet, there's not a very big market for observation hives. And the ones that are out there are very expensive. And so my dad is a jack of all trades and can build anything. So I think that's going to be a daddy dollar project this summer is to build some observation hives. Now, are you saying you and your father are going to build observation hives

and sell observation hives? If that's in the cards, I'll take it. If I can get too built, that'll be my goal for this year. Oh, okay. All right. Because you're right. You can go online and look at observation hives that are $800 and that's without the glass and, you know, it's... I want to build one to enter into the woodworking category for the Honeybee Expo and I want to make one to enter into the full frame company, which is another goal this year. I'm not going to take all of my frames out and put them in an extractor and spin them before I look at them and see, oh, this. There's a woodworking competition at the North American Honeybeat Expo. What was the... Do you remember what the...

entry what's? That might have been the one where the gentleman built the display hive and it was like about this big and it had all the parts and pieces like down to the little tiny frames and everything. And it was fantastic. That actually won the best in show entry as well. So this was like it's not a functional hive. This is like a display where you would teach somebody how a hive works. Is that what you're saying?

You had little miniature tiny bees. it would work as a functioning hive, but otherwise, yes, to teach people how it works. And that was first place. It was, I think, and I know for a fact that he won the best in show entry. Wow. That was called, I can find it here. I'm looking at the list of it.

It's woodcraft related to be keeping. Okay, that's really interesting. So let's see. What do we want to talk about? What are your plans this year? What are your priorities? that the weather's breaking down in Georgia and life is really good. What are your biggest plans? So now we know you're going to win next year's Northern American Hunting Bay Expo, not just with

photography, but also with the entry of your observation hive. What else? What do you want to do with bees this year? Well, I had one hive at my house last summer and they ended up swarming out and didn't requeen. So I lost that hive. But my dad, he currently has. He did some splits this morning. he called me this afternoon. He now has 10 hives, which is pretty big for my dad's little B spot. But he is giving me some more splits. I'm going to have two hives. And so I'll get those the next few weeks.

So I'm excited just to document the process from start to finish with the photography. Excited to use that in my own B yard. Now, do you have a YouTube channel as well? I do not. Do you have any plans to start one? I would love to. No YouTube Yards. No YouTube yet.

Well, because there's a thing. You could, with your photography skills, you could very easily branch out. These cameras do video and still photography. Yeah, I need to get that. Just the thought of having to edit a video scares me. I know what all goes into editing a photo, and sometimes that feels like a lot. So I think I've just been a little bit intimidated by the video editing process. Okay.

All right. If you're a chicken, there's nothing I can do about it. I'll get over my chicken. All right. I'm just saying you're at a great time. You're at a great time in, I think, age-wise and experience level and all of your years would be keeping tie in very well as a collective opportunity for you to work. You've got your dad there who will be doing all the physical stuff,

and then you can just make your videos. Yeah. My dad wants to channel too, so maybe we can collaborate on that one. I think this is the time. I would give you a shout-up. When I start one, I will. let you know and you can give me said shout out. Okay. So here's the thing. We've got young people watching. We have people that are beekeepers that are thinking about photography. And what words

or guidance or what kind of words of wisdom can you give them? In the photography area of things, just take pictures. If you have an iPhone, just take a photo. If you have a cell phone of any sort that has a camera on it, just take the photo. Definitely if you can have somebody in the B yard with you if you do want to do the bigger photography, it's very, very helpful. But just to start. I mean, that's the only thing that ever held me back was thinking it was going to be too difficult. And once I started, here I am. That's fantastic. So I want to thank you for your time with me today. I want to thank you for sharing your fantastic journey into photography. And I also am very proud to have had any part in influencing you in the area of macro photography and bead photography. So congratulations again on

your wins. And I hope we'll all see you again next year at the North American Honeybee Expo down in Louisville, Kentucky. Sounds good. I look forward to it. All right. Thanks, Rian. And that wraps up another episode of interviews with experts. I invite you to take a moment to visit the video description for updated information about Riannon, her photography, and updated website. If you're enjoying the series, please consider liking the video and subscribing to this YouTube channel. This entire series is also available as a podcast. Thank you for spending your time right here. I'm Frederick Dunn, and I wish you all the best with your bees and photography.