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James Brosher Photography

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Honey bees at Indiana University

August 25, 2015

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity take photos for an IU Communications project looking at a group of Indiana University students, faculty and Bloomington community members who have dedicated themselves to fighting the ongoing demise of honey bees. To shoot this project, I had to get out of my comfort zone and confront a personal fear: I’m terrified of bees. This undoubtedly comes from being stung a few times as a small child. After a few shoots near hives, I tackled my fear and learned a lot about bees and the important work they do for nature in the process. For the past decade, “colony collapse disorder” has plagued bees and puzzled beekeepers who are unable to yet pinpoint a cause for this phenomenon of dying bee colonies. Here in Indiana last year, the total colony loss was 49 percent. For more on how the IU community is researching the plight of the honey bee, I recommend reading Keepers of the bees.

Ellie Symes
Ellie Symes, founder and president of the Beekeeping Club at IU, inspects a frame from one of the club’s honey bee hives on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Beekeeping
Wyatt Wells, a senior studying Sport Marketing and Management, holds a frame from a Beekeeping Club at IU honey bee hive on Monday, July 6, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
George Hegeman, Aurora Webeck
George Hegeman, an IU Professor Emeritus of Biology, leads Aurora Webeck, 7, to a beehive as he teaches her and other children, not pictured, about bees on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Alex Sodeman
Alex Sodeman, a Beekeeping Club at IU member, lights a smoker before inspecting the club’s honey bee hives on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. The smoke calms honey bees by masking alarm pheromones released by guard bees while also initiating bee feeding in anticipation of fire. A full stomach of honey makes it difficult for bees to sting. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Alex Sodeman
Alex Sodeman, a Beekeeping Club at IU member, shares a smile as he pumps the bellows on a smoker before inspecting the club’s honey bee hives on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. Sodeman said keeping the smoker ignited while inspecting the hive is one of the hardest parts of beekeeping. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Bee Research
Graduate student Kayla Miller holds a frozen honey bee as she prepares to dissect it on Monday, June 29, 2015 in a Jordan Hall lab. Miller and others in the lab are studying the contents of honey bee guts. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Kayla Miller
Graduate student Kayla Miller crushes honey bee gut samples as she prepares to plate them for examination on Monday, June 29, 2015 in a Jordan Hall lab. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
George Hegeman
George Hegeman, an IU Professor Emeritus of Biology, rearranges his honey bee hive frame boxes on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
IU Bees
George Hegeman, an IU Professor Emeritus of Biology, shows children a piece of the hive where larval metamorphosis occurs on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Ellie Symes
Ellie Symes, founder and president of the Beekeeping Club at IU, pours sugar water into a hive to fee the honey bees on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at the Hilltop Garden and Nature Center. (James Brosher/IU Communications)
Bees
A honey bee pollinates a flower on Saturday, July 25, 2015, along Bloomington’s B-Line Trail. Along with flowers, honey bees also pollinate crops. (James Brosher/IU Communications)

Filed Under: FeaturesTagged With: Indiana University, IU Studios No Comments

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