Photographer Becomes a Beekeeper to Document the First 21 Days of the Life of a Bee

Photographer Anand Varma raised and documented the growth of bees for the May 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine. To do this, he swapped out part of the honeycomb for glass so the bees could be observed but were still free to come and go. His efforts paid off in a series of stunning photographs and a time-lapse film of the first 21 days of a bee’s life.

Varma gave a TED talk to go into detail about the dangers that threaten the future of bees and how dependent humans have become on managed bees as pollinators. His talk includes the time-lapse film he compiled from 2,500 images of bees as they hatch from eggs, grow as larvae, become pupae, and eventually full-grown insects.