There's something magnetic about someone who is deeply connected to their work. The last few years of my life have kind of been a testament to that feeling, and I've shot all kinds of amazing people who have their work completely sewn into the fabric of their identities. But there was something a little bit different about this shoot – I think because the "work" is a living being (or several million living beings), and there's a certain mutual respect between the two sides of that work. In any case, the couple of days I spent shooting these images were an eye opening experience.
Mischa is a beekeeper based in Lillooet BC, where he runs Golden Cariboo Honey with his Uncle Bob. In my mind, I saw a beekeeper as someone who is industrious, hard working, and very focused on their work – The maybe stereotypical view of a farmer. While all of those things were true, I also had my expectations broken, as seems to be the norm with every personal shoot I work on. Mischa is way down the rabbithole on the scientific side of his work, as well as on the business side. I had a billion questions for him, which he graciously answered, and we bounced ideas around about business and bees and life and lots of other things.
This portrait was shot at sunrise at one of Mischa's many bee yards throughout the region. We're surrounded by hives in every direction, each one containing tens of thousands of individual bees. And they weren't even slightly concerned about our presence. I was definitely challenged by the mind game of "be calm and they'll be calm" that is required near bees, especially while mostly not wearing a suit of any kind. The other images are shot over the course of a couple of additional days. Very early morning, and very late evenings, as you’d expect of life on a farm.
A huge thanks to Mischa for the awesome experience, the unreal honey, and the great chats.
