Triggered: Holly Lynton
Les, Amber, Honeybees © Holly Lynton
By Holly Lynton
The photograph Les, Amber, Honeybees was the catalyst for my series Bare Handed. I spent three days with Les, learning about his beekeeping philosophy and methods, as he checked his hives near his home in New Mexico. On the final day, his apprentice joined us. Les had put the Queen bee in a small cage in his shirt pocket and asked her to remove it for him. In an instant, the bees formed a swarm around Les’ chest and her hand, joining them together into one being. It was the magical moment I had been waiting for to make an image that reached beyond a simple documentation of his work. He then asked her to slowly hand him the Queen; the swarm moved to his hands. Les turned to me and asked if I wanted the bees on his face, not quite sure what to expect, I nodded. He moved his hands next to his ears and allowed them to swarm where they wanted. “They don’t like hair,” he let me know. He was then lost in meditation, since, as he told me after we took the photo, he could not hear anything above the buzz of the bees in his ears. This photo taught me a lesson that I carried forward during the series: experts working with creatures (animals or insects) that we consider dangerous see no danger. The fantastical element became important to how I made the images for Bare Handed.
To view more of Holly’s work, visit her website
