Hive Minded Missouri Beekeepers Photography Project

11/09/2025

Another successful (I hope) Hive Minded analogue portrait session

Scott Holifield

11/09/2025

11/09/2025

At the end of our photo shoot, beekeeper and purveyor of Hawthorne Honey, which can can purchased at the Tower Grove Famers Market, Scott Holified, and I stopped for a selfie. His apiary is very photogenic and resonant of his personality. I hope between the Kodak 2D 8x10, Toyo 454CF 4x5, Rolleiflex and Leica R and M8 that I captured that essence. Time in the darkroom and developing tanks will tell.

Scott Holifield

05/19/2025

This turned out to be one of my favorite photographs from my recent session with a couple near Perryville, Mo. This is the second apiary, located deeper into the country, amongst fields. We took a ride in his side by side to get there. I climbed into the bed of the vehicle and leaned over the cab roof to make this with a Tele Rolleiflex. This photograph captures the vibe of this apiary as well as exemplifies what I hope to create with this project -- documenting the people who engage in this endeavor and whose portraits are more than folks just standing by their hives.

04/30/2025

So of course when you shoot black and white cinema film from the former East Germany you're going to get a grainy, old documentary kinda vibe. One of the goals of Hive Minded is to have a classic, timelessness to the photographs. As the years go by and the project expands, I don't want the photographs to feel dated in any way.

I was watching the final season of "Wolf Hall" and there's some scenes set in Launde Abbey, and even though the hives are skeps and not like modern hive boxes, the equipment of beekeeping hasn't really changed much. Those old beekeepers used a sort of woven basket in their bonnets that was both amusing and interesting.

04/28/2025

This Perryville beekeeper took me on a side-by-side ride into this family's property to visit his second, more remote apiary. This photograph captures the quiet, in situ vibe, even though the bees were quite aggressive.

One of the things I love about this project is the chance to learn from other beekeepers. He told me something I had not heard before, and that it is the second or third generation from his original queens that become increasingly aggressive and require re-queening. I know about re-queening, even though I haven't done it myself but the generational rise in aggressiveness was something new to me.

04/27/2025

Today's Perryville Hive Minded portrait session will join others from my ongoing project in a solo exhibition at the Bookmark Cafe on Mizzou's campus this summer. Working on the prints for this show is daunting, especially thinking of the high standards of photography that come from the School of Journalism. Though as a self-taught photographer I never took a photography class at the J-School or Mizzou, but I hung around with some of those folks and they were awesome. So, you know, no pressure.

04/26/2025

I traveled into the countryside near Perryville for my latest portrait session as part of the Hive Minded Missouri Beekeepers Photography Project. For today's shoot I made photographs with an 8x10 view camera, two different Rolleiflexes, a Leica M5 with 50mm Summicron, a Leica M8 and Nikon F2 Photomic with a 21mm wide angle lens.

I have received much encouragement from folks in and out of the beekeeping community - as well as the Bookmark Cafe in Ellis Library at the UM-Columbia campus, which is giving me the first solo exhibition of this work in progress in Summer 2025!
P.S. I'M ALWAYS SEEKING FOLKS ANYWHERE IN THE STATE -- YOUNG OR OLD, MEN OR WOMEN, REALLY, ANYONE1-- WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED AS PART OF THIS PROJECT. NO COST TO YOU!

Three Rivers Beekeepers Three Rivers Beekeepers - St. Charles County - Missouri Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association Missouri Arts Council Hive Minded Missouri Beekeepers Photography Project

04/24/2025

It's been a hot minute, but I'm back working on this project. Driving to Perryville this weekend to make some portraits!

04/06/2023