A Bee's-Eye View of a Coneflower

Up close, a coneflower stops looking like one flower. The spiky orange dome in the centre is made of hundreds of individual tiny flowers, called florets, packed tightly together.

Opening in rings

Those florets don't all open at once. They mature in rings, starting from the outside of the cone and moving inward over several days. For a bumblebee, that means the same flower head keeps offering fresh pollen and nectar for a long time, and it's worth coming back to.

Built for pollen

Bumblebees are covered in dense, branched hair that picks up pollen as they move. The grains stick with the help of a small electrostatic charge the bee builds up in flight. The bee grooms most of it into pollen baskets on its hind legs, but plenty stays in its fur and gets carried to the next flower.

Getting down to eye level

Shooting straight on, at the bee's own height, puts you in its world: the coneflower's spikes become a landscape and the background melts into soft colour. Early morning, when bees are cooler and slower, gives you the best chance of a sharp, patient subject.