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Matinee: 'Vermont Pollinator Photography'
5 September 2026
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 672nd in our series of Saturday matinees today: Vermont Pollinator Photography.
This 6:33 video from Eva Sollberger follows Isaac Bissell around his garden as she shoots bees and wasps with a hand-held macrophotography setup. His interest in permaculture and soil biology led to his cultivation of the sandy soil of his Winooski River delta property.
Four years ago he became interested in macrophotography and found the insects buzzing around his garden paradise to be the perfect subject. As the liner notes point out:
Bissell has taken tens of thousands of photographs of bees and wasps -- about 32,000 this year alone -- and he shares their curated "tiny dramas" on his Instagram page, Vermont Pollinator Photography, where "pollinator nerds" are welcome.
He says very few of those images are keepers. The depth of field is as thin as a razor blade and he focuses manually, which means he has to move the camera in and out rather than tweak the focus ring.
He uses a flash to extend the depth of field and diffuses its light with a macro flash diffuser softbox. In his case, it's an AK Diffuser. Shooting with a manual macro lens, he says, means his setup is not very expensive. The softbox itself can be had for about $100.
Intriguing as his story is, it's the photos he takes that will hook you into the story. They are interspersed throughout the video in all their glorious color and minute detail.
Not to mention variety. He never thought there was such a thing as a green bee until he photographed one. Now he sees bees in all sorts of beautiful colors.
And here we thought they all wore yellow jackets.