Can You Picture That? This Photographer Can and Does

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2023

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Photographer Mark Thiessen, who’s worked on staff at National Geographic for over 30 years, likens his job to a Swiss army knife—versatile enough to tackle many kinds of assignments. Even when the subject is challenging, he approaches each assignment with a lot of curiosity and creativity, whether it’s shooting smoke jumpers who leap out of planes to fight wildfires or making “rain” in the studio to take a unique portrait of an Explorer. And as a special treat, Thiessen will take us up a flight of stairs from the photo studio to show us one of his favorite hobbies: beekeeping. For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard. Want more? Follow Mark on Instagram at @Thiessenphoto. See what it takes to put out a wildfire in this Nat Geo article, and follow smokejumpers out of a plane in this article. Hear more of Mark on the Overheard episode “An Accidental Case of the Blues,” about the discovery of the first blue pigment since Thomas Jefferson was president. Also explore: Did you know that people steal bee hives? Find out why in the Overheard episode “Honeybee Chop Shop.” Want to take better photos at home? Nat Geo staff photographer Becky Hale explains how. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, today is Wednesday, November 2nd, and I am getting into my Tyvek suit.
0:14.4	So because that's carry diseases that we don't know about, we have to wear PPE.
0:20.6	And we all know about PPE because of COVID, so that's...
0:24.3	That's Mark Beeson.
0:25.3	He's a staff photographer for National Geographic.
0:27.8	A few months ago, he went to Brown University to capture some unusual subjects, Egyptian fruit bats.
0:33.8	They're a bit hairier than your typical model, but they are adorable.
0:37.4	Light brown and maybe a little smaller than your hand, with big expressive eyes and a wing span of up to two feet.
0:43.8	Mark needs a photo of one of these bats.
0:45.9	It's harder than it sounds because this bat needs to be one flying, two with its wings spread out,
0:52.0	and three photographed from below.
0:54.4	To get the shot, Mark, along with two assistants, created an elaborate setup.
0:59.8	So I've got a camera on the ground pointing up.
1:04.9	The bat's going to come through a window that is about 8 by 10 inches,
1:10.6	and then it will fly at about 3.5 feet above the ground,
1:16.4	and then a strobe above will fire, hopefully at the right time, when the wings are fully extended,
1:23.6	and then we'll get this backlit picture.
1:26.5	Mark also sets up a LiDAR trigger, which will set off the camera right before the bat comes into frame.
1:32.0	The camera then shoots 12 photos per second, and hopefully one of them will capture the bat with its wings exposed.
1:38.0	But even with all this tech, Mark says that it was easier said than done.
1:42.2	A lot of times, I got their wings in the wrong position, because the bats flap a lot in a short period of time.
1:49.2	Other times, I miss them entirely.
	...

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