Angelina Jolie poses with 60,000 bees to raise awareness of bee conservations
By Owen Hill on Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Hollywood superstar and well-known humanitarian Angelina Jolie joined photographer Dan Winters, beekeeper Konrad Bouffard, and 60,000 honey bees. The photoshoot was inspired by World Bee Day, and paid homage to Richard Avedon’s iconic Beekeeper portrait. Within a day, the photograph reached 2.4 million likes on Winters’ Instagram page.
Jolie, who was reportedly ‘fearless’, posed for a total of 18 minutes with her 60,000 new friends, in an effort to raise awareness for bee conservation, and a new program designed to empower women beekeepers worldwide. “It was so funny to be in hair and makeup and wiping yourself with pheromone,” Jolie told National Geographic. “We couldn’t shower for three days before. Because they told me, ‘If you have all these different scents, shampoos and perfumes and things, the bee doesn’t know what you are.’ Richard Avedon’s famous 1981 ‘Beekeeper‘ portrait (below) was an inspiration for the shoot.
“Everyone on set, except Angelina, had to be in a bee suit for protection. I applied the pheromone by hand in the places on her where I wanted bees to congregate. The bees are attracted to the pheromone, but it also encourages them not to swarm. Angelina stood perfectly still, covered in bees for 18 minutes without a sting. Being around bees is always an experience that leaves me in awe. I feel like our offering for World Bee Day has its own roots in photographic history,” says Winters.
The full article, along with some behind-the-scenes footage can be found on here.
