National Geographic Live event focuses on the little things

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“The problem with the hummingbird is it moves so fast it’s impossible for the naked eye to appreciate the intricacies of its movements. The hummingbird deserves our attention because it represents the extreme limit of what a bird can do. We want to understand why and how this little bird’s heart and wings beat so incredibly fast. We have developed some very ingenious ways to spy on the lives of hummingbirds that we will share with you,” Varma said. “We will show you a hummingbird drying itself off after a rainstorm. It’s amazing footage.”

Varma also turned his camera on crickets, not so much to watch them but to observe the parasites that use these crickets as their host and have learned to control their minds.

Varma admits this sounds like science fiction but it’s just because “the general public has no idea what is going on inside these crickets for the parasite to complete its life cycle.

“With the power of photography, we’re going to show you both the cricket and the parasite simultaneously. The parasite or worm needs to be in a body of water to complete its cycle so it manipulates the poor cricket to find one. Usually, the cricket drowns once the parasite or worm exits and our cameras will show this moment which is something the naked eye would miss.”

Varma uses time-lapse photography to show what happens inside the hives of honeybees, exposing their world to unsuspecting humans.

The photographer is already at work on his next project, a study of jellyfish. As he did for the cricket study in Scientific Exposure, Varma got deeply involved in the research, filling his garage with aquariums to study the jellyfish. “I use my kitchen, garage and backyard for these studies. There is a world right around us that is so intriguing and deserves our attention.”

While the species Varma studies can be quite small, he says he didn’t need any special equipment or cameras to record their interactions. But he did have to learn how to shoot them. “I needed to learn to manipulate light sources to make the filming possible.”

Scientific Exposure is the first of five virtual National Geographic Live presentations.