Filming Glow-in-the-Dark Critters | Best Job Ever

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·Nov 11, 2024

[Music]

Being a wildlife cameraman, it's a whole discovery of technical knowledge. I'm working with Paul Merrick, who is a grantee of the National Geographic Society. Dr. Merrick studies millipedes, and we're headed out to film them in their natural habitat. They actually are quite difficult to find during the day, but at night, they're actually very easy to find.

And this isn't an accident; these millipedes are actually fluorescent, which is what we normally think of as glow-in-the-dark. Their glowing carapace is actually a signal to predators that, "Hey, I'm not good food, don't eat me." The first time I saw one, I did a double take because there isn't supposed to be light on the forest floor in the middle of the night.

It's just a really cool and bizarre phenomenon. In my mind, there was no way to be too close to them, so at times when we were filming, the lens was only an inch or so from the millipedes. One of the cool things about this work is that every assignment has a challenge, and so often, they feel impossible at first.

In this situation, it was learning a lot about spectrums of light and sensitivities of camera sensors, and I had to figure out electrical power for setting up lights in the woods. Basically, you're just trying to solve problems and create solutions to see things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to. When all's going well, all systems go, you just feel like really you're on this Magic Carpet ride through the underworld.

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Filming Glow-in-the-Dark Critters | Best Job Ever

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