--- description: TIME's new issue looks at the 50 best inventions of 2011. title: Behind the Cover: Jamie Chung on Photographing the Hummingbird Drone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a3d9e2efa213e8/69879a9f5f570f0bfeb16bac/hummingbird-flight-sequence.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Behind the Cover: Jamie Chung on Photographing the Hummingbird Drone by [Feifei Sun](/author/feifei-sun/) ## Feifei Sun Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2011 12:30 PM CUT  Jamie Chung for TIME by [Feifei Sun](/author/feifei-sun/) ## Feifei Sun Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 17, 2011 12:30 PM CUT Don’t be fooled by its colorful exterior. This tiny Hummingbird is actually a surveillance prototype for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, developed by the California based AeroVironment. The Hummingbird—officially called the Nano Air Vehicle—is among 50 new inventions, which appear in the new issue of TIME. New York photographer Jamie Chung spent two and a half weeks shooting the Hummingbird—among a handful of other inventions, including the artificial leaf and a $100,000 razor—for the annual Invention Issue. “It was inspirational,” Chung says of the project. “Meeting the inventors was the best part. They’re totally comfortable with their nerddom, but so am I, so we had a lot of fun together.” AeroVironment lead engineer Matt Keennon brought the Hummingbird to Chung’s studio, where the photographer shot it in several positions. The remote-controlled device weighs just 0.66 ounces, allowing it to go where humans can’t, be it spying or scouting out safe spots in combat zones. “It’s crazy to think something so pretty is used for something so dangerous,” Chung said. Indeed, who knew the canary in the coal mine would turn out to be a Hummingbird? _Jamie Chung is a New York based photographer. See more of his work_ [_here_](http://www.jamiechung.com/#apple "undefined")_._ _Feifei Sun is a reporter at TIME. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@feifei\_sun_](http://twitter.com/#!/feifei%5Fsun "undefined")_._  Jamie Chung for TIME ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/28381/behind-the-cover-jamie-chung-on-photographing-the-hummingbird/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/28381/behind-the-cover-jamie-chung-on-photographing-the-hummingbird/"},"headline":"Behind the Cover: Jamie Chung on Photographing the Hummingbird Drone","datePublished":"2011-11-17T12:30:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:02.434Z","description":"TIME's new issue looks at the 50 best inventions of 2011.","url":"https://time.com/28381/behind-the-cover-jamie-chung-on-photographing-the-hummingbird/","keywords":["LightBox","photography","best inventions","the backstory"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a3d9e2efa213e8/69879a9f5f570f0bfeb16bac/hummingbird-flight-sequence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feifei Sun","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feifei-sun/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3a3d9e2efa213e8/69879a9f5f570f0bfeb16bac/hummingbird-flight-sequence.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HUMMINGBIRD-FLIGHT-SEQUENCE","caption":"","creditText":"Jamie Chung for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/28381/behind-the-cover-jamie-chung-on-photographing-the-hummingbird/","name":"Behind the Cover: Jamie Chung on Photographing the Hummingbird Drone"}}]}] ```