Sierra Nevada Mountains in late spring as the snow begins to melt at this elevation

macro shot of the texture and patterns of a fallen fig leaf

foliage on the tropical island of HaiNan

certainly appearing to be a pile of gemstones, this is actually a extreme closeup shot of a flower anther. within the middle of a gladiolus flower, you'll find four long and narrow stems protruding from the center of each bloom. three of these have a tiny banana-shaped pod (anther) on the end, and the remaining one (stigma) has three tiny fingers on the end. if you zoom into the anther, it appears something like a long canoe-like boat heaping full of cargo. zooming in more (and from the side), you can get a clear view of the 'cargo' of cells stacked up in the anther/boat. this photo is a tiny portion of that cargo and each 'gem' is about half the area of a human hair. (check out our "Sea Monster" shot to see the neighboring stigma up close.)

fresh young bamboo stalks growing in eastern Chinese forest

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.

northern Arizona (Utah border)