this is a closeup shot of an Asiatic Lily. toward the base of each petal, are two short rows of fleshy-hairs running down the center (easily gone unnoticed). as the dark red petal nears the main flower stem, it makes a quick transition to white and then green. this shot captures the tiny fuzz (gummi worms in foreground) near the base of the petal (green brick-like cells in background) during that multi-colour transition. each 'worm' measures 0.0021 inches in diameter (a row of 475 would make an inch).

When one gets a camera close enough to a drip of water, the whole surrounding world can been seen within. This makes for a rather unique and interesting image that is sure to start conversation. Seeming to be an eternity, I v-e-r-y carefully moved my camera around to capture the surrounding patch of daisies and early morning sky inside this water-lens without the slightest disturbance to the delicate drop. After a few micro-adjustments to the position just right, the sun glistened on the edge of the drop and made a wonderful sparkle highlight.

This is truly in the middle of nowhere and reachable only by foot (or perhaps parachute). It's hard to believe that rock could form in such fluid shapes but it sure makes for a great find for those willing to bare the elements of the desert.

foliage on the tropical island of HaiNan

I found this young Great Horned Owl in early spring while it was still cool on most days. She took to me well and never seemed to mind my presence when I came by her section of woods. In this shot she's about six weeks old and loosing most of her puffy baby feathers. This is certainly my favorite of all animals and it was a pleasure coming across one in the wild.

clearly appearing like something out of a Hollywood special-effects laboratory, this unreal-looking skin is actually quite common and is perhaps devouring something right outside your back door... it is a super-closeup of a June Bug's thorax (shoulder blade equivalent). the June Bugs in our area are an uninteresting plain brown, but as we explored it's outer surface, we noticed a very small metallic-looking shiny spot. far too small to see with the naked eye, we zoomed in on this spot and discovered it to be made up of many 'skin' cells of reds, oranges, and yellows each measuring around 1/3000 of an inch across. the green jellybean-like objects are actually pits in the bug's shell and have a hair growing out of each one (similar to a human pore). these deep bowel-shaped pits (about 1/400 of an inch long) were lined with more metallic-type cells that reflected our lighting back in various greens.

path through California Redwoods