top of MarcaHuasi in Perú

although pesky, once you start to explore the common housefly, all sorts of amazing discoveries can be made. this is a super-closeup shot of the shiny metallic area on a blue bottle fly (blue housefly) capturing an area about the thickness of a playing card. the surface contains deep dimple-like cavities (similar to a golf ball) with an ultra tiny hair (about 1/8000 of an inch) in each one. the blue metallic colouring is mirror-like and reflects our lighting around like a highly polished automobile.

sunset above the clouds near hawaiian islands

This is one of many pools of water from underground hot springs at Yellowstone. As the water spreads out at the surface, it cools and allows a variety of different algae to sustain life. In this case, the algae that survives in the hotter temperatures is blue and green, and the somewhat cooler algae appears red and orange, forming a circular rainbow pattern to mark the temperature ranges of the water.

i love bamboo. there is just something about its form and usefulness that appeals to me. it grows quite fast and is very strong yet flexible. while traveling through various bamboo forests in China, i've seen new bamboo sprouts that were at least 4-5 meters tall.

an up-shot of the large clusters of dates on this Phoenix dactylifera in Kauai

foliage on the tropical island of Guam

closeup texture shot of an Ultimate Pink type rose