a single blade of grass supporting 3 drops of rain

glass tulips illuminated with various neon lights would certainly make a wonderful piece of contemporary art, but this is actually a closeup photo of a Grecian Windflower. in between the bumpy center cone and the outer petals, is a ring of many stamen with short filaments. zooming in extra tight on the area where the anthers (top part resembling mini-tulips) connect with the filaments (supporting stems), and adding in a micro-spotlight to make everything sparkle, you then get a shot like this. each filament (stems seen at the bottom) measures around 0.0062 inches in diameter which is a tad thinner than a bristle on a toothbrush.

Jackson Lake and Teton Mountains

natural arch in wall of sandstone in eastern Utah

northern shore of Guam

A very excited neighbor boy brought this to me one day and wanted to know if I wanted to shoot it. I went inside and got a good macro lens and started to set up next to a nearby boulder. The young man coaxed the mantis from the carrying stick onto the boulder and I began getting ready. To my surprise, it made a very nice pose, turned its head to face me, and just sat there patiently while I took readings and captured this shot.

female brown bear taking it easy (Aleutian Islands)