a super closeup shot of a bee's wing. the longer hairs are on the side of the wing facing the camera, and since the wing is mostly transparent, you can also see the hairs on the opposite side which appear shorter as they fade off into the distance. each of these ultra-tiny hairs have a diameter about 1/8000 of an inch (1/4 the thickness of kitchen plastic wrap).

Whenever I'm in the mood to photograph butterflies, I try to seek out large clusters of small deep-throated flowers. They seem designed just for the mouths of butterflies and during the right season, it can make for some great photos. Typically, I setup near these flowers with all my readings made in advance and hope for something like this beautiful Clipper butterfly of the Philippines to land in front of me.

this is a closeup shot of a copper snake chain necklace. the islands of gold are parts of corroded copper links that are kept bright by constantly rubbing against the skin. the aqua river is the remaining part of the copper that goes down into valleys between chain links where the corrosion has gone untouched and turned a beautiful blue-green. the chain of this necklace measures 0.045 of an inch in diameter and this photo captures an area equivalent to the thickness of a credit card.

This is a highly concentrated salt lake in eastern California that is known for its unique calcareous rock formations (tufas). These structures range from a couple feet to perhaps 15 feet tall and are quite rigid. Most of these structures form on the ground near the shore, but I really enjoyed this grouping when surrounded by water. Plus, the winds coming over a nearby mountain range, produce complex clouds rolling over this area and are usually quite interesting and often stormy in appearance.

One expects to see an assortment of orchids in a rain-forest, but to my surprise, I have also found many stunning varieties (like this Paphiopedilum) in northern Indiana woodlands. There are secluded microclimates that have conditions just right to support these beautiful flowers.

this is a shot of the massive amounts of water going over Niagara Falls (Canadian side).

Indiana wetlands