yes, this is real. i was hiking through a desert (with a load of camera gear of course) and saw this little cactus growing on top of a rock. it was too unique and charming to pass by without taking this photo opportunity.

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).

it is rare that i photograph man-made things when i'm traveling around looking for beautiful things in nature, but artistic construction like this will make it into the photo collection.

I was camping out on one of the lower peaks (about 8500 feet) in the Andes Mountains. It was a wet and somewhat tropical area and had a light rain most of the night. As daylight started making itself known, the remaining rain clouds started dissipating and swirling about the neighboring peaks. Once again, I grabbed my camera gear and prepared for a moody shot. The sunlight was peaking out here and there, clouds blowing by and changing each second, I just had to wait for everything to come into balance and squeeze the shutter's release cable. The dark neighboring mountain peak intertwined with scattering clouds created a mysterious and suspenseful image, expressing the drama in the air this morning.

Nevada wilderness in early morning.

I am a personal fan of lots of foliage. I maintain several quite large house plants but they just don't compare to standing amongst a rain-forest. This was captured along the way to Hanna, a remote southern town on Maui.

it's a beautiful mid-spring day and i walked in many circles, ducking and bobbing my head for some time, trying to find the angle that best complimented this tree's glory. the clusters of large white flowers are quite bright against the surrounding forestry and such contrast made for a great shot.

This dusty miller plant would look right at home as an underwater sea plant on a coral reef, but is actually a nice terrain-based plant with velvety-soft leaves.