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.

Standing next to the high-elevation 'Science City' atop Mount Haleakala, all i can see are these clouds and the small patch of land i'm standing on.

one of 10,000 roses at the International Rose Test Garden in Oregon.

The minerals in the lake water cause it to be abnormally blue and clear. I can see straight to the bottom where lie many fallen trees that seem not to decay or dirty the water. As I hiked around these lakes, I really enjoyed the wavy branches that overhung the water like this one. The colours and shapes complemented each other quite well.

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.

After the boiling hot mineral water oozes up from the earth, it eventually starts to cool and the mineral elements fall out of suspension. Since the edges are cooler than the middle, the sediment builds up a little perimeter wall one grain at a time. Over time, large cascading pools are created as they overflow and puddle to create more.

small forest on the side of a volcano in Maui

large hawk-like bird in the Philippines