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.

appearing as a beautiful iridescent wing from a magical creature, this is actually a small portion of a single grain of black sand. we were exploring a small clump of sand for a good shot, and noticed a tiny colourful spot sparkling out from one of the grains of lava rock. zooming in much more, we discovered this 'wing' shape measuring 0.0058 inches long (equivalent to the thickness of a sheet of paper). the entire grain of sand at this level of magnification, would fill 20 of these photos.

looks like these two males are chatting about their upcoming fish lunch (Aleutian Islands)

High in the Urubamba Mountains, lies the recently famous ruins of MachuPicchu. The peak off to the right is WaynaPicchu. After a lengthy steep climb up damp and slippery rocks, it provides a nice overlook of the ancient city. Many photographers stand on the hill on the left side of this photo and capture a portion of the ruins; I chose to climb to a neighboring peak and shoot down over the entire area. The stepped plateaus going down the side were farmland and between each level are stone steps protruding out from the wall.

the American side of Niagara Falls

guam coast

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.