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.

a grouping of vibrant hot-pink oriental day-lilies

driving around Mt. Rainier on a clear summer day

Another beautiful and large butterfly in Malaysia. It's wings are simply huge when they flap by. They're relatively common as long as you don't mind being perched motionless in the middle of a flower bed and waiting for one to land in front of the lens. They are more properly called a Ricepaper butterfly, but most locals know it as a Tree Nymph.

While hiking through the many woods in the valley, I came across a clearing packed full of ferns. Clearings between the groves of trees were common, but none were like this one. These ferns average five to six feet in height and were nothing short of spectacular. The sunlight filtered through the airy flora creating many layers of green as it progressed toward the shaded ground region.

these are either a batch of eggs that will eventually develop into full-grown candy-canes, or this is a super closeup shot of a red gladiolus flower petal and these juicy 'eggs' are the plant cells that make up the flower's beauty and shine. each cell measures about 0.0015 inches across which is the thickness of aluminum foil in your kitchen (the thin/economic type; not the heavy duty) and what appears to be a bubble inside each cell is the cell nucleus (averaging around 1/1200 of an inch).

the amazing colours and complex patterns hosted by a lovely peacock

macro shot of the texture and patterns of a fallen fig leaf