rarely does an insect stay put long enough for us to go through our setup process, but this large dragonfly was very trusting and didn't move while we choose a good macro lens, took light readings, test exposures, and finally this shot.

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.

These guys brought a great smile to my face as soon as I saw them. They looked so funny and entertaining, I nearly titled the shot "Abbott & Costello" after the famous comedian pair. They had a certain life about them, as if they were a part of some mythical legend beings that became frozen into these rock formations. The two formations are actually a fair distance apart, making a combined photo more of a challenge. So I did my usual circle the item of interest until you find the best perspective. I tried hiking a ways away and zooming in from a neighboring hill, then up close, then this side or another, until discovering this perspective that worked perfectly for my taste.

hiking through Waimea canyon on Kauai

JiuZhaiGou, China

a walk in the woods during early autumn in Indiana

Many northern states like Montana have an abundance of colourful stones delivered by glaciers long ago. These happen to be at the edge of a lake under a few inches of water. The entire beach area and bottom of the lake (as far as I could see) was covered in this manner and the stones just under the water provided great rich colour with minimal wave distortion. To be able to shoot straight down and not have any perspective in the stone pattern, I stood in the water and waited for the ripples to disappear before capturing this neat texture image.

this was captured at the International Rose Test Gardens in Oregon where they have thousands of well cared for roses.