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.

this allium bud is just starting to initiate the blooming process and is looking quite good so far. It's still only about an inch (2-3cm) in diameter and i've got my camera gear just a few inches away to capture the minute details of this beautiful process.

an up-shot of the large clusters of dates on this Phoenix dactylifera in Kauai

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.

A white dicentra plant bathed in morning sunlight.

you'd probably believe me if i said this was a tentacle from some deep-sea creature, but it is actually a closeup shot of a common flower stigma (the tiny little stem sticking out of the center and captures pollen from the stamen). the stigma of a red gladiolus is only 0.025 inches in diameter (thickness of 2 playing cards) and this photo captures the very tip that protrudes farthest outside the bloom. (check out our "Balanced Gems" shot to see the neighboring anther part of the same flower).

when a large mass of lava cools very slowly, it can create column-like fissures during it's cooling. then, over the years, water and ice push the columns apart and the outer pillars topple giving you a scene like this one. there's only a handful of places on earth where conditions were just right for these strange rock formations to form.

when large brown bears come out out their winter slumber, they're hungry and are looking for the easiest food available. bears favor easy food that does not require a chase, battle, or conflict, and salmon meets those requirements quite well (also good news for me behind the camera). it is common to see these bears standing in a stream waiting for their meal to attempt to swim by. this one perched himself atop a small falls where the salmon have to jump to beat the down-rushing current.