eastern Utah

almost passing for an aerial photo over some trees, ocean, and a smoldering volcano, this world was actually discovered on the belly of a small fly - more specifically a tiny Blue-green Long-legged fly (Condylostylus). the micro-hairs along the contours of it's abdomen now look like a forest of trees covering the hills of a tropical island. the way the light reflects of the fly's metallic-like surface, gave us the ocean and rainforest colour palette. and the volcano is actually a hair pore with the hair shaft going out of focus toward the camera, giving the appearance of rising column of smoke. the width of this shot covers 0.0126 inches which is the thickness of a playing card.

Morning dew rolling off daisy petals

path through California Redwoods

almost looking like the famous british breakfast omelet, this is actually an extreme closeup shot of a flower petal. more specifically, an area of 0.06 x 0.04 inches (about the thickness of a DVD) of a gladiolus bloom. i focused on the area of the petal where it transitioned from an overall pale-yellow down to it's dark-red throat. here, i discovered a layer of egg-yolk-like cells separated by clear gel-like cells which allowed me to see down to a lower layer of pale-yellow flesh riddled with tiny purple spots (averaging 1/1500 of an inch each). all-in-all, a most interesting find for the day that makes a beautiful piece of abstract art.

I came across this friendly creature high in the Andes Mountains. As I began a quick set up for a photo, she came closer and more curious and I couldn't help but notice a seemingly happy expression.

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.

crown-shaped pinnacle in Colorado