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).

this is an extreme closeup shot of a shiny new penny. it is so close, that you're only seeing 0.00001% of the entire coin, or an area about the size of a human hair. the greenish-gold striations are clean portions of the copper, and the bumpy-red patches are corrosion as the coin is just beginning it's process of turning old and brown. a piece of penny the area of this photo, would have a monetary value of one ten-millionth of a dollar (at a very small bank).

I'm standing at the top of Mount Haleakala in Maui as the sun is rising above the clouds. Although I'm in the tropics, it is below freezing here at two miles up and I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked. My day started at 1:30am to initiate the drive up the mountain in time for this event, and wasn't about to leave due to cold air. I got a good location scouted out and quickly set up my gear with some jumping jacks in between to keep the blood flowing. The sun seemed to be extra slow this morning (it must have been cold, also) and in time, I got the shakes from loss of body temperature. Fortunately, the event finally started in all its beauty and the cable release removed all my thermal tremors from the image.

Temple of the Sun in Cuzco

A short distance from the studio, there is a woods that slopes into a large marsh area. In this area, I commonly find many little things to capture on film. Although I'm in a four-season climate, it is not uncommon for there to be orchids growing in the wild at places like this marshy woods. This type of cypripedium orchid is commonly called "Lady's Slipper" as the bloom shape resembles the footwear.

southern Maui along the road to Hana

this is an extreme closeup shot of a silicon wafer that has shattered. like most hard & brittle materials, the broken fragments have scalloped patterns along the shattered edges (like broken glass). this particular fragment's pattern resembled a lightning storm and shows off an area of 0.0055 x 0.0037 inches (averaging out to the thickness of a sheet of paper).