this would be the coolest set of marbles around, if only they were really marbles. this is actually an extreme closeup photo of a compound eye on the Green-blue Long-legged fly (Condylostylus). these flies are much smaller than the common/plump housefly, and they serve good purpose around your garden's plants. this one had red eyes that originally appeared like rows of warm-red jelly beans with an overall dull luster. but once we pinpointed the studio's lighting into the eye's lenses, it rapidly increased the aging/deterioration process and the inner-eye elements started displaying this beautiful crackled pattern. each of these lenses measure 0.0008 inches in diameter (about the thickness of kitchen plastic wrap), and a closer look will show that some have a tiny three-hair 'grappling-hook' coming out between them.

When one gets a camera close enough to a drip of water, the whole surrounding world can been seen within. This makes for a rather unique and interesting image that is sure to start conversation. Seeming to be an eternity, I v-e-r-y carefully moved my camera around to capture the surrounding patch of daisies and early morning sky inside this water-lens without the slightest disturbance to the delicate drop. After a few micro-adjustments to the position just right, the sun glistened on the edge of the drop and made a wonderful sparkle highlight.

I was set up for this whitewater section of rapids and took several shots, freezing the splashes of water at different moments in time. It was an extremely wet area from all the mist, and the lens had to be wiped down between each shot. Then I continued my hike up stream, shooting along the way. At the base of the falls, it was time to change film. For an unknown reason, my camera indicated that I had rewound the film completely, but a good portion was actually still vulnerable. When I opened up the back, boy was I surprised to have just exposed my work to daylight. Having no idea which part I had just ruined, I retraced my steps and began re-shooting each scene with a different camera back in hopes to not repeat the malfunction. While in wooded areas, since many scenes are shaded by neighboring trees, I commonly will first hike unencumbered with gear to calculate the ideal time of day for that particular scene. Thankfully, my window of light for this area was long enough to obtain a second set of exposures.

I particularly liked the lines in this image; the way trees and shrubbery were growing up the sides matched the angle of the peaks. The mountain walls were exceptionally steep (nearly vertical) which made it easier to capture the grassland foreground and keep the mountain peaks crisp and close. The sun was still early and somewhat low which pronounced the roughness and magnitude of this shear wall of rock.

sunset over the many islands in northwestern Washington

resident of Indiana wetlands

this is a piece of abstract art that was created on another planet - yes, really! on the occasion that a planet blows up (usually from a massive collision), the various substrates fly off into space and sometimes find their way to earth as a meteorite. typically these are either rocky (from the planet's mantle and crust) or iron-nickel (from the core), but on very rare occasions, earth receives a piece from the in-between boundary layer where crystals have formed. this is a closeup photo of a pallasite meteorite, looking deep into the olivine crystals formed on another world. we zoomed in to view about 1/20 of an inch (about the thickness of a DVD), and used very bright and finely focused lights that illuminated every bubble and imperfection to refract an assortment of extra colours... after all, this is from another planet, so we have to make it look as other-worldly as possible.

also known as 'the Grand Canyon of the Pacific', this is certainly a wonderful place to hike and shoot some film (as long as you don't mind the annual 240+ inches of rainfall).