hot mineral springs in Wyoming

although passing for the scales on a blue dragon, this is actually an extreme close-up photo of the iridescent stripe on the wing of a Mallard Duck. the feather starts off with a main shaft (or quill) with hundreds of branches (barbs) protruding from the side. zooming in on one of these barbs, there are again hundreds of protruding tiny branches (barbules) on each barb. this photo captures approximately 4 of these barbules and their scale-like shapes. each of these 'squares' measure around 0.0012 inches across (less than the thickness of aluminum foil).

Ka'anapali Beach is famous for it's gentle shallow waters and beautiful ocean sunsets like this one.

northern Arizona (Utah border)

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.

closeup of a tortoise emerging as desert temperatures become more tolerable just before sunset in Arizona

this is a closeup shot of a copper snake chain necklace. the islands of gold are parts of corroded copper links that are kept bright by constantly rubbing against the skin. the aqua river is the remaining part of the copper that goes down into valleys between chain links where the corrosion has gone untouched and turned a beautiful blue-green. the chain of this necklace measures 0.045 of an inch in diameter and this photo captures an area equivalent to the thickness of a credit card.

Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.