Torch Ginger bloom in southern Maui

apologizing in advance for those with allergies... here's a whole cluster of pollen spores. each one measures about 0.006 inches across, so this entire grouping is equivalent to the thickness of a DVD. the photographed colour was enhanced from pale tones.

It was late spring in the Utah desert and I got caught in a light rain shower. It was hot, so the rain felt nice, but I still didn't want to get soaked and be encumbered with wet clothes. I stooped under a tree about the height of a house (tall for the region) and let it shelter me from most of the rain. In about 30 minutes, it turned to a fine mist and I continued up the mountain. Soon the sun started to peek out and turned my surroundings to a steamy sauna. Whenever the sun comes out after a rain, I immediately look for the possibility of a rainbow. Rainbows are so beautiful and last only a moment, that I do everything possible to capture one onto film. Sure enough, one started to emerge right in front of me, but was mostly obscured by the ground, so I started to run up the hill for a better view. The mountainside was steep and seemed to never end. Each time I thought I could see it leveling off, by the time I got there, it continued upward. I was exhausted and time was quickly counting down. I managed to make my way to a partial overlook and captured ¾ of the arch of colour before it faded away.

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.

Looks like these two are watching each others' back preparing for a mission.

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

I was traveling through a high mountain pass at about 14,000 feet and came across an area that was beginning to melt in preparation of spring. I started sizing up the scene and wandered about for the perfect perspective. The masses of melting snow had a beautiful ripple pattern and a large melted area ahead with mini-glaciers made a great foreground. In my usual excitement in preparing for a shot, I commonly overlook safety, and this was no exception. As I squatted down with my camera and pod ready to capture this lovely winter scene, I kept noticing a continuous sinking feeling which required camera adjustments to re-frame the picture properly. The melting snow was settling from my presence and I began to wonder if that melted area ahead was really part of a frozen lake. I looked around and noticed that I was in the middle of a large flat area surrounded by a distant wall of trees all around - I was standing in the center of a large lake. Just as I was debating on whether I would fall through the melting snow, I figured I was already set up for a good photo, so I might as well shoot some film. Thankfully, I made it back onto solid land without incident.

This is a collection of some of the water drops flowing into the Yosemite Valley. It is difficult to take a bad photograph in this area, as the main valley area is surrounded with lush pines and giant cliff walls in all directions. The falls were abnormally robust this summer due to a previous heavy winter and wet spring.