foliage on the tropical island of HaiNan

Such a strong blue is a rare colour to be found in butterflies which makes the Blue Morpho an excellent find. This vibrant blue is very visible to their predators and so they rarely rest with their wings open to display these alluring colours.

a lovely and unique treasure discovered while roaming the hawaiian rainforest

southwestern Utah

This is a straight-down shot of a young corn lily plant (Veratrum californicum) common in moist meadows along the west coast. The accordion-shaped leaves look just like my camera bellows, but the plant is quite poisonous. In fact, if animals eat the foliage, their offspring can be born with cyclopia (one large eye in center of head).

Having such a small body and graciously long wings, the Tiger Longwing doesn't flap quickly like most butterflies. Instead, it creates a very elegant slow-flutter to navigate through the rain-forest foliage in Brazil. It's motion is very different from what i'm accustomed to in the northern hemisphere, and i found it quite mesmerizing.

On my way back to the studio, after a routine walk with the camera, I stopped to rest a moment halfway up a steep hill. It was early autumn and the leaves had begun their colour cycle. Like most of us, sometimes I forget to look up to see what's directly above. In my moment of fatigue (too much gear), I arched my back to stretch and WOW! I was standing right under a perfect shot. A lower branch spread across my view with bright red leaves and a little higher up was a maple that turned yellow and just past that, a couple different greens from the oaks. Topped off with patches of deep blue sky, it was truly a colourful moment.

With camera gear strapped to my back, I was wandering about the countryside on my trusty bike when I came across a rather nice woods. This area was new to me and the moment was begging me to explore. It was a perfect section of woods, with a variety of trees and plant life. Just hilly enough for interest and just sunny enough to get good colour saturation on film. I discovered this one tree; a tree of all trees. Its upper branches were the size of most other mature trees. Truly enormous. The times this tree must have experienced and weathered through were unimaginable. I paced around it many times as I stared up into its array of beauty; searching for just the right point of view to preserve this tree for even greater period of time.