distant wall of sandstone in warm evening light (Utah wilderness)

i just couldn't pass up a side trip to Mars to grab a couple of surface shots! Or maybe i just happen to be inside a volcano crater and the surrounding red-rock landscape looks much like a Martian world.

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.

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

no photographers were harmed in the capturing of this photo (although we are in need of a new photo-assistant ;-)

the meter-deep water is covered with a perfect layer of duck weed appearing as a green carpet spreading through this banyan forest.

Lake Michigan lighthouse in northern Indiana

eastern Utah