this was captured at the International Rose Test Gardens in Oregon where they have thousands of well cared for roses.

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.

one of many Lotus ponds throughout China.

The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco is a fantastic setting for many great images. I saw these two swans swimming about and set up on the nearby shoreline. As with most animals, you really must do a lot of waiting for the right moment (unless you are lucky enough to come across one that responds to verbal instruction). There were many fair shots, but each time something was not quite right, so I very patiently waited, slowly panning the camera to track their movement and making adjustments along the way. In as little as a half hour, there was finally a moment when they both stopped eating seaweed and faced each other just long enough for me to complete my work.

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

cluster of apple blossoms during mid-spring

It was late in the day and I had been shooting a garden until my surroundings became dim. On my way out, I passed by a patch of primrose flowers next to a large boulder. I was amazed at their vibrant glowing colour even though the surroundings were in dull evening light. Being reasonably certain that they were not battery-powered, my only rationalization was that these petals were made of the same fluorescent substance on firefly tails. I returned the next day to shoot them in bright sun, but the flowers appeared quite average. So, I waited until they were once again in the dim evening shade and captured their neon colours on film.