northern shore of Guam

JiuZhaiGou, China

looking straight-down on top of a lovely pink hyacinth. The fragrance is quite strong and i can understand why the French like to use these Mediterranean flowers in their perfumes.

these large birds appear to have infinite patience as they stand motionless for hours waiting for their meal to swim by.

the surf is definitely 'up' today

Yucca tree (Yucca brevifolia) in Mojave desert.

This is a highly concentrated salt lake in eastern California that is known for its unique calcareous rock formations (tufas). These structures range from a couple feet to perhaps 15 feet tall and are quite rigid. Most of these structures form on the ground near the shore, but I really enjoyed this grouping when surrounded by water. Plus, the winds coming over a nearby mountain range, produce complex clouds rolling over this area and are usually quite interesting and often stormy in appearance.

glass tulips illuminated with various neon lights would certainly make a wonderful piece of contemporary art, but this is actually a closeup photo of a Grecian Windflower. in between the bumpy center cone and the outer petals, is a ring of many stamen with short filaments. zooming in extra tight on the area where the anthers (top part resembling mini-tulips) connect with the filaments (supporting stems), and adding in a micro-spotlight to make everything sparkle, you then get a shot like this. each filament (stems seen at the bottom) measures around 0.0062 inches in diameter which is a tad thinner than a bristle on a toothbrush.