from time to time, i see a shot that just shouts "tropical" and i capture the moment just for that reason.

southern China

Banyan tree silhouettes and reflections in Horseshoe Lake (southern Illinois) during sunset

closely resembling a (well used) golf ball, this is actually a super closeup shot of a Zinnia's flower petal. the petals have a cool pattern of dimples each measuring about 1/1000th of an inch across. we then focused a ultra-tiny spotlight so that the shaft of light was the size of a human hair (smaller than a laser beam). as the highly focused light bled out through the relatively flat petal (see inset), it created the shading effect of a round ball.

I particularly liked the lines in this image; the way trees and shrubbery were growing up the sides matched the angle of the peaks. The mountain walls were exceptionally steep (nearly vertical) which made it easier to capture the grassland foreground and keep the mountain peaks crisp and close. The sun was still early and somewhat low which pronounced the roughness and magnitude of this shear wall of rock.

vertical blade-like mounds of sandstone in eastern Utah

vast amounts of water flowing over Horseshoe Falls (Canadian side of Niagara Falls)