Arizona plantlife

eastern Utah just after sunset

when large brown bears come out out their winter slumber, they're hungry and are looking for the easiest food available. bears favor easy food that does not require a chase, battle, or conflict, and salmon meets those requirements quite well (also good news for me behind the camera). it is common to see these bears standing in a stream waiting for their meal to attempt to swim by. this one perched himself atop a small falls where the salmon have to jump to beat the down-rushing current.

A very excited neighbor boy brought this to me one day and wanted to know if I wanted to shoot it. I went inside and got a good macro lens and started to set up next to a nearby boulder. The young man coaxed the mantis from the carrying stick onto the boulder and I began getting ready. To my surprise, it made a very nice pose, turned its head to face me, and just sat there patiently while I took readings and captured this shot.

the lovely Andrea West orchid (Hawaii rainforest)

I'm precariously hanging over a sheer cliff to capture a straight-down perspective of the ocean waters below. With my assistant faithfully grasping my belt and a small nearby tree, i was able to get the camera gear over the edge enough to watch for the best mixture of rock and swirling waves.

I'm walking along a bridge in northern Kauai and notice the tree tops are at eye-level for easy shooting. I pan around for the best cluster of Locust branches and then patiently wait for the slightest of breezes to pause long enough to capture this shot.

The iris is perhaps my favorite flower for abstract photography. They offer some really nice lines and curves with a wide-variety of colours.