the lovely Andrea West orchid (Hawaii rainforest)

an 80-foot waterdrop along the McKenzie River in Willamette National Forest

sunset above the clouds near hawaiian islands

foliage on the tropical island of Guam

Banyan forest growing in swampland

appearing as an aerial shot over an industrial area, this is actually an extreme closeup photo of a computer chip. more specifically a 64-bit Pentium dual core processor, containing 167-million transistors. the various colours come from the studio lights reflecting off the ultra-fine details in the semiconductor material causing a diffraction-grating type effect. this entire shot captures an area of 0.0000205 square inches (tad larger than the diameter of a human hair). to capture the whole CPU at this magnification, would take nearly 8,400 photos.

although usually a moisture-loving plant, i found this one in Arizona. i think its roots must have tapped a nice hidden water supply.

looking directly at an enormous wall of ice as it crumbles into the sea. the ice is under intense pressure from the weight of the ice above and from the relentless pushing of new ice forming in distant mountains. this pressure causes the ice to be abnormally dense, and gives it an obvious teal colour. very loud cracks and pops can be heard as it continues being shoved downhill.