close-up shot of a young tree bud

I'm climbing down inside a volcano crater and am amazed with the variety of rock/soil colours that are so neatly piled about.

no photographers were harmed in the capturing of this photo (although we are in need of a new photo-assistant ;-)

in June 1967 a special type of meteorite called a 'pallasite' was discovered in the Magadan district of eastern Russia (near Seymchan). it is one of only 61 known meteorites of this type and it contains olivine crystals mixed in with other metals and rocky materials. we noticed a tiny spot that really sparkled in the light, so we zoomed in and photographed it (seemed like the proper thing to do at the time). this photo is 0.03 inches wide which is about the thickness of a credit card and just big enough to capture this most interesting area.

although pesky, once you start to explore the common housefly, all sorts of amazing discoveries can be made. this is a super-closeup shot of the shiny metallic area on a blue bottle fly (blue housefly) capturing an area about the thickness of a playing card. the surface contains deep dimple-like cavities (similar to a golf ball) with an ultra tiny hair (about 1/8000 of an inch) in each one. the blue metallic colouring is mirror-like and reflects our lighting around like a highly polished automobile.

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

huge canopy over Japanese garden creating a perfect balance of shade and sun for comfort.