Arizona wilderness

certainly appearing to be a pile of gemstones, this is actually a extreme closeup shot of a flower anther. within the middle of a gladiolus flower, you'll find four long and narrow stems protruding from the center of each bloom. three of these have a tiny banana-shaped pod (anther) on the end, and the remaining one (stigma) has three tiny fingers on the end. if you zoom into the anther, it appears something like a long canoe-like boat heaping full of cargo. zooming in more (and from the side), you can get a clear view of the 'cargo' of cells stacked up in the anther/boat. this photo is a tiny portion of that cargo and each 'gem' is about half the area of a human hair. (check out our "Sea Monster" shot to see the neighboring stigma up close.)

i've been looking for a pattern in water like this for some time. Trying to find a place when the water has just the right size ripples and the proper light and reflections, then be able to place a camera on something solid to capture the special event, can all lead to be quite a task.

resident of Indiana wetlands

This beautiful sunset brought a wonderful end to a long day. I was returning from a day long shoot at a local club. Everything that could have gone wrong that day, did, and then some. It was blistering hot and I was well sun burnt. That evening, on the way back to the Studio, I decided to stop by the beach to relieve the day's tension. I often take my camera out for a walk and this was as good time as any. Barefoot in the sand, I stroll up the shore trying to forget my day. I came across a rather nice sand castle that some kids built. Stooping down trying to see what kind of silhouette shot I could get with the sun setting behind it, I squeezed off a few shots for fun. I had noticed that at certain angles, the water reflected the blues and purples in the sky and the sand castle suddenly became much less interesting. The colours were so rich I immediately took some light readings and captured the waves while the colour was at its prime.

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.

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.

Bamboo forest in China