looking straight down toward the tops of foliage and a simple dirt (mud) road.

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.)

driving around Mt. Rainier on a clear summer day

we scouted for days along the Oregon coast, looking for the right balance of rock mounds in combination with the right moment of setting sun light.

side area of MachuPicchu

i'm no giraffe expert, but i think the left one wants a kiss.

the American side of Niagara Falls