the amazing colours and complex patterns hosted by a lovely peacock

I particularly liked the lines in this image; the way trees and shrubbery were growing up the sides matched the angle of the peaks. The mountain walls were exceptionally steep (nearly vertical) which made it easier to capture the grassland foreground and keep the mountain peaks crisp and close. The sun was still early and somewhat low which pronounced the roughness and magnitude of this shear wall of rock.

along coast of Lake Michigan

It looked like this giant balanced rock was a hand pointing straight up into the sky. I could have wrote something real philosophical, especially since this was located in the "Garden of the Gods" but as I was standing near its base, I just hoped it wasn't time for this magnificent piece to settle.

Bamboo forest in China

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.

looking quite similar to an xmas tree with ornaments and tinsel, this is actually a photograph of a hostile invasion possibly taking place in your own backyard. if you see a plant with a white or light-gray powdery substance on the top-side of its leaves, it is probably an invasion of the 'White Powdery Mildew Fungi'. many different types of these spores spread with the wind, rain, birds, and even the feet of insects, and when the right type of spore lands on a suitable plant, it quickly takes hold by rooting into the plant. it then steals nutrition from the plant to grow an outbreak of thread-like structures over the surface (seen as white rice-like chains in this photo) which eventually block the plant's photosynthesis process and kills it. when the mildew fungus is sufficiently mature, it develops new sets of spores (inside the brown raisin-like containers) to travel in the wind and repeat the cycle. each of the brown spore-sacks measure about 0.0014 inches in diameter which is the thickness of kitchen aluminum foil.

Nevada wilderness in early morning.