i just couldn't pass up a side trip to Mars to grab a couple of surface shots! Or maybe i just happen to be inside a volcano crater and the surrounding red-rock landscape looks much like a Martian world.

resident of Indiana wetlands

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.

tall Saguaro cactus towering over others in southern Arizona

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.

like most things we get our hands on,.. we photograph it. this is a closeup shot of a synthetic-foam brush and after we zoomed in, it became quite clear on how it holds paint so well. the foam strands (connected together like a web) average around 0.0027 inches in diameter (size of a human hair).

despite it's appearance, this is not a coral reef growth, nor anything under the ocean. it is actually a closeup shot within the center of a daisy. we were surprised to discover that the flower's fuzzy brown cone was made up of these finger-like structures that looked so much like something under the sea. the photo captures 0.036 x 0.054 inches (about the thickness of a DVD) of the flower's center cone.

since we did not get the chance to place one of our camera's onto NASA's deep space probe, we went with the next best thing... we photographed a piece of tile from Home Depot. yes, this is looking at only 0.4% of a 3/4-inch piece of glass tile that to the naked eye, looks clear dark brown (like coca-cola) with gold glitter streaking through. zooming in, revealed the gold specs to be sharply formed pyramids that reflected light very well. as the glitter streaked through the depths of the tile, it resembled an asteroid field with more colour and beauty than if we went with the NASA probe (mission accomplished).