There is a large park and garden area that I enjoy spending time at and often browse the area with camera gear hanging at my sides. I'm there often and known by all the groundskeepers and gardeners. On my way out one day, a gardener friend was excitedly waving me over to come see something. I run to where she was working and am shown the tiniest of frogs that nestled itself between the petals of a rose. The little guy seemed rather comfortable and ready for an evenings rest in his new secure home. It was early evening and less than ideal light but moments like this don't occur everyday. I bracketed several exposures, got a successful print, and donated it to my gardener friend. If it wasn't for her, the unique moment would have only been preserved in her memory and not seen by others.

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.)

appearing to be some seaweed gently swaying under water, this is actually an above-water decorative grass (green foxtail) that has those fuzzy tops resembling caterpillars. this is a closeup shot (capturing 0.1 x 0.16 inches) of the seeds and fuzzies that dance in the wind atop this tall grass. the seeds can be seen as large light-green pods with dark-green stripes (like a melon), and the fuzzy strands can be seen in light-green branching off the main stem in the middle, and eventually fade to brown as they reach their end.

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

Wind blowing across the desert is dropping in ultra-fine sand like a constant dry rain. It is gently piling up everywhere on us and our equipment, but when the sun reaches its highest point, the light illuminates the raining sand and produces these shafts of light.

this is a super closeup shot of computer CPU (or 0.01% of the whole CPU). this particular area shows a mish-mash of wires criss-crossing and refracting light into a rainbow of colours. the micro-wires are so tiny that over 48,000 of them can lay side-by-side within an inch and have plenty of room for insulation in between (as best as we can measure - it is really small stuff in there).

another spectacular view of Waimea canyon. The lush vegetation and diverse soil colours make for some very nice canyon photos.

Bamboo gate in Japanese garden