Below ground caverns in Arizona wilderness, carved out by centuries of flash flood waters from rain many miles away.

This is a straight-down shot of a young corn lily plant (Veratrum californicum) common in moist meadows along the west coast. The accordion-shaped leaves look just like my camera bellows, but the plant is quite poisonous. In fact, if animals eat the foliage, their offspring can be born with cyclopia (one large eye in center of head).

side area of MachuPicchu

sunset over the many islands in northwestern Washington

layers and layers of spire-shaped mountains in ZhangJiaJie

a closeup shot of an Amanita Bisporigera mushroom... more specifically the thin fleshy fins on the underside of the mushroom's top. each of the fins measure 0.0048 inches in thickness (like a typical sheet of paper). i found it interesting that the seemingly simple brown fins were speckled with millions of tiny dots arranged into clusters that made up the brown and near-white patches seen here. we made an attempt to photograph these dot patterns extra closeup (resembling the dots on a dice), but our lighting kept cooking the thin and delicate mushroom fin before a quality photograph could be obtained. we'll probably try again using a refrigeration plate or ice to keep the tiny fin fresh.

a pleasant combination of rocky cliffs and thick forest in southern Illinois. i was lucky to find a very large fallen boulder to climb up on to get above the brush and capture this view.