This large Bird-of-Paradise bloom gave me quite a challenge. I was hiking in a tropical rain-forest when i saw glimpses of this beautiful bloom. The only trouble was the best side to photograph was rather hidden by thick foliage with no practical way to get closer. I found a peek-hole through the network of leaves, but it was very high, so i stretched the tripod to it's full height and then more so by greatly decreasing it's base to obtain just enough height to peek through this hole in the foliage. Then added a very large zoom lens on top of this very unstable camera setup. After waiting some time for everything to settle down from micro-movements (including not breathing on or near the camera), i was able to capture this exotic shot.

Indiana wetlands

Columbines, in general, are a lovely flower coming in wide assortment of colour combinations. This giant columbine was growing all by itself and appeared very proud to be doing so well on it's own.

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

funny-shaped sandstone monuments in Utah wilderness

mysterious mounds of rock peaking through the surface of a mineral water pond in JiuZhaiGou

sunset above the clouds near hawaiian islands

I'm walking along a bridge in northern Kauai and notice the tree tops are at eye-level for easy shooting. I pan around for the best cluster of Locust branches and then patiently wait for the slightest of breezes to pause long enough to capture this shot.