Yucca tree (Yucca brevifolia) in Mojave desert.

tall Saguaro cactus towering over others in southern Arizona

driving around Mt. Rainier on a clear summer day

these are either a batch of eggs that will eventually develop into full-grown candy-canes, or this is a super closeup shot of a red gladiolus flower petal and these juicy 'eggs' are the plant cells that make up the flower's beauty and shine. each cell measures about 0.0015 inches across which is the thickness of aluminum foil in your kitchen (the thin/economic type; not the heavy duty) and what appears to be a bubble inside each cell is the cell nucleus (averaging around 1/1200 of an inch).

This is a Great Horned Owl at about 3½ weeks of age. Quite a darling little puff-ball of feathers sitting there wondering what the guy with the camera is up to. The mom isn't due back for a couple hours so I have a chance to capture this cute creature for everyone to enjoy.

It was late spring in the Utah desert and I got caught in a light rain shower. It was hot, so the rain felt nice, but I still didn't want to get soaked and be encumbered with wet clothes. I stooped under a tree about the height of a house (tall for the region) and let it shelter me from most of the rain. In about 30 minutes, it turned to a fine mist and I continued up the mountain. Soon the sun started to peek out and turned my surroundings to a steamy sauna. Whenever the sun comes out after a rain, I immediately look for the possibility of a rainbow. Rainbows are so beautiful and last only a moment, that I do everything possible to capture one onto film. Sure enough, one started to emerge right in front of me, but was mostly obscured by the ground, so I started to run up the hill for a better view. The mountainside was steep and seemed to never end. Each time I thought I could see it leveling off, by the time I got there, it continued upward. I was exhausted and time was quickly counting down. I managed to make my way to a partial overlook and captured ¾ of the arch of colour before it faded away.

when a large mass of lava cools very slowly, it can create column-like fissures during it's cooling. then, over the years, water and ice push the columns apart and the outer pillars topple giving you a scene like this one. there's only a handful of places on earth where conditions were just right for these strange rock formations to form.

the American side of Niagara Falls