This is a young Tigré, or jungle version of a tiger that only grows to be the size of a large dog. This one is about one year old and is stalking some nearby movement while I remain motionless with my equipment rigged in a small tree. I had a most entertaining encounter with its father the night before.... I was sleeping in a native hut which consists of an elevated wooden platform with some poles to support a roof made of dried leaves. Needless to say, there's not much to keep out wildlife with the ability to climb. I woke to a very intimidating low growl from the throat of a mature Tigré. Hoping that if I remained still, it would simply pass without interest - I was wrong. After leaping onto the hut floor and examining this new terrain, it wasn't long before it was on top of me and being a nuisance. Realizing that sleep was going to be impossible with this guy prowling around, I decided to get up and deal with the situation. It had hopped off me and was making itself comfortable in the middle of the floor. Remembering a little bit of house cat knowledge, I wondered if that trick of picking them up by the back of their necks worked on the larger species. So I carefully made my way closer and slowly reached down, got a fist full of fur, and began lifting him from the floor. All was going well; his front legs appeared limp and he appeared relaxed - well, at least until I got his hind legs off the ground. Suddenly, before I could blink, he had reached back with one of his large paws, grabbed my arm that I was lifting with, and twisted around forcing his release. His strength and speed were very impressive and I quickly let go. Standing there next to me, I'm sure it was wondering what I was going to do next - I was also. The reason I was in the jungle was to shoot a variety of Peruvian blankets using the natural surroundings. I grabbed one of the thick mat-like blankets and threw it over the Tigré. Then quickly started to roll him up into a harmless ball. No sooner did I complete this task, his strength again impressed me as he was quickly wiggling his way out of my trap. I managed to get the bundle to the edge of the platform and unrolled him back off into the jungle so we both could get some rest.

I'm precariously hanging over a sheer cliff to capture a straight-down perspective of the ocean waters below. With my assistant faithfully grasping my belt and a small nearby tree, i was able to get the camera gear over the edge enough to watch for the best mixture of rock and swirling waves.

this is a closeup shot of the feathery scales on a Monarch butterfly wing. each scale has a length of around 1/220 of an inch, so the height of this entire shot would be equivalent to the thickness of 3 sheets of paper. this particular butterfly died naturally near our studio, so we took the opportunity to explore what it had to offer.

closeup of a tortoise emerging as desert temperatures become more tolerable just before sunset in Arizona

you probably noticed there is something rather funny about these strawberries, and that is that they are really a small part of a lantana bloom. lantanas are a cluster of tiny flowers that make up a larger bloom measuring about an inch across. this shot captures part of three of these tiny flowers that have not yet opened. their petals are folded in an uncommon way somewhat resembling an envelope. the clear balls appearing as dew, are actually oil from the flower's scent glands. the width of this photo captures 0.0642 inches which is the thickness of 2 credit cards.

about a week ago, my finger got pinched and created a tiny blood blister. now it's coming off and i decided to photograph the remains using a very tiny lens. this photo captures an an area about .057 inches wide (about the thickness of a DVD) and is of the outer regions of the blister where the dark dried blood meets the surrounding tough dried skin (whitish areas).

I found this young Great Horned Owl in early spring while it was still cool on most days. She took to me well and never seemed to mind my presence when I came by her section of woods. In this shot she's about six weeks old and loosing most of her puffy baby feathers. This is certainly my favorite of all animals and it was a pleasure coming across one in the wild.

hiking through Waimea canyon on Kauai