Nature through a Close- Focus Lens A Portfolio

NATURE THROUGH A CLOSE-FOCUS LENS

Just for a few minutes, forget about desert sunsets and hundredmile vistas, splendid forests and soaring mountain heights, mysteri-ous canyon depths and wild rivers. Hunker down somewhere in the great outdoors and take a close look at the striking beauty right at your feet.

"With a little effort and attention," says photographer Herb McReynolds, "you'll see sparkling diamonds of morning dew, fall's first crystals of frost clinging to the last of summer's fading blooms, the intricate structure of miniature leaves." And so much more.

"We're all part of a complex greater whole. Often it's not until we look very carefully at some of nature's details that we realize this and perhaps gain some insight into our own modest place in the scheme of things."

McReynolds has spent much of his career concentrating on that closer look. Happily for us, he has captured many such precious moments on film, often with the aid of a macro (close-focus) lens. On these pages are some memorable examples.

A PORTFOLIO

Pattern and repetition: (OPPOSITE PAGE) Displaced red leaf accents a subtle ivy mosaic. (ABOVE) Spine tufts appear in remarkably even distribution on a bunny ear cactus. (LEFT) Close-up portrait of a blossom of the appropriately named fairy duster. Color and texture: (ABOVE) A wild raspberry brightens a thicket in the White Mountains. (RIGHT) Rock surface and prominent veins of a sycamore leaf surround an Arizona madrone berry. (OPPOSITE PAGE) Random scattering of leaves creates a bright autumn collage on the forest floor.