The Botanical Building in Balboa Park, San Diego. The Botanical Building, at 250 feet long by 75 feet wide and 60 feet tall, was the largest wood lath structure in the world when it was built in 1915 for the Panama-California Exposition. The Botanical Building, located on the Prado, west of the Museum of Art, contains about 2,100 permanent tropical plants along with changing seasonal flowers. The Lily Pond, just south of the Botanical Building, is an eloquent example of the use of reflecting pools to enhance architecture. The 193' by 43' foot pond and smaller companion pool were originally referred to as Las Lagunas de las Flores (The Lakes of the Flowers) and were designed as aquatic gardens. The pools contain exotic water lilies and lotus which bloom spring through fall.
Location: Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Image ID: 28823
Adult male humpback whale singing, suspended motionless underwater. Only male humpbacks have been observed singing. All humpbacks in the North Pacific sing the same whale song each year, and the song changes slightly from one year to the next.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02796
Humpback whale mother, calf (top), male escort (rear), underwater. A young humpback calf typically swims alongside or above its mother, and male escorts will usually travel behind the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02819
Adult male humpback whale bubble streaming underwater. The male escort humpback whale seen here is emitting a curtain of bubbles as it swims behind a female (left) during a competitive group. The bubble curtain may be meant as warning or visual obstruction to other male whales interested in the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 02828
Adult male humpback whale bubble streaming underwater. The male escort humpback whale seen here is emitting a curtain of bubbles as it swims behind a mother and calf. The bubble curtain may be meant as warning or visual obstruction to other nearby male whales interested in the mother.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05925
Scripps Pier solstice, surfer's view from among the waves, sunset aligned perfectly with the pier. Research pier at Scripps Institution of Oceanography SIO, sunset.
Location: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California
Image ID: 30150
San Diego Convention Center, located in the Marina District of downtown San Diego. Built in 1989, the San Diego Convention Center offers 525,700 square feet of exhibit space. It is noted for its distinctive "sails" made of Teflon-coated fiberglass suspended over the central exhibition hall, aptly named Sails Pavilion.
Location: San Diego, California
Image ID: 22290
Delicate Arch, dusted with snow, at sunset, with the snow-covered La Sal mountains in the distance. Delicate Arch stands 45 feet high, with a span of 33 feet, atop of bowl of slickrock sandstone.
Location: Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Image ID: 18104
Multnomah Falls. Plummeting 620 feet from its origins on Larch Mountain, Multnomah Falls is the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States. Nearly two million visitors a year come to see this ancient waterfall making it Oregon's number one public destination.
Location: Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon
Image ID: 19313
Panorama dimensions: 12453 x 4705
Mobius Arch at sunrise, with Mount Whitney (the tallest peak in the continental United States), Lone Pine Peak and snow-covered Sierra Nevada Range framed within the arch. Mobius Arch is a 17-foot-wide natural rock arch in the scenic Alabama Hills Recreational Area near Lone Pine, California.
Location: Alabama Hills Recreational Area, California
Image ID: 21729
A great white shark swims toward the photographer. Perhaps the shark is considering him as possible prey? The photographer, a "shark diver" is safely situated in a sturdy metal cage. The best location in the world to "shark dive" to view great white sharks is Mexico's Guadalupe Island.
Species: Great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias
Location: Guadalupe Island (Isla Guadalupe), Baja California, Mexico
Image ID: 19457
North Pacific humpback whale showing extensive scarring, almost certainly from a boat propeller, on dorsal ridge. This female North Pacific humpback whale was first seen with the depicted lacerations near the island of Maui in the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-90s, and is the original humpback to bear the name 'Blade Runner'. This female has apparently recovered, as evidenced the calf she was observed nurturing. A South Pacific humpback whale endured a similar injury in Sydney Australia in 2001, and bears a remarkably similar scar pattern to the above-pictured whale.
Species: Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae
Location: Maui, Hawaii
Image ID: 05909